110 workers from Westcon’s Ølensvåg yard in western Norway have been at a ‘work camp’ in Las Palmas repairing the ‘Eirik Raude’ drill rig. It was cheaper than bringing the installation to Norway.
The Westcon employees have been upgrading and renovating ‘Eirik Raude’ since the beginning of October. It arrived from a drilling assignment off the Equatorial Guinea coast and will be sent to a new one off Liberia following its Las Palmas holiday capital sojourn.
“Many people might believe the stay in Las Palmas is a closet holiday,” Westcon financial controller Åse Marie Håland Skeie says, slightly jokingly. She has been in Las Palmas on assignment for the company the last week.
“Work is carried out from 7 am to 7 pm. We can only glance at the lovely beaches on the journey between the office and the hotel located slightly further into the big city,” she adds.
“Not exactly summery”
The Westcon financial controller also explains the weather has not exactly been summery, either, but rather a little grey with some showers.
Company and Westcon customer Ocean Rig owns and uses the ‘Eirik Raude’. Ocean Rig project manager Pål Eikrem says the drill rig will now be inspected and classed.
Four drilling rigs are waiting at Westcon’s yard in Ølen, western Norway, ready for work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
“These types of reviews often uncover things that need improving. The alternative to getting the work done here in Las Palmas would have been travelling a long way to southern Africa’s Namibia or Cape Town. Moving the rig to Norway was also considered, but everything would have become more expensive,” he declares.
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