Design considerations for an Arctic intervention vessel

This paper describes ongoing work to tailor make an offshore intervention vessel for operations off the coast of Norway and in Svalbard waters. Operational requirements have been specified using subject matter experts from oil and shipping industries, equipment manufacturers and research organizations. A business case has been prepared for a vessel operating from a base in Northern Norway and serving two potential fields, one close to the coast of Finnmark (Goliat field) and the other one in the Olga Basin east of Svalbard. Available metocean and ice data have been collected and used for a parameter variation study of vessel characteristics. These data has also been used when selecting sea-state conditions to be used in the initial model test studies performed in MARINTEK's towing tank and ocean basin. The measured vessel response characteristics have been discussed with equipment manufacturers in an attempt to specify operational limits for key intervention tasks