Home » Subsea Services » IMR vessels
Modern high-performance IMR vessels to support subsea and surface operations
BOURBON designs and provides latest-generation IMR vessels, customized to the specific requirements for ultra-deepwater Inspection, Maintenance and Repair operations in oil fields.
Equipped with DP2, and in some cases DP3, dynamic positioning technology and cranes with built-in swell compensation systems to 100 tons per 3,000 meters’ depth, IMR vessels also have a large deck area and sizable accommodation capacity, sometimes for over 100 people. Specially customized for IMR operations, these vessels offer full cargo capacity and logistical support giving clients great flexibility in use.
During the design phase for IMR vessels, Bourbon Offshore Gaia consults and defines specific equipment for:
- lifting mechanisms (cranes, winches etc.),
- fitting out the deck to optimize the relative positions of equipment (ROVs, cranes, winches, equipment for mobile installation…),
- layout of holds and definition of the different types of products to be transported (type, volume, density, etc.),
- communication systems between crane operators, ROVs, the bridge and operations center,
- definition of the maximum number of people that can be carried and fitting out of living quarters, operations posts, meeting rooms, etc.,
- supply of electrics, hydraulics, air, and the different items of equipment that may be required on board the vessels.
The aim is to define multi-purpose vessels that can be rapidly adapted for different types of mission as well as being economical:
- support for one or more ROVs
- support for diving
- support for laying cables, hoses or small-diameter pipes,
- support for well stimulation
- support for drilling
- support for the maintenance of surface platforms
- support for health or fire emergencies on oil fields
- transport of a variety of different-sized packages
During the construction phase, Bourbon Offshore Gaia checks the installation of cranes, winches and other specific equipment as well as the communication systems onboard vessels and the interfaces with mobile equipment that may be deployed.
By designing the specifications of vessels customized to client requirements, Bourbon Offshore Gaia optimizes reliability for the transport of equipment, with strict adherence to safety regulations, to offer greater productivity and efficiency for its operations.
Since 2004, the “supermajors” Exxon, Shell, Total, BP and other oil companies have outsourced the maintenance of their deepwater oil fields in West Africa to BOURBON, via long-term contracts.
