Operasjoner. Det var også en gjennomgang av
aktuelle tema fra HR, HSEQ og teknisk avdeling
ved hovedkontoret, i tillegg til at deltakerne fikk
informasjon fra Solstad Offshore Asia Pacific i
Singapore, som NOR-flåten er en del av.
Solstad Offshore has employees all
over the world, a fact reflected by
the shipping conference for the NOR
Fleet officers held in March. Captains and chief engineers had travelled from places such as Australia,
Mexico, Poland, Croatia and Finnmark, Norway to join the conference.
Nor Tigerfish
The participants agreed that sharing
experiences with colleagues is very useful.
Being found on different ships the world over
3rd Engineer Ruben Carillo and 2nd Engineer Anatolii Bakurov, Nor Valiant.
throughout most of the year, they appreciate
getting together at the shipping conference
once a year. The fact that this year’s conference
took place at the head office at Skudeneshavn
gave the participants the chance to meet up
with many of the office staff they otherwise have
contact with by e-mail or phone.
-We appreciate being able to see the faces
behind the voices we know from conversations
over the phone, Roman Tarnowski says with a
smile. He is the Captain of NOR Tigerfish and
has travelled from Poland in order to attend the
gathering at Skudeneshavn. Solships meets him
and Roberto Ramirez, who is Chief Engineer
on Nor Valiant and comes from Mexico. The
participants of the conference do not only come
from different parts of the world – their ships
also operate on separate continents, which offers multiple challenges.
Gas field in Mozambique
NOR Tigerfish has since August last year
32
Solships – June 2013
Nor Valiant
been operating in Mozambique on the east
coast of Africa, where a large gas field is being
developed in the waters off northern Mozambique. The Solstad ship operates on behalf of
Anadarko, which is one of the world’s largest oil
and gas exploration and production companies.
In connection with the gas field development,
an onshore LNG processing plant will also be
built with start-up of production scheduled for
2018. The gas field and the processing facility
are being built in one of the most impoverished
and least developed regions of Mozambique.
This means that infrastructure is scant.
-Everything must be planned carefully and
well in advance. Supplies have to be ordered
two weeks ahead. All supplies are imported
from the neighbouring country, which is South
Africa. There are currently no supply vessels in
the zone that can carry supplies, spare parts
etc. to us, so if we are not docked by the time
the supplies we have ordered arrive, even
more time will pass before we get it onboard.
This can be demanding, but gradually we’ve
become good at planning. I also find it exciting
and interesting to take part in operations in new
regions, Tarnowski says.
All work at the gas field takes place at 1500
m water depth. Operations are carried out in a
zone that may be exposed to pirates, thus the
ship has its own security guards and there are
several vessels patrolling the area in order to
protect the safety of those located there.
The Gulf of Mexio
While NOR Tigerfish is operating on a gas field
under development in Africa, NOR Valiant is
located in a more established area – the Gulf of
Mexico. The construction support vessel is operating on a long-term contract for the Mexican
company DMGP Servicios de Integridad, which
belongs to the large Mexican oilfield services
company Diavaz. In connection with underwa-