GSF GRAND BANKS

scrapped

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beached

beached at Aliaga 01.07.16

Rig broke off its tow

The crew of the "GSF Grand Banks" was being commended by the rig owner for their work in handling the semi-submersible, after the rig lost its tow and spent two unplanned days on its own in the North Atlantic on Dec 5, 2013. The drill rig, with 99 crew aboard, was on its way to the southern United States, being towed by the "Atlantic Hawk", when the tow was lost about 333 kilometres south of Cape Race and 315 kilometres east of Sable Island, Nova Scotia. After the tow line broke, the crew of the rig used the rig’s thrusters and its own power to navigate during this bad weather. The tow was not immediately re-established because of the harsh weather and wave height, with waves running up to seven metres. However, the rig was put back under tow on 1:30 a.m. on Dec 6. There was no imminent danger to the crew at any time. The lost tow line received Attention. On Dec 8 morning, staff at the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said they were aware of the event. The "GSF Grand Banks" was destined for a shipyard in Mississippi, where it will undergo a scheduled assessment and have some equipment replaced before it is towed back to offshore Eastern Canada.

Grand Banks in Halifax for repairs

The "GSF Grand Banks" was damaged in a collision with the supply ship "Maerks Detector" east of St. John's in November arrived at the Irving shipyard near Halifax on Dec 11 for repairs of the five-metre wide hole which was torn into one of the rig's eight steel columns at Husky Energy's White Rose field. The Irving yard also will perform scheduled maintenance on the rig. It was built at an Irving yard in New Brunswick and went through a refit in Halifax eight years ago. There were 15 people on the ship and 90 on the rig at the White Rose oilfield about 350 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. The company's operations off Newfoundland have not been trouble free in the recent months. It had to stop work on the "GSF Grand Banks" in October after spilling synthetic drilling mud for the second time in two months.