Subsea 7’s pipelay vessel ‘Seven Waves’ is returning to the yard in the Netherlands for repairs after a fire on its lay assembly.

Subsea 7 spokesperson confirmed to Subsea World News that the incident occurred during work in Brazil, and that “the vessel is returning to Europe for repairs, as they can be carried out more quickly back at the yard in Rotterdam.”

The vessel was hired by Petrobras on a five-year charter to develop deep-sea oil fields off the coast of Brazil.

It was equipped with the 550mt pipelay system and the 400mt offshore mast crane at Huisman’s Schiedam yard. The 550mt flex-lay system is designed and built for the installation of flexible pipelines in 3000m water depth.

The vessel was built by IHC Merwede.