Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. has entered into an agreement with BP Exploration & Production to amend their existing 2013 agreement for the Q5000 well intervention vessel.
The start of the the well intervention services work in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, previously scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2015, will be postponed to April 1, 2016.
Helix has said that under the amendment it will have an option to market the vessel to other potential customers, including prior to the start of the work for BP.
The overall contract period remains at five years, with options to renew, with a minimum of 270 days annually.
“We are glad that we were able to work together with an important customer and reach a mutually agreeable solution to address the current industry environment. Our expectations are that the vessel will be completed over the next two months, then set sail for the Gulf of Mexico to get ready for BP or perhaps other customers prior to going to BP,” said Helix President and Chief Executive Officer Owen Kratz .
Q5000
Q5000 has been designed to perform a wide variety of tasks, including subsea well intervention, field and well decommissioning, installation and recovery of subsea equipment, well testing and emergency well containment.
It is equipped with a multipurpose tower capable of fulfilling all traditional derrick roles, plus a deepwater crane with lifting capacity to 360mT and a work crane rated to 160 mT. The vessel’s design includes a 68 ft x 26 ft moonpool and 23 ft x 22 ft mechanized fully opening rig floor door, a 7- 3/8 inch intervention riser system, two 10,000 ft heavy-weather ROV systems and an overall deck load of 3,000 mT.