Mystery ship keeps residents guessing

A strange ship that looks like an oil rig has been anchored off the North Coast since December 22 last year.

North Coast residents have been worried about its possible agenda.

“We need to be informed of the exact nature of this ship, because these kind of ships often carry large amounts of toxins on board and their drilling destroys the coast that we rely on for tourism and our property values,” said Grant Horak, Ballito resident and Greenpeace member.

It turns out that the ship is called the Deepsea Metro 1 and is in fact a drill ship.

According to Captain Alex Miya, Port of Durban Harbour Master, the ship has taken “safe haven” along our coast while it waits for orders for the next job.

“It is common practice for ships waiting for orders as to the next destination, or that want to collect supplies, to anchor in South African waters as a safe haven. The ship has taken on fuel and supplies for its crew, which I understand were ferried to the drill ship.”

He said two of the main reasons for anchoring within the port boundaries is that it is too deep for a ship to anchor further out at sea and secondly, the ship is protected from rough seas, bad weather and other ships that may cross its path were it able to anchor deep at sea.

Odfjell Drilling is an international drilling contractor which manages the Deepsea Metro 1.

“We are doing maintenance and repairs while the rig is idle. We cannot give an estimate on when the rig will leave, but we have no contract for doing any operations in your country. That means we will not perform any drilling in your area,” said Gisle Johanson, communications officer for Odfjell Drilling.

The drilling ship was hired by BG Group several times over the past few years to explore offshore Tanzania.

According to BG Group’s external communications manager, Kim Blomley, they have had a number of successful discoveries resulting in finding around 15 trillion cubic feet of total gross recoverable resources.

This is about 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

They are currently in discussions with the government and their partners about the next stage of development in Tanzania.

While the owners have assured that there is no threat from their ship, exploration rights were granted in 2012 to ExxonMobil Exploration and Production South Africa Limited (EMEPSAL) and Impact Africa Limited on the KZN coast line (‘American oil giant hunts off North Coast’, Courier, July 30, 2014).

According to Mrs Lindiwe Mekwe, the acting CEO of Petroleum Agency SA, no declaration of any discovery has been recorded during this exploration period.