Pacific Towing’s commercial dive team is central to the numerous services it provides PNG’s O&G sector including in-water surveys to class with live feeds back to international survey technicians.
Pacific Towing, a 44 year old marine services business headquartered in Papua New Guinea has been servicing the oil and gas sector in excess of 10 years. The company is a member of both the International Spill Control Organization and the International Salvage Union. With its own Australian trained and certified commercial dive team, ‘PacTow’ is now providing its in-water surveys to class with live feeds streamed back to internationally located survey technicians.
PacTow provides a diverse range of services to not just O&G companies themselves but also to some of the largest offshore support operators. General Manager, Neil Papenfus says that the company’s commercial dive team at its dedicated tug base in Port Moresby is central to the many services it provides its O&G clientele, including the sector’s offshore operators.
Of considerable value to these offshore entities, are PacTow’s in-water class surveys. “Because our dive team can provide a live feed to surveyors in just about any country, we’re able to negate their need for international travel. The live feed component of our service is obviously highly valued given that COVID-19 is making it next to impossible to get specialist international technicians both in to and out of PNG.”
Papenfus confirms that the company’s commercial divers are all Australian trained and certified. In addition to being highly trained, he says that "as PNG nationals they have an intimate knowledge of the country’s water ways, its weather patterns and overall marine conditions – they are definitely the best in-country and easily equal to their international counterparts.”
Other services PacTow provides to the O&G sector include oil spill response and prevention; video pipeline inspections; PLEM valve hook up and release; towage, berthing and mooring; hull cleaning; and a range of niche, as well as project-based customised solutions. Specific to the country’s PNG-LNG project are the installation of current sensors, inspection of navigational piles/systems, and sea water intake inspections. Additional services provided to two of its downstream clients include mooring inspections and repair, annual pressure testing of fuel transfer sub hoses, and also seabed survey and sampling.
The company anticipates introducing new services to support PNG’s O&G sector as it invests further in its re-fleeting program which will see it acquire another three Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugs by 2025.
