Harbour Energy Confirms North Sea Vessel-Rig Collision

(Update) November 27, 2024, 6:07 AM EST: Article updated with HSE comment.

In a statement sent to Rigzone late Tuesday, Harbour Energy confirmed that a collision between a supply vessel and the Valaris 120 rig occurred in the North Sea on Sunday night.

“As a precautionary measure, 52 non-essential personnel have been downmanned from the Valaris 120 installation located at Block 30/7A, following a collision between a supply vessel and the rig which occurred at 22.18 on Sunday 24,” Harbour said in the statement.

The company revealed in the statement that the non-essential personnel had been flown to Aberdeen on three separate flights on November 25. There were 128 personnel onboard the Valaris 120 prior to the incident, according to the statement.

“People are our priority, and everyone onboard the rig and the vessel is safe and well,” Harbour noted in the statement.

“Our incident response teams have been mobilized and are in liaison with the relevant authorities. Further information will be made available when details are confirmed,” it added.

Harbour highlighted in the statement that the Valaris 120 rig is located approximately 150 miles east of Aberdeen. It noted that the rig is “currently interfaced with the Judy installation as part of the combined operation”.

A Harbour Energy spokesperson told Rigzone that the incident had no impact on production.

According to a fact sheet hosted on Valaris’ website, the Valaris 120 rig has a leg length of 540 feet, a hull length of 246 feet, and a hull width of 250 feet. It has accommodation space for 150 people, the fact sheet shows.

Rigzone contacted Valaris, industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), UK oil and gas regulator the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), and UK workplace health and safety regulator Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for comment on Harbour Energy’s statement.

In response, a HSE spokesperson said, “we will be conducting an investigation into this incident and remain in contact with the relevant parties”.

OEUK and the NSTA declined to comment. Valaris has not yet responded to Rigzone’s request at the time of writing.

In a statement posted on its website in September, Valaris announced a three-year contract extension with Harbour Energy in the UK North Sea for heavy duty harsh environment jackup Valaris 120.

The extension period is expected to commence in the third quarter 2025 in direct continuation of the existing firm program, Valaris said in that statement.

Block 30/7A is located in the UK central North Sea and includes the Judy and Joanne assets, Harbour Energy’s website shows.

“They sit in quadrant 30 of the J-Area (or J-Block) with overlapping reservoirs. Judy is a manned platform with accommodation, production, processing and gas injection equipment. Joanne is a subsea manifold with six subsea wells tied back to Judy,” the site adds.

“Commercial oil production and gas sales from Judy/Joanne began in 1997. After being processed on Judy, gas is transported through the CATS Pipeline and liquids are transported through the Norpipe system to Teesside,” it continues.

Harbour Energy describes itself as the largest London-listed independent oil and gas company with a global portfolio. Back in September, it announced that the acquisition of the Wintershall Dea asset portfolio had been completed.

Following completion, Harbour is producing around 475,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day “with significant production in Norway, the UK, Argentina, North Africa, and Germany”, the company highlighted in that announcement.

In a statement posted on its site in December last year, Harbour announced that it had reached an agreement with BASF and LetterOne for the acquisition of substantially all of Wintershall Dea’s upstream assets for $11.2 billion.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com