InterMoor completes mooring replacement project offshore Equatorial Guinea

HOUSTON -- InterMoor Inc., an Acteon company and part of its foundations and moorings business, finished replacing critical components in an FPU mooring system offshore Equatorial Guinea on schedule, enabling the prime contractor, Boskalis, to expand the InterMoor work scope.

The original contract covered replacing old mooring chains and wire ropes for 8 of the 12 mooring lines along with 2 drag anchors on Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc.’s (MEGI’s) Zafiro Producer floating production unit. During the operation, Boskalis contracted InterMoor to replace an additional mooring line.

The engineering work began in October 2014 in Houston and the Netherlands, where the Norwegian Anchor Handling & Construction (AHC) vessel Olympic Zeus was mobilized. InterMoor completed the installation work on location 64 km west of Malabo, offshore Equatorial Guinea, from the vessel.

During the installation, InterMoor thoroughly inspected all the mooring lines as they were being disconnected from the floating production unit to determine which portion of the line required replacement with new chain and connectors. The company also documented the installation to ensure the client had accurate, as-built information on the mooring system.

The offshore installation was completed in March to MEGI’s satisfaction, and the project will be finalized with all documentation delivered in April. InterMoor had previously worked for MEGI in country, but this was the company’s first time working in conjunction with Boskalis.

“The current market conditions in the oil and gas industry mean that more of our clients are focusing on integrity management to maintain their production levels. InterMoor will work to ensure production is uninterrupted by complications from mooring failures,” InterMoor’s Jim Macklin, V.P. of projects and engineering, said.