Maersk Oil Qatar Hires First Bourbon Liberty 150 Vessel

A year after taking delivery of its last Bourbon Liberty 200 vessel and 1st Bourbon Liberty 300 vessel, BOURBON has extended its range of services with the Bourbon Liberty 151, the very first vessel in a series of 15 next generation PSVs.

111 Bourbon Liberty vessels by the end of 2014, 85 already operating worldwide

BOURBON has been investing in an extensive range of next generation built-in-series vessels since 2008. By the end of 2014, the Group will be able to provide clients with an unprecedented series of 111 standardized, efficient and innovative Bourbon Liberty vessels devoted to offshore activities.

Including the Bourbon Liberty 151, BOURBON now has 85 Bourbon Liberty vessels operating worldwide: the entire series of 54 Bourbon Liberty 200 AHTS vessels, the entire series of 22 Bourbon Liberty 100 PSVs, 8 Bourbon Liberty 300 AHTS vessels (20 on order) and the 1st Bourbon Liberty 150 PSV (15 on order).

“Bourbon Liberty vessels operate in inter-tropical areas such as Asia, Mediterranean, the Middle East, Brazil, Mexico and West Africa,” says Rodolphe Bouchet, BOURBON Vice President Business Management – Marine Services.

A new range of services

Bourbon Liberty 150 vessels are an extension of Bourbon Liberty 100 vessels.

Bourbon Liberty 150 vessels are extremely well-suited to drilling operations and provide clients with additional facilities such as a larger deck space (up to 400m²) and a larger cargo capacity for liquid mud and bulk.

The Bourbon Liberty 151 will operate in Qatar for Maersk Oil.

“Maersk Oil Qatar has contracted the very first Bourbon Liberty 150 vessel, which is equipped with a DP2 system and a diesel-electric propulsion. It’s environmentally responsible and safe design, will help to support our incident-free aspirations and development operations in the Al Shaheen field, Qatar” says David B. Sinclair, Head of Marine and Export, Maersk Oil Qatar.

High standards of quality and performance

The Bourbon Liberty series provides the most demanding oil&gas clients (Majors, contractors, National Oil Companies etc.) with high standards of quality and performance:

• exceptional maneuverability and station keeping with 5 thrusters and class 2 Dynamic Positioning system;
• greater reliability due to equipment redundancy (multiple thrusters and 3 main generators) with the support of BOURBON’s maintenance network;
• large and flexible cargo capacity (+30% cargo capacity than traditional vessels);
• versatility for deep sea and shallow water operations;
• low fuel consumption due to diesel-electric propulsion.

“From the first Bourbon Liberty delivery until now, vessels have been extremely positively received by our clients, reinforcing BOURBON’s position in the offshore marine services industry,” says Gaël Bodénès, Chief Operating Officer of BOURBON. “Bourbon Liberty’s success confirms BOURBON’s unique fleet strategy, supported by built-in-series vessels, diesel-electric propulsion and dynamic positioning class 2.”