Helix Energy Solutions Group announced that the Q5000 semi-submersible well intervention vessel entered service last week.
The Q5000 is currently on hire for a client in the Gulf of Mexico, prior to it’s five-year contract with BP.
Earlier this year Helix and BP agreed to defer the start-up of the work, previously scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2015, to April 1, 2016.
Owen Kratz , President and Chief Executive Officer of Helix, stated, “The successful deployment of the Q5000 is the culmination of a three year effort on the part of our organization to launch a second semi-submersible purpose-built well intervention asset after the Q4000. We are pleased that we are able to put the vessel into service in advance of the long-term contract that commences next April for BP. The vessel is contracted with another client after the current short term project is completed and we are seeking additional opportunities to put the Q5000 to work in advance of its long-term commitment.”
Based upon the Q4000 design, the Q5000 is a much larger second generation intervention semi with enhanced capability for subsea intervention, construction and life of field services.
It is capable 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.
The Q5000 is outfitted 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.