Breaux Tide finished

It appears that the supplier Breaux Tide is leaving Nova Scotia waters for another assignment. The boat was one of two Tidewater vessels engaged to support Shell's exploration program with the drill ship Stena IceMAX.
 

After DP trials in Bedford Basin, Breaux Tide returns to pier 9c.

Both received coasting licenses to allow the Vanuatu registered ships to take the Canadian flag on a non-duty paid basis and to work in Canadian waters. Management of the two was by Atlantic Towing Ltd (ATL), as bareboat charters. The Jones Tide did not complete its first year when it was stood down after Stena IceMAX had the drill stem drop to the seabed in March 2016.

Jones Tide outbound. Ten days later it was idled at the old Coast Guard base (in the background).

After sitting idle at the old Coast Guard base for the month of April 2016, it reverted to the Vanuatu flag and sailed on May 5, 2016. It is now working in Trinidad and Tobago.


Breaux Tide renewed its coasting license in August 2016 for another year, but last month it appears to have gone off charter, and has been idle at the old Coast Guard base in Dartmouth. It will be sailing today for an as yet undisclosed location.

As of June, Tidewater, the largest offshore vessel operators in the world, had 87 of its 181 boats stacked and that figure may be larger now. However they may have found work for a new vessel like Breaux Tide.

Delivered by Jiangsu Zhenjiang in March 2015, the 3,927 grt supplier arrived in Halifax in late August 2015 via Capetown and Port Gentil, Gabon and was registered in Halifax August 31.
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 Stena IceMAX is entering a new phase as it is reported that the ship must now drill a horizontal offset after encountering a major fissure in its current well, Cheshire. Shell has also announced that it will not be drilling any more in the current program, which was for two wells with an option for more if results were positive. The first well, Monterrey Jack did not deliver satisfactory results, not to mention the huge dollar loss due to the drill riser problem.


Support for the drill program is now being provided by Skandi Flora  (bareboat chartered by Mathers) and Maersk Nexus which joined the program in August and did not need a coasting license, since it is a Canadian flag vessel, Scotian Sea (Secunda.) and Atlantic Tern (ATL) also appear to be doing standby duty. Thus Shell has spread their largess amongst all the players in the supplier business. However they were not without criticism, since almost all the crew members are from Newfoundland, and the work is offshore Nova Scotia. The reverse situation would not be tolerated long in Newfoundland!

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Breaux Tide working, not so Jones Tide - updated 2015-12-23

Support vessels for Shell's offshore drilling program come and go on a regular basis - that is until recently. Today Breaux Tide was backing in to pier 9B where Skandi Flora had been tied up, however sister supplier, Jones Tide has been sitting idle.

I hear that Jones Tide (owned by Tidewater, and bareboat chartered to Atlantic Towing) is off charter due to some unfortunate problems with its Dynamic Positioning System. DP is  used to hold a ship in position using sophisticated satellite navigation instrumentation, tied to the ship's propulsion controls. Something went wrong with Jones Tide's DP however and it "contacted" the drill ship Stena Icemax on two occasions. The nature of the contact is not known to me, and there is no visible evidence of it on Jones Tide- Even so it is not supposed to happen at all.

No doubt repairs are underway, but there will have to be a trials period before it can resume it charter, to ensure that there is no repetition. So far there has been no sign of a replacement vessel.

Update: Jones Tide sailed Wednesday December 23, so the problems were apparently sorted out.  Strangely, Marine Traffic showed its destination as a marina in Ston, Honduras, however its course heading indicates it is heading for the Stena Icemanx.

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Tides Coming In

With the Shell drilling program well underway off Nova Scotia, the suppliers are making a steady progression in and out of port. On Saturday November 7 Jones Tide arrived and on Sunday November 8 Breaux Tide arrived.They are operated by Atlantic Towing Ltd on charter from Tidewater.
 

Ostensibly sister ships, there are difference in appearance and fittings between the two, built about a year apart.

Breaux Tide had to wait for Jones Tide to leave the oil dock before going in for fuel, but instead of anchoring it "set itself up on DP". It was a very windy day, and there anchorage areas were occupied, but the ship used is Dynamic Positioning and remained beautifully steady in position for a few hours until it was time to move.

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And they're off

Almost like the beginning of a horse race or perhaps the old time LeMans start for a car race, a small fleet of suppliers began to leave over the weekend for the start of Shell's drilling program in the Shelburne Basin.

Shell Oil (with non-operating partners Conco Phillips 30% and Suncor 20%) acquired licenses for six areas and may drill seven exploratory wells over the next four years. The area, about 250 km south of Halifax, just off the edge of the continental shelf, is off the Southwest Scotian Shelf.

The drill ship Stena IceMAX has arrived from the Gulf of Mexico and will be positioning itself to drill in 1500 to 3500 meters of water. If the first two wells look good Shell will continue drilling, However it is do or die, for if those two are unpromising the program will end.

Shell has contracted for four suppliers to support the operation.

Secunda's Scotian Sea sailed on Sunday, and will be the standby vessel which will remain on scene most of the time. It can also carry supplies, and is fitted with large rescue boat.

Breaux Tide sailed also and it is one of two suppliers chartered by Atlantic Towing from Tidewater. Sister Jones Tide is still in Halifax but ready to sail when needed.

DOF Subsea Canada is using Skandi Flora which has also sailed.

All the suppliers are working under the Canadain flag, with Canadain crews.

Unfortunately the drilling site is outside of the AIS range, so it will not be possible to monitor activity as we can with the gas fields in the Sable Island area.

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Gas and Oil problems

Looking at Pier 9C one would be excused for thinking that all those suppliers mean a lot of activity in the oil and gas sector.

The Shell Oil offshore drilling program, expected to start up in September, is still not underway due to permit delays. Three suppliers are idle in Halifax waiting for the drill ship Stena IceMAX to arrive from the Gulf of Mexico.

 Farthest from the camera Jones Tide, then Skandi Flora are awaiting Shell's start up. Scotian Sea in the foreground is awaiting its next assignment. At right Atlantic Condor sails for Deep Panuke.

 
The third Shell supplier, Breaux Tide, is tied up at the Mobil dock in Dartmouth, so the suppliers that usually use that dock are now using Pier 9C.

Jones Tide doing trials on October 3.

All is not well off Sable Island where the two gas projects are winding down well before the end of their expected life spans.

Sable Offshore Energy Project (Exxon Mobil, Shell Canada, Imperial Oil, Mosbacher and Pengrwouth) is talking of decommissioning to start in 2017. It will be a major project to dismantle the well and production platform, and lead partner Exxon is considering Point Tupper as the base for that work.
First gas was in 1999 with an expected life of 25 years, but production has been diminishing for several years.

Meanwhile at nearby Deep Panuke, production has been off and on recently due to large quantities of water. Its first gas was in 2013 and instead of 13 years of production, the field may only have two years left. Operator Encana is now said to be considering selling the project (but who would buy it with that prognosis?)

Supply boats will still be needed for several years no matter what happens to the gas fields, but it seems unlikely that there will be actual development in oil fields beyond exploration drilling unless the price of oil goes up again.

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A Brace of Suppliers

After last year's major seismic exploration venture in the Shelburne Basin off Nova Scotia, Shell Oil received enough favourable information to begin drilling with the drill ship Stena Icemax..

Canadian supply boat operators had no available/suitable vessels to support the operation and have resorted to chartering in foreign tonnage for the work.

Atlantic Towing Ltd has received Canadian Transport Agency OK to bring in two suppliers on bareboat charter from Tidewater for a year less a day.

Sisters Jones Tide and Breaux Tide arrived in Halifax when I was away in August and their registration was changed from Port Vila, Vanuatu to Halifax, effective August 31.
The suppliers were built by Jiangsu Zhenjiang and measure 3,927 grt and 4,578 dwt.

DOF Rederi AS of Storebo, Norway, through their Canadian subsidiary DOF Subsea Canada Corp have brought in Skandi Flora, which was built in 2009 by STX Norway Offshore in Trondheim. It measures 4469 grt, 5005 dwt.

 

It was registered in Halifax September 3. So far it is the only one of the boats that has moved, but only to shift piers. 

They are all still awaiting arrival of the Stena Icemax, which was to start work roughly September 1, but is still reported to be in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oh and the Quiz answer from my last post. That is my friend in front of a giant winch reel in a shipyard in Singapore.

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