American Explorer has during May gone through an extensive upgrade in Ølen, Norway. All propulsion motors have been changed, new solid streamers have been installed and there have been extensive maintenance and repairs done to the vessel.
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American Explorer during its upgrade
in Ølen |
After shake down, the vessel deployed 6 streamers in less than 24 hours and started production for BP on the Harding field which is a significant achievement.
New solid streamers
“We were very happy to finally being able to upgrade the streamers”, says Rolf Rønningen, President Marine Acquisition. “The new sections are filled with a material called BVF (Buoyant Void Filler), which is more environmental friendly than the old fluid filled streamers. With the new solid streamers there will be no discharge to the environment and we will also have an improved operating up-time.”
Flexible fleet
American Explorer has been owned by PGS since 1994. “She is a very important vessel for PGS, which is why we decided to invest in this upgrade”, Rønningen explains. “American is more flexible than the Ramform fleet for smaller jobs as deployment and recovery takes shorter time. Having a broad range of vessels to choose from makes PGS competitive in all types of jobs".