While many people were still enjoying their winter holidays, a 450-t submerged turret buoy was being installed in the central North Sea. The 26 December installation was part of Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited’s development of Ettrick field. Six Acteon companies were involved in the mooring operation, principally Trident Offshore, which worked with field development contractor Saipem UK, Sonsub Division (Sonsub), but with important contributions from sister companies 2H Offshore, InterMoor, Aquatic, IMS and Seatronics.
The work had several technically challenging aspects, including towing the buoy with nine pre-attached, 148-m jacketed spiral strand (JSS) mooring cables and the need to complete the final three hookup connections subsea. This is the first installation of a permanent system in the North Sea using subsea connectors.