T
he increasing demand for risk management in offshore
drilling has set in motion many innovations aimed at
reducing costs, managing emergency situations, and
ensuring environmental safety. One such innovation, is the
Delmar Quick Release (DQR) system. The system saves time
and money in both normal mooring procedures and emergency
situations by forgoing the need for secondary support
vessels (where the primary drilling vessel has active winching
capabilities) to disconnect, reducing transit time (T-time), and
minimising the exposure of personnel on the back deck of the
assisting anchor handling vessel (AHV).
Historically, drilling operators have used two main vessel
types: dynamic positioning vessels (DPs) that burn fuel
constantly in an attempt to stay on station or moored rigs that
can require weeks to both moor and unmoor from a location.
Both of these options can be a drain on resources like fuel, rig
time, and personnel; not to mention potential safety hazards and
environmental threats.
The introduction of the DQR system presents a third option,
pairing the environmental and monetary stability of mooring
with the capability of swift-moving DP vessels. It does this by
changing the way vessels release their mooring components to
the seafloor, resulting in an increase in the flexibility of moored
rigs and DP vessels.
Due to market conditions, the cost of drilling is a primary
focus area for operators. It is hoped that the new system will
help reduce rig move time and offer additional rig schedule
flexibility and marketability, resulting in overall cost reduction.
In typical mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) mooring
situations, leaving a drilling site requires up to a week to
disconnect from the seafloor. Secondary support vessels such
as AHVs must chase out to the anchor with the rig’s permanent
chain chaser, the AHV’s widebody chaser, or the like and
physically walk the mooring components back to the rig for
conventional systems. For preset systems, the vessel chases out
to a connection, brings it up onto the AHV deck, and the deck
Amanda Dorman, Delmar Systems, looks
at reducing risk in offshore mooring
operations with a new quick
release system.
DQRand rig fairlead interactionduring release test.
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