Member Info for adoubleuk

zzzclark,

" I think she has been on the buoy"

Did you check the 'past track' function? Before she turned around? She wasn't even over Lancaster, let alone the buoy. If anything, the was in the vicinity of Lincoln and the anchor-spread pattern for the Leader.

But if they were going to do something concerned with the buoy or Lincoln, why put that Heading Control for AM 'tasking' up?

PLUS. A few days ago, Wellwell posted something (thanks!) with a link to some of the equipment already fixed to the buoy, which was pooh-poohed by some people, because most of the stuff is mooring-line attachment points. But in fact it was very informative, because the same company was providing ROV panels for ballasting / debalasting of the buoy, for both installation and latch-up. So this implies that latch-up to the AM involves an ROV deployed from the AM, and it's not simply a question of attaching a hook and sucking on the thing with a winch.

Think about it. The buoy is currently 'hovering' about 20m below the surface, which means it's quite 'positively buoyant' to hold up the weight of the mooring lines. But when it's actually 'at surface' (or near it, latched into the AM's turret), there will be extra tension, maybe beginning to pull on the chains attached to the lines. Tension sufficient to hold the FPSO in place, an FPSO weighing a lot more (and with a lot more inertia) than the OZ.

Imagining that a (relatively) small boat, even equipped with a 250-ton crane can just suck the buoy to surface, do some sort of inspection (how, and of what?) then drop it back to 20m, all in 'not nice' weather is stretching the imagination a bit.

And as I've mentioned, the AIS shows the OZ nowhere near the buoy's location.

DC, zzzclark,

" Looks like some quick work / checking of the buoy."

Sorry, guys, but she went nowhere near the buoy. Miles away (literally). She's now headed back to Bergen.

I know this is pure guesswork and shipwatcher's speculation, but all I can think of is she went out to rendezvous with the AM in the event that today's small weather window were attempted, but the AM didn't sail so the plan has been aborted.

SotB,

"Possibly trawling for a shoal o fish !"

Or maybe she was sent out to catch that giant squid, using the big crane she's got on the back end...

Sorry, heading east...

DC,

"Yes it is very odd as she now appears to leaving Lancaster and is advising restricted maneuverability"

Yup, 'restricted manoeuverability', while heading west at 10.5 knots!

???????

Albi,

" good to see the OZ is in place for assistance"

Yes, but a bit strange. Why sail her to the field while the AM is still stopped at Cromarty? Surely she could simply have stayed on standby in Norway and sailed when the AM started moving; Or altenatively she could have gone to Cromarty herself and then the whole little 'fleet' headed for Lancaster when the weather is good?

As it is, she's sitting bobbing around WoS doing nothing in particular from what one can see on the AIS. She's nowhere near the buoy or anything else already in place that I can make out...

Rather odd.

"BS" (Quoth Wellwell)

" It is obvious BW trying to save money on the first two attempts. Cowboys spring to mind.Multimillion pound operation and they put the cash cow at risk ffs !" (Quoth SotB)

I reckon SotB is trying this 'Dry January' thing and it's having a bad effect on his thinking capabilities.

McGee,

"If the first attempt to hook up without heading assistance , IMO especially with WOS conditions this would have been risky, The snagged wire would have been the bouy pick up line or the pull in line ither internally or externally"

Quite agree. with your comments so far.

And by what we've seen on AIS and what was written in the RNS, tension had been taken on the buoy, so it's reasonably safe to assume the 'rope' referred to was 'wire rope'.

The thing being, it's one thing having a DP1 vessel trying to keep station, but once attached, there's the movement of the buoy (even if it's only 66 foot down) to take into account, as well. It reminds me of helicopter-lifts, picking up cargo on a sling: interesting to watch, sometimes!

But here, there's no way there can be 'relative wobble' when drawing the buoy into the turret.

The emergence of the OZ onto the scene is a Good Thing. Sign of a 'belt and braces' Plan B. Or rather, a 'reinforced' Plan A.

But nevertheless, AIS can only tell us a tiny bit about what's going on.

Patience....

McGee,

"No chance of the rope snagging during heading ops"

That's a very clever answer!

Mind you, I think our friend SotB must have been on the IrnBru to pose such a question...

Wellwell,

By the way...

"Answers on a postcard."

I sent a Christmas card to my neice (who lives in Herefordshire) by 'first class post' on Dec 15th. It arrived last week. So your postcards might be delivered after we've seen the result on AIS.

Wellwell,

" I can’t recall however if that FPSO (Peregrino) had its own thrusters or not though."

No, it didn't. Had no DP capability at all.

It must be recalled that although the AM can supposedly do latch-up by herself, the last (and only) time was on Ettrick, in the middle of the N.Sea, in June 2009.

This is January, WoS: not quite the same thing.

Looks like there's a 'plan B'.

McGee,

Good to see you back here! And thanks for input.

So maybe OZ will do 'tug-assist'?

extrader,

"Well, I for one think it's interesting /good to see that our Technical Engineering Director has been allocated 675K of VCP shares."

Oh yes! Adoubleuk goes off at half-cock as usual. So that's two people in the company who've been allocated shares.

Good news.

Albi1,

"anyone on here knows what "Heading control Aoka Mizu" means?"

Very good question.

I don't know what it means, but am willing to make a guess. That being, it's something to do with relative positioning buoy / turret / FPSO during the latching-up operation. Pure speculative thinking, so won't elaborate further. Might email a buddy who knows more about this sort of stuff, even so.

Another guess, regarding the 'D/D 14' bit. The boat's on spot-hire, and has a busy upcoming schedule. I think D/D stand for Days / Duration of the charter.

Stand to be corrected by anyone better in the know.

BlooBird,

"Surprised no-one has commented on latest RNS at 5 o'clock today."

Personally I read it, of course, but didn't find much cause to comment. Other than someone called Melissa Clare has been appointed as GWA Joint Venture Operations Manager, but as that's not a board appointment, there's no reason there should have been an earlier RNS about it. And that she's also been allocated some shares as part of an incentive scheme seems perfectly normal and routine to me.

In fact the only comment I can think of is that it's nice to learn that there's a handful of shares less for the traders to get their hands on!

SXXPP,

"This is all I can find... The last part is a bit annoying, it uses words such as "should", "possible", and "opinion"....

Yes, but you're quoting from the CPR provided by RPS. And a CPR is nothing more (nor less) than 'third party opinion'. So such documents are peppered with disclaime²rs and qualifiers from start to finish.

You ought to read the small print on the back of a Mud Engineer's daily report! Responsible for nothing.

Biffa,

"Unless anybody has some written documentation/article/company announcement, then I suggest it's best forgotten as it no longer matters anyway. We are where we are and hopefully a WW will open up soon."

I nominate that as quote of the week / month / year.

All this stuff is oilfield operations. It's not 'line production manufacturing' nor anything of that sort., where if there are time slippages or budget overruns the shareholders have very good reason to demand the reason why.

And anyway, to the best of our knowledge there are no time slippages nor budget overruns here, and certain people are worrying about non-existent problems.

canetois,

"That'll teach you to live on the Atlantic side, move over to the Med for better health.

"The West is the Best..." (from the song 'The End': The Doors, 1967)

Snail,

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