”Esvagt Aurora” demonstrates Arctic ambitions

ESVAGT’s most recent new vessel, ’Esvagt Aurora’, is completely tailored for work in the Arctic Regions. 

The shipping company sees the extractions in the Arctic Regions in the coming years as a very important market.

The oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Regions is undergoing rapid development these years, and ESVAGT has considerable ambitions of being a player in that special market.

These ambitions are strongly underlined by ”Esvagt Aurora”, which has just been chartered for the ENI, Norway in the Goliath Field in the Barents Sea after the vessel had arrived from the Zamakona Shipyard in Bilbao, Spain. ”Esvagt Aurora” is 87 metres long and weights about 2,100 tons and thus ”Esvagt Aurora” is physically the largest vessel that ESVAGT has till now included in its programme.

At the same time, it is a heavy-weight investment and a signal that ESVAGT for one seems to be finding its future market in the Arctic Regions – also after the 5-year period that ’Esvagt Aurora’ has been chartered for.

- The oil and gas production in the Arctic Regions has only just started, and we see a strong potential being involved from the beginning. The Barents Sea and Greenland, where we have just had two vessels working, have shown great findings, and we have ambitions of getting established in these markets right from the outset, says Søren Nørgaard Thomsen, Managing Director in ESVAGT.

Prepared for the cold

Work in the Arctic Regions requires something very special. In these waters, the sea water is so cold that chances of survival are negligible if a person falls overboard and he or she does not get out of the water very quickly. Søren Nørgaard Thomsen estimates that ESVAGT with its high training capacity will be able to take the lead as a supplier of quality.

Besides that, the vessels have been adapted to the special conditions. Just like ”Esvagt Aurora”, ”Esvagt Bergen” and ”Esvagt Stavanger” have been specially equipped to handle the tough conditions that you are working under in the most northernly Norway.

The air is very moist there, and as the air is biting cold at the same time, there is a great risk of icing. Thus, all ladders and escape routes are warmed up preventing people from slipping. The masts are warmed up to avoid icing. There is a stronger steel protection of the bow to counter brash ice, and the helideck can be washed down with warm water so that ice formation is avoided.

Put together, this will contribute to ensure that “Esvagt Aurora” is operational – irrespective of the weather conditions – and the vessel is ready to handle anything that may come.

Strong environmental preparedness

The Arctic Regions are different as well in having a very sensitive and vulnerable countryside. This makes especially heavy demands on e.g. oil spill preparedness.

Therefore, ”Esvagt Aurora” has comprehensive oil spill preparedness with higher capacity of the collection tanks than any other ESVAGT vessel. She has more complex and more powerful FiFi (fire fighting) equipment than in any other ESVAGT vessel, and as the first vessel in the fleet, she is equipped with a ROV – a unmanned submarine that can work down to a depth of 500 metres and that will e.g. be able to inspect the drilling wells so that any irregularities can be detected in time.

Facts 

”Esvagt Aurora”