Van Oord completes ballasting operations and scour protection for West White Rose project in Canada
Van Oord has completed high-precision ballasting operations for the West White Rose project off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
Van Oord deployed its fallpipe vessels Nordnes and Stornes to carry out the work. In addition, the company installed a protective scour edge around the concrete gravity structure (CGS) to mitigate the effects of seabed erosion.
Located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, approximately 350 kilometres off the east coast of Newfoundland, the West White Rose project is an expansion of the White Rose field. It consists of a fixed drilling platform situated on a custom-designed CGS.
The CGS has a base diameter of 122 metres and is 145 metres tall. It supports an integrated drilling and production topside.
Van Oord’s scope of work is divided into four phases: seabed preparation, solid ballasting activities, scour protection, and flowline protection.
During the first phase, completed in September 2024, Van Oord installed a seabed preparation layer that serves as the foundation for the CGS.
The installation required strict adherence to client specifications and involved extensive planning, material testing, rigorous quality control of quarried rock, full-scale trials, and the expertise of a highly qualified and committed project team, along with the vessel crew of Stornes, which was deployed for the task.
In the second phase of the project, Van Oord carried out solid ballasting of the CGS to ensure sufficient weight for seabed stability once positioned.
The unique design of the structure required a high degree of accuracy. Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessels Nordnes and Stornes approached the CGS simultaneously using dynamic positioning, with one vessel on each side.
Using boom belt-conveyors, they inserted iron ore into the CGS’s outer ring compartments. The vessels were constantly positioned 180 degrees from each other while moving around the CGS to fill all 24 compartments evenly.
The ballasting operations were meant to prepare the CGS before its tow-out. The CGS has now been positioned on top of the seabed preparation layer previously installed by Van Oord.
In the third phase of the project, Van Oord deployed Nordnes to install a protective scour edge around the CGS.
The final phase, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2025, will involve stabilising the pipelines from the drilling platform on the seabed. Once completed, the client will be able to bring the platform into operation.
