More accurately, the Aoka Mizu is no longer sailing, she is finally on location in the North Sea, about 120 nautical miles north-east of Aberdeen. Perhaps you can just pick out Holger on the bridge.
At long last, she is being connected up to the subsea risers that will soon be pumping a mixture of crude oil, natural gas and seawater through the on-deck processing plant. There the crude will be separated then stored in the vessels huge hull tanks, to be emptied by a shuttle tanker once a fortnight or so. The sea water will be reinjected back into the sea bed to maintain the oil field pressure, and some of the natural gas will be used as an energy source on board with the rest being exported to shore via an undersea pipeline.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Eagle has landed.
*Photo by Hans Verleur
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