Stolt Offshore - BP Amoco contract- Underwater Contractor Magazine

Stolt Offshore
- BP Amoco contract

Julian Thomson, Group Manager of Marketing and Communications at Stolt Offshore.

I visited Julian Thomson, Group Manager of Marketing and Communications for Stolt Offshore, at the company's headquarters offices in Bucksburn.

Arguably the world's biggest offshore underwater construction company, Stolt Offshore has grown through the strategic acquisition of key companies to emerge as a true turnkey EPIC contractor capable of operating to the deepest depths.
With the world's largest fleet of subsea construction ships, Stolt Offshore offers clients total field development solutions anywhere in the world, "from the oilfield to the petrol pump", or as Chief Executive Bernard Vossier says, "from conceptual engineering to the provision of the hydrocarbons process plant, be it mounted on an FPSO, tension leg platform or spar".
Understandably, some 70% of the company's revenue comes from engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning. This is followed by inspection, repair and maintenance, providing about 20%. Drilling support, ROV and survey operations account for about 9%, with decommissioning providing the last 1%.

ROV recovery

The company's locations are spread around. Subsea Construction is based in Aberdeen under the management of Alan West; traditional EPIC and Pipelay operations are managed out of Paris by Marc Rogers; while Field Development is dealt with by the Houston office under Andre Bursaux.
The fleet is huge by any standard. There are 19 DP ships to begin with. Of these, four are flowline lay ships, of which Seaway Kestrel also has saturation diving capability. Then there are ten construction vessels including five with diving spreads, namely company-owned Seaway Eagle, Seaway Osprey, Seaway Hawk, Seaway Harrier, plus the chartered Discovery and Stephaniturm. The five remaining DP ships are dedicated survey and IRM vessels.

Stolt Offshore hardsuit diver

Some 14 vessels fill the shallow water fleet and, moving into the heavy-weight department, there are no less than nine heavy lift ships and lay barges. The fleet is garnished with a fair sprinkling of ROVs. They consist of some 70 work-class and 32 observation-class ROVs. In the hardsuit department, there are some 13 Newt-suits. A large population of divers, estimated at around 500 during any one year, provides the manned intervention capability.
The operations departments are busy and proud to boast several new contracts. In Britain they have recently completed the Amerada Hess Triton Project, their largest field development to date. They have also just won the BP Amoco subsea support services, involving all the IRM work on all BP Amoco assets for the next five years. In Norway, they have negotiated a five-year extension to their Statoil frame agreement for subsea construction, renewed the Norske Hydro IRM contract for a further three years, and acquired the Aasgard construction contract.

"Seaway Osprey"

Three other projects are of special note. First the hot-tapping and removal of the cargo of the Erika, which sank off the French coast earlier in the year, will be completed in September. Second, the tragic loss of the Russian submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea has provided diving work for the Seaway Eagle under contract to the Norwegian Navy. Both British and Norwegian divers have carried out invaluable work on the stricken submarine. Third, Stolt's own unique Modular Advanced Tie-in System (MATIS) was used successfully last year for Statoil. With up to 200 pipeline connections needed in the construction of a large subsea field, MATIS looks like being a worthwhile development.
Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East have been very successful areas of operation. The on-going Girassol project in 1400msw off Angola, West Africa, is the jewel in the crown of this region. This is the first turnkey EPIC contract (wellhead to FPSO) in very deep water and was begun back in July, 1998. It is due to come on stream at the end of 2001. West Africa appears to be the most promising deepwater area in the world, with a current estimate of about 20 similarly large fields potentially available for development. Other triumphs include the Djambala Sounda project for Agip, the Kombi construction work for Elf, and a hyperbaric pipeline repair for Hellenic Petroleum in Greece.
While business has been relatively slow in North America and Asia Pacific, South America has been another area of intense activity. Petrobras continues to have Seaway Harrier, with a number of ROVs, on long-term contract; and the upgraded Seaway Condor started a two-year contract in May. Seaway Osprey is now working for Statoil in Norway. Also in Argentina, the Company has completed the Total Argo flowlines tie-back.
The Stolt Offshore website is at www.stoltoffshore.com