News / 26 Jan 2025

New GAC base supporting Norwegian offshore oil

There’s a new GAC base at Tananger, fully equipped to support work on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) with the country’s state-owned energy giant, Equinor.

Located on the west side of the Stavanger Peninsula, Tananger has been a key hub for Norway’s energy industry since 1965, when it became one of the first supply bases to offshore activities.

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Sixty years later, it is one of the main locations for oil and gas sector operations in the country, home to several oil companies and their suppliers, and close to the Port of Stavanger.

Supply hub
GAC’s new state-of-the-art warehouse has been set up to support leading shallow water offshore drilling contractor Shelf Drilling Norway, providing long term storage of parts for their 492ft jack-up drilling rig - the Shelf Drilling Barsk - on its new contract at the Sleipner B oilfield. The rig received the Norwegian offshore safety regulator’s stamp of approval and acknowledgment of compliance in October 2024.

The base is an efficiently managed back-up spares supply hub providing reliable, strategic support to the rig’s ongoing operations. It is a temperature-controlled Rubb Hall - a large, relocatable tent-like structure, with a galvanized iron or aluminum arched frame, which is erected with the help of cranes or ladders, and a PVC skin which is rolled down over the frame in overlapping sections.

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Moving experience
GAC Norway was tasked with relocating the entirety of the rig’s previous back-up spares warehouse at Mongstad to the new facility at Tananger.

As Logistics Coordinator Przemyslaw Grabowski explains, the move was a major undertaking that required meticulous planning and execution.

Over a period of three weeks, a total of 21 trucks were loaded with about 300 tons of equipment for the 271km road trip - including two ferry passages - from Mongstad to Tananger.

Some items were simply too big and heavy to safely go the whole way by land. A dedicated vessel was chartered to transport four 5-metre wide anchors, weighing 8,000kg each, to the Port of Stavanger. Upon arrival, special police permission was given for just two hours for the final leg on public roads.

“That gave us a very tight time window in which to complete the operations involving the crane at port, trucks, pilot cars and the crane at the final destination,” adds Przemyslaw.

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In all, the dedicated GAC Norway team handled more than 300 pallets of spare parts and supplies.

“We ensured a seamless transition, minimising downtime and operational disruption,” says Logistics Manager Terje Stenerud.

“We faced all the kinds of weather the Norwegian rainy/snowy season could throw at us - but we’re used to that!”

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Extra care
Particular attention was given to proper cargo marking and information flow to ensure that everything – from the smallest moving part to oversized pieces such as the anchors - were properly received, assigned to location and updated in our system.

That meant careful additional marking on top of the existing information and sending accurate reports of what was on the way as soon as the trucks departed.

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“This successful transfer and setting up of the new base highlights GAC Norway’s expertise in handling complex logistics projects and our commitment to delivering tailored, reliable solutions for our customers,” adds Terje.

Phil Duncan, Shelf Drilling Norway’s Regional Supply Chain Manager, says: “GAC performed this large storage move from Mongstad to Tanager smoothly and efficiently, without affecting our requirements for storage equipment to be sent to or from the rig.

“We now have a well organised, climate-controlled warehouse in closer proximity to our rig.”

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