Wärtsilä gensets picked for well intervention vessels

JUNE 30, 2014 — Wärtsilä is to deliver generating sets for the two new well intervention vessels that German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is building for Norway’s Siem Offshore. Flensburg, Germany.

Siem Offshore is building the 158 m ships under an agreement with Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (NYSE: HLX) which will charter the vessels to Petrobras. Helix will provide the topsides and manage the integration of the well intervention equipment onto the vessels, while Siem will be responsible for the monohull build and oversee construction at FSG. Siem charter both the vessels and marine crew to Helix for an initial period of seven years.

Dynamic positioning (DP) is, therefore, crucial to the successful operation of well intervention vessels and the energy supply to the DP system must be reliable and efficient.

Eight 6-cylinder in-line Wärtsilä 32 generating sets were chosen for each of these ships based upon the customer’s requirements for best availability, reliability, and economic fuel consumption. Each genset will be fitted with an SCR catalyst to clean the exhaust and NOx emissions so as to comply with the IMO’s Tier III environmental regulations. Delivery of the Wärtsilä equipment will commence in May 2015.

“Wärtsilä has a long and successful track record in working together with both FSG and Siem Offshore and we are again honoured to have been selected to supply solutions that are critical to the successful operations of these vessels. The Wärtsilä 32 engines are the most suitable for this project due to their overall performance in terms of fuel consumption, emissions, weight and size,” says Matthias Becker, General Manager, Wärtsilä Ship Power in Germany.