18 months with Scarabeo

Pulished: 27.06.12

As giant oil rig, Scarabeo 8, sailed into the fjord in Ølensvåg for repair, Consultant Manager, Neil Carlsen, thought Omega would be lucky to get six or seven consultants on the rig job. In May, Carlsen and more than 60 of our consultants finished an 18-month long assignment on one of the world's most advanced drilling rigs.

"When the rig came to Ølensvåg it was pretty much dead. Now it has been reborn and is ready for action. It has been quite a job,” says Neil Carlsen who was formerly one of Omega's Consultant Managers.

Scarabeo left Ølensvåg in May after extensive repairs were performed by Omega's neighbor Westcon, offering us the opportunity to participate on the revitalization of the giant, which is now equipped for deep-water drilling and operations in arctic climates.

More than expected

Scarabeo is currently undergoing operational tests outside Måløy on the northwest coast of Norway. The platform has been Westcon’s largest project to date and has been a significant job for Omega, employing both our Pims systems and a large consultant team.

"We did not know who would get the Scarabeo 8 assignment until the platform sailed in to the fjord in Ølensvåg. It gave us the opportunity to participate in one of the largest assignments the district has ever seen," Neil Carlsen says.

Westcon and Omega took their long-term cooperation one step further as we were awarded a consultant services frame agreement on the project shortly after the rig arrived. More than 60 of our consultants have been working on the platform since November 2010, and our Pims systems have been running a number of the processes during the repair.

Project Manager at Westcon, Endre Matre, says the job on Scarabeo has made us all better equipped to meet new assignments in the future.

"We chose Omega for this job as we have had positive experiences with Pims and know that you have a good network of skilled consultants. Together we have met the challenges of the assignment in a positive way. Scarabeo 8 evolved into something much bigger than we predicted and you have been one of the important contributors to the project, deserving praise for the job you did."

The platform is considered one of the world's most advanced drilling rigs, designed for operation in harsh environments and drilling in water to depths of 3000 meters. The rig was damaged in a fire at a shipyard in Italy, and sailed to Ølensvåg for rehabilitation, completion and commissioning in October 2010.

See Westcon’s film of the giant platform docking in Ølensvåg.

Neither our consultant team, nor our systems team, were aware that the assignment would be as extensive as it became.

Carlsen was involved with Westcon at an early stage of the project, negotiating the rig agreement with Scarabeo owner Saipem, but did not predict the scope of the job and the opportunities it would offer Omega's consultant team.

Until the rig sailed into the fjord in Ølensvåg, neither Omega nor Westcon knew if they would get to participate in the rig's rebirth. It was a thrilling route from Palermo in Italy to Norway as Carlsen and Westcon colleagues followed the platform’s voyage closely. Until the rig sailed into Ølensvåg, few knew who had been granted the upgrade.

“We had no idea where the platform was going, until it sailed to Ølensvåg. It was an incredibly exciting project that Omega was very eager to work on with Westcon. I remember thinking that we’d be lucky if we got seven consultants, max., on the job, but I ended up working with 60 Omega colleagues onboard.”

First-class job

During the most hectic period of the project, more than 1200 people worked on Scarabeo daily, almost twice the workforce they estimated would be needed. Carlsen was responsible for mobilizing Pims CMS on the platform, and would then return to his job as a Consultant Manager with Omega after a short period on Scarabeo. That was the plan anyway.

“I had my Managerial job at Omega, and thought my assignment on Scarabeo would take a couple of weeks. I stayed there for 18 months.”

Carlsen has spearheaded the Omega job on the assignment for both systems and consultants crew on Scarabeo during its yardstay at Westcon.

“The job became 7-8 times larger than predicted. When the rig arrived it turned out that 80 per cent of the job was figuring out what we had to with it. It’s been fun and challenging working on the platform, figuring it out and then getting to try whatever we wanted to work on. Saipem has been an exciting partner to work with, the rig was quite an experience and our crew on board did an amazing job,” says Carlsen, now working at the last arrived rig at Westcon, COSL Innovator.

Scarabeo helped opening the doors for even more heavy weight assignments for Westcon, Carlsen says. “Scarabeo gave Westcon the chance to show what they are capable of. We have worked together for a long time, but with Scarabeo they got to prove that they have what it takes to take on the largest and most demanding assignments in the industry. And we got the chance to join in on one of the most extensive jobs this neighborhood has ever had.”