Oil rigs: Substantial econonomic boost for Walvis Bay

According to Namdock marketing executive Quintin Simon, there are about 138 rigs active along the coast of West Africa.

“Walvis Bay provides a world-class repair and maintenance stop over for these vessels. Because of these rigs, and the increased activities and interest in potential oil and gas discoveries off the coast of Namibia, the rig service industry in Namibia is substantial."

He explained that the increased sighting of rigs off the coast of Walvis Bay is either due to some rigs preparing for drilling operations in Namibian waters, or along the west coast of Africa.

Other rigs are “hot or cold stacking”, meaning they do not have any contracts on which to work and are therefore inactive. “Due to Namibia’s landscape, world-class services and very reasonable rates compared to the rest of the west coast, these rig operators have opted to wait here for the next contract opportunity.”

Like all ships, rigs also need regular maintenance and repairs over a five to 10-year cycle, which puts Namibia in a good position, considering the current activities.

“It’s a massive industry and Namdock is tapping into the market. We are in negotiations with other companies to bring their rigs to Namibia. It is short turnaround period projects, but also highly valued projects – not just for Namdock and Namport, but for the whole town. For every dollar spent with Namdock with such projects equalls three dollars spent in town,” Simon said.

He added that because of such substantial economic injections for the local economy, it is important that such opportunities are aggressively pursued.

Very capable

The reactivation of the SKD Jaya rig, a semi-submersible tender-assisted drilling unit major repair project from Sapura Energy, illustrated that Namdock has the ability to subcontract out specialist functions and see contracts through to completion.

The entire project was completed without any incidents and required the offloading of a very large item of drilling equipment. This posed a challenge since the quayside was not designed to handle such a heavy piece of equipment. To avoid, damage the item was offloaded directly onto two unsynchronised flatbed units and transported to a destination where it could be repaired.

The Namdock team was charged not only with restoring this vessel to a sea-worthy condition, they also had to ensure that it was safe and fully compliant with maritime legislation. To do this required highly complex work and involved a range of disciplines including rigging, fabrication, electrical and mechanical work, carpentry and painting.

To complete, the scope of work involved 17 different ‘sub-projects’, which included ensuring that the accommodation and catering facilities were all in good order.

Other sections of the project entailed the refurbishing and testing of drilling equipment. The operability of all lighting, signal and fire safety equipment had to be checked. The anchors and anchor wires were removed and rehabilitated. The deck crane cables were removed and load tested. The engines, generators and heat exchangers were serviced and repaired. The fog and weather monitoring systems were calibrated and all anodes were replaced. The re-certification of the life boats, servicing and load testing of all davits, and the replacement and drop-testing of the helideck perimeter netting were also done.

Further tasks included the removal and lab testing of the blow-out preventer test pump, overhaul of all valves on the rig, assisting RigNet technicians with all satellite antenna connections and supplying and reinstalling radio survey and satellite compass equipment. Sapura Energy also had many requests for tools, consumables and local repair services, to which EBHN responded quickly and efficiently.