Posted on June 5, 2023
Netherlands contractor Boskalis has won the contract to remove and recycle Velesto Energy’s rig that capsized offshore Malaysia in May 2021 just as it was about to begin a drilling campaign for US major ConocoPhillips.
Boskalis Malaysia will remove and recycle Velesto’s jack-up Naga 7, which suffered a punch through before tilting and then submerging on location of ConocoPhillips’ Salam-3 appraisal well on Block WL4-00 off the coast of Sarawak, East Malaysia. The Naga 7 was later declared a total loss.
The Dutch contractor will use its floating sheerleg crane Taklift 7 to recover the sunken rig with the work scheduled to be performed over two seasons – now until November 2023 and then from March to November 2024, noted the Malaysia Coast Guard.
The first season’s offshore work at least will be supported by Eastern Navigation’s accommodation barge Eastern WB300, which was last at anchorage in Songkhla, Thailand, according to VesselsValue. Also in attendance will be the small anchor handling tug ASL Beaver and anchor handling tug supply vessel Daya Indah Satu.
Boskalis has yet to respond to an Upstream query regarding details of its upcoming job to recover and recycle the ill-fated jack-up.
Velesto earlier said the Naga 7 was “adequately covered by insurance” and was working with the insurance underwriters and Protection & Indemnity (P&I) Club on the way forward.
The rig and other related liabilities were adequately covered under the Hull & Machinery insurance and the P&I Club, respectively. The drilling contractor after the sinking issued a notice of abandonment of the submerged rig to the H&M insurers.
ConocoPhillips subsequently returned to drill its Salam-3 appraisal well as part of a three-well campaign in the northern hemisphere summer of 2022 with Icon Offshore’s jack-up Icon Caren (formerly the Perisai Pacific 101).
