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Partially sunken barge refloated, saved
Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Salvage crews managed to save a work barge that partially sank Sept. 14 in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s northern coast.
Crews towed the barge Stryker to Oliktok Point, about three miles east of where the craft went down.
The barge belongs to Bowhead Transport Co., a subsidiary of Barrow-based Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corp. The vessel was working for Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which operates the offshore Oooguruk oil field to the west of where the Stryker grounded.
UIC said the barge experienced a “structural failure” while traveling in Harrison Bay between the Oooguruk production island and Oliktok Point. The area is about 40 miles west of Prudhoe Bay. The barge’s wheelhouse section at the stern sagged to the seafloor in about 9 feet of water, while the forward section laden with a vacuum truck and some flatbed trailers remained afloat normally.
Barge secured at Oliktok Point The Beaufort Sea was relatively calm and free of ice at the time. All four crewmembers on the Stryker were able to get off the vessel safely, UIC said.
The challenge for responders was raising the sunken section and preventing a serious diesel fuel spill. Both operations appear to have been successful.
Crews were able to lighter most of the fuel off the vessel. A contractor, Global Diving & Salvage Inc., devised a plan to refloat the sunken stern and tow the vessel to shore.
The U.S. Coast Guard oversaw the salvage and towing operation, which wrapped up Sept. 21.
“The barge will be secured at Oliktok Point while a Coast Guard survey is conducted and the cargo is unloaded,” UIC said in a press release. “The barge will then be disassembled and trucked to a facility in Deadhorse.”
Exactly what led to the trouble with the Stryker remained unclear.
The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident, said a final “situation report” issued Sept. 22 from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
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