Saipem 12000, the star drillship of energy giant ENI has left for Morocco, after being anchored off Limassol for refueling and equipment loading and unloading for over two days.
After failing to reach Cuttlefish target in Cyprus’ offshore plot 3 to drill an exploratory gas well for the second time, the Saipem 12000 began to prepare for its next destination and to that end, docked about 17 nautical miles off of Limassol. The three support vessels of the ship (namely Vos Prime, Vos Purpose and Vos Prudence) started to load and unload equipment at the Limassol port and began to arrange for refueling.
The Cyprus News Agency has announced that the Saipem left for Morocco at around midnight Monday.
Both the first and the second attempts of the vessel were thwarted by Turkish navy vessels over three weeks ago, with the latter having intercepted the former. After realizing that any attempts that would be made were futile, the Saipem finally docked off Limassol.
A spokesperson for ENI added that while they are disappointed about the cuttlefish incident, they intend to proceed with the rest of the plan as it were, and the drillship will therefore depart to its next destination as planned.
