Island Constructor

Ship history

Delivered on 23 May 2008 to Island Offshore, and named the following day. The vessel's first task was to plug abandon wells in the North Sea, before entering a 3-year contract with BP, for a specific number of days per year. ‘Island Constructor’ won Offshore Support Journal’s 2008 ‘Ship of the Year’ award.

“We’re impressed that Ulstein again managed to meet the delivery time. We are responsible to our customers and greatly appreciate getting the ship on time – something you can’t take for granted these days. Our experiences both with regards to quality and teamwork with the people at the Ulstein Group have been very good indeed.”
Managing director at Island Offshore, Håvard Ulstein.

Ulstein Group developed a modern interior profile with both innovative functional and design solutions for this vessel. The ship also had the IP-based ULSTEIN COM® system installed, which includes a TV-based portal for a number of services such as television, radio, information from other vessels and from the office ashore, safety information and visuals from surveillance cameras.

The X-BOW vessel was three times larger than any X-BOW vessel built previously, and the large wheelhouse, measuring 380 square metres, was built at Ulstein Verft’s division at Vanylven.

In addition to tasks such as light well intervention (LWI), subsea construction, equipment installation and inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR), the ship is equipped with a heave-compensated tower for module handling and is able to conduct ROV operations.

"We are very satisfied, the ship works great. The X-BOW® provides larger, spacier areas. Many judges the ship as the finest they have ever been on board, and those who are new just shake their heads over how nice it is here. Both the furnishings and the possibilities this spacious ship offers contributes to comfort and the good atmosphere on board.”
Crew feedback - January 2009 and October 2010

The vessel has later been reclassed as a rig, to be able to work on the Norwegian sector as well as the British sector. The vessel has been working for a multitude of companies performing various tasks since her delivery.

Recent work:

2016 (April) The vessel departed Norway en route to the Oyo field, offshore Nigeria. The vessel was to be used for LWI service on Erin Energy’s Oyo-8 well. The vessel was at the time also awarded a contract by the oil major Shell to work on Draugen oilfield, offshore Norway. In addition to this, the vessel was awarded a contract by BP for the provision of light well intervention services on the UK continental shelf in July 2016. Additional options might be exercised.

2018: Island Constructor 10 years young

2019: In August 2019, Vår Energi received consent to use the Island Constructor for well intervention on the Goliat field in the Barents Sea, for start-up in September.