Aker Marine Contractors - Marine Operations and Installation Services

Aker Marine Contractors is an international provider of marine operations and installation services to the oil and gas industry within its four main services areas:

• Installation of structures, umbilicals, risers and flowlines
• Mooring and floater installation
• Floatover
• Removal

Services offered include concept development, detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication and the performance of marine operations, subsea installation and removal activities.

Aker Marine Contractors executes projects on its own as well as in partnership with its owner, Aker Solutions, providing access to the technology, competence, resources and global networks of these companies. The two state-of-the-art deepwater construction vessels BOA Deep C and BOA Sub C are controlled by Aker Marine Contractors. In addition, Aker Marine Contractors has alliances with Maersk Supply Service and Saipem.

Aker Marine Contractors has a proud and unique heritage, having successfully executed the most complex projects around the world over the last 30 years. We handled the largest structure ever moved on the surface of the earth, undertook the longest tow of a fixed platform, pioneered offshore floatover of large topsides and installed subsea equipment at the world's northernmost field.

Mooring systems

Aker Marine Contractors has performed numerous operations for the installation of many and varied mooring systems which include:

• Heavy, large-diameter chain systems for the temporary mooring of gravity base structures during their construction phases
• Drag-embedded anchors and suction anchors with mooring lines with segments of coated / uncoated wire and heavy large diameter chain for the permanent mooring of various types of floating production units
• Taut-leg mooring systems utilising synthetic fibre elements for the mooring of semi-submersible drilling rigs and production units

Aker Marine Contractors is a leader in the development of deep-water mooring solutions for the oil and gas industry. This market has also provided a unique opportunity for Aker Marine Contractors to develop some innovative methods of deployment of mooring systems in deep water.

Aker Marine Contractors has undertaken several large FPSO mooring installations worldwide, in water depths ranging from 100m to 2,000m. The common element in these operations is the large dimensions of the mooring components. Accurate positioning of the anchors is achieved utilizing state-of-the-art navigational equipment (e.g. differential global positioning system (DGPS) or similar), while the mooring lines are test loaded to pre-determined requirements upon completion of installation of the system.

Installation of structures, umbilicals, risers and flowlines

Aker Marine Contractors has developed extensive skills in diver-less subsea intervention within a broad range of subsea activities. Typical examples are:

• Load-out, transport, installation and comissioning of umbilicals, flexible flowlines and risers
• Load-out, wet-tow and installation / retrieval of subsea structures using AMCs patented "pencil buoy method"
• Load-out, transport and installation of subsea structures, e.g. templates, manifolds and other subsea equipment, by crane operations from OCVs
• Numerous mooring systems involving heavy suction anchors installed with the aid of ROV-mounted or ROV-operated suction skids
• Installation of concrete gravity base storage tanks (GBTs) and concrete tether foundations with the aid of ROV-operated mechanical equipment modules
• Towage, upending and subsea installation of tethers

During these years Aker Marine Contractors has developed and engineered cost-effective methods and intervention equipment, which has allowed performance of a broad range of advanced subsea operations.

Floatover

Aker Marine Contractors has wide experience from topside mating operations in in-shore waters. Knowledge from these established and well proven systems, equipment and techniques has been transferred to the engineering and performance of offshore floatover operations.

Selection of the vessel to be used for the offshore floatover operation is based upon the requirements of topsides transportation, on the available clearances in the jacket/substructure slot and on market availability. To reduce the impact load during load transfer, a system of elastomeric bearing supports is installed on the jacket / substructure.

Removal

Aker Marine Contractors is able to provide the skills and resources necessary to execute the tasks associated with platform refloat / removal and field abandonment to the highest standards of safety and implementation. Calling upon the vast experience of numerous mating and installation operations requiring multi-disciplinary expertise including geotechnics, civil, marine and mechanical engineering and weight control, Aker Marine Contractors is able to execute the project to world-class standards.

Aker Marine Contractors designed and developed the methods, equipment and a majority of the auxiliary tools, including data acquisition packages and control facilities, required to carry out and control the refloat operations for the Maureen alpha platform and articulated loading column.