Deepsea-Mira

The lost lifeboat of the brand new drilling rig "West Mira" which had been hit by a major wave just over a week ago from one of the lifeboat stations was recovered in the night of Jan 25 by a Russian oil tanker about 60 nautical miles west of Røst. It was picked up by the Coast Guard and towed to Svolvær for further investigations. The rig, which is owned by John Fredriksen's rigging company Northern Ocean, was working for Wintershall DEA on the Halten Bank in the Norwegian Sea when the lifeboat got lost. The site was about 319 kilometers from where the lifeboat was recovered. An investigation has been started to determine the causes of the incident. Solstad Offshore's anchor handling vessel "Normand Prosper" had in vain searched for the boat.

In the morning of Jan 12, 2020, the 'West Mira' was hit by a wave in pos. 64° 56.27' N 006° 46.53' E which struck just below one of the lifeboat stations. One lifeboat came lose and fell into the sea. While the incident was under investigation, the Solstad AHTS "Normand Prosper" was searching for the missing lifeboat. The search is carried out according to driftway analyzes, which the Norwegian National Rescue Center has made. The rig was commissioned by Wintershall Dea on the Halten Bank in the Norwegian Sea when the incident occurred. All activity on the rig was suspended due to weather conditions when the incident occurred. There was still lifeboat capacity for all the 120 people currently on board. The MRCC in southern Norway and the Norwegian Coastal Administration regularly sent navigation alerts to ships in the area that there was a lifeboat in the Norwegian Sea. The rig started in November on a two-year drilling campaign for Wintershall Dea and during that period will drill at least 12 wells for the oil company. After the rig is finished with the Bergknapp well, it will proceed to the Maria field to drill two wells.

Wintershall Norge AS has awarded a rig contract for the Nova development to Seadrill Norway Operations Ltd who will operate the West Mira drilling rig on behalf of Northern Drilling. In addition, Wintershall has entered a long-term frame agreement with Seadrill for potential future rig needs. The WEST MIRA will drill six subsea wells on the Nova field (formerly Skarfjell) starting in the first half of 2020. Wintershall Norge has options to use the rig for up to 10 additional wells on its other operated assets or for exploration activities. “This is another major milestone for the Nova project. With the procurement of this modern rig, we now have in place one of the final pieces of the puzzle that will allow us to build this field and deliver first oil from Nova in 2021,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Norge Managing Director. The WEST MIRA is a newly built sixth generation rig designed to operate in all weather conditions.