US Oil & Gas Vessel Operator Eyes Offshore Wind for Newly Acquired Vessels

US offshore support vessel (OSV) operator Hornbeck Offshore plans to offer vessels from its fleet for deployment on offshore wind projects in the country, according to the company’s latest press release on acquiring three OSVs from the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).

The company said that all three diesel-electric vessels, purchased at MARAD’s auction for an undisclosed amount of cash, were US-flagged and Jones Act-compliant, and that they were “excellent candidates for deployment in the growing U.S. domestic offshore wind industry”.

Last month, Hornbeck Offshore also signed purchase agreements with certain affiliates of Edison Chouest Offshore for a total of ten OSVs, eight of which are US-flagged and Jones Act-compliant. According to information on the company’s website, these vessels will be used for both “oilfield and non-oilfield” projects.

Edison Chouest Offshore, from which Hornbeck Offshore purchased ten OSVs, is behind the first-ever US-flagged, Jones Act-compliant service operations vessel (SOV). The company will engineer, build, and operate the SOV as an integral part of the operation and maintenance of Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind, and Sunrise Wind offshore wind farms in the northeast US.

The US has accelerated its offshore wind development efforts after the country set a target of 30 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030 at the beginning of last year.

After its first large-scale offshore wind farm entered construction in November 2021, the US is set to hold a lease sale for the New York Bight area this month, the first offshore wind lease sale to be organised under the Biden-Harris administration and the biggest in the US yet, with six areas available for offshore wind developers to bid for.

The US government has also given the final go-ahead to the country’s second project to reach this stage, the South Fork offshore wind farm in New York, while several other offshore wind projects are currently undergoing the federal permitting process, with many more in the pipeline.

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