BG Group has saved itself more than £18million after it agreed a new contract on a flotel damaged by North Sea gales.
Life boats on the Safe Bristolia were damaged last October when a huge wave lashed the vessel that was in place to offer accommodation to workers on BG’s North Everest platform.
The flotel’s owner, Prosafe, took the vessel back to a shipyard in Norway for repair. Last week, the Norwegian offshore accommodation specialist announced it had “rephased” the Safe Bristolia’s work programme with BG.
This involved a reduction the time it will be deployed at Everest, but also a drop in the bill from £44million to £25.8million.
The project that the flotel supports involves a major campaign to modernise the platform, which is over 20 years old, alongside the Central Area Transmission System (Cats) riser platform connected to the rig.
The campaign, which has been delayed by the flotel repair work, will now commence June 2015 for four months. After this, the Safe Bristolia will return for two months from mid-May 2016, with Prosafe granting BG two additional 15-day options.