Osbit Power to deliver two heavy weather ROV LAR Systems
Osbit Power, a leading North East subsea engineering and technology company, has been awarded a multi-million pound contract by Helix Well Ops for the supply of twin, heavy weather ROV launch and recovery systems (LARS). The systems will be delivered early next year.
The ROV LARS will be installed into the Q7000, Helix’s new semi-submersible light well intervention rig, which is currently being built in Singapore. Among other design drivers, Osbit Power’s solution has to fit within the below-deck ROV hangars on-board the Q7000 and maintain operability in severe weather conditions.
Osbit Power Engineer Steve Binney has said
“We have worked very closely with Helix’s engineers to ensure that the systems will operate reliably in harsh conditions, while meeting the packaging constraints within the hangars”.
“Osbit’s expertise in developing practical, elegant and reliable solutions has been invaluable in engineering a system that fits within a very limited space, while also meeting Helix’s demanding operational requirements”.
“This industry demands the best from its suppliers, due to the critical nature of its subsea operations. Ensuring that an ROV can be safely deployed at all times is vital to success of our client’s operations”, said Steve.
To cope with the potentially severe weather, each deployment system includes a fast-acting Active Heave Compensated umbilical winch; this allows for wide weather windows when deploying and retracting the ROV and TMS from the cursor system. Mounted on guide-wires, the cursor provides positive down-force when deploying the ROVs through the Moonpool and splash zone, preventing damage to the ROV and TMS during deployment.
OSBIT Managing Director Tony Trapp adds
“Osbit (On Specification, Budget and In Time) has grown rapidly in for four years, and, together, our engineers have spent many decades supplying highly-complex offshore, subsea and military systems. Their experience, combined with our well established supply chain in the North East of England, ensures that can manufacture the most high-performance and reliable offshore equipment available anywhere in the world”.
A recent wave of 23 orders over nine months has brought in more than £10m and means that Osbit Power will soon expand its workforce from 35 to around 43.
Paul Shotton, Helix Well Ops’ Manager for Special Projects has said:
“Osbit has impressed us greatly over several projects, by their ability to innovate and rapidly translate our requirements into practical, high quality engineered solutions. We look forward to them delivering the completed systems in 2015”.