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Ailes Marines provides update on Saint-Brieuc oil leak

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 17/06/2021 Ailes Marines
Ailes Marines has provided an update on the status of Van Oord's jack-up vessel Aeolus, which suffered technical difficulties whilst carrying out borehole drilling operations at the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France.

On Monday June 14, 2021, at 6.30 a.m., an incident was reported by the Captain of
Aeolus with CROSS Corsen (Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue) and the Maritime Coordination of Ailes Marines (MCC).

This incident took place during the second series of drilling, since work began on 3 May 2021. The electronic safety system of the jig serving as a guide for the drilling detected a sudden leak of about 100 liters of hydraulic fluid.

All the ongoing drilling and installation activities were halted. An ROV was deployed to confirm the leak and locate the source. Once the location of the leak was identified, an inspection confirmed that it was not possible to repair without reassembling the drilling jig on board the vessel. It was therefore decided to initiate its recovery.

The recovery took 24 hours and was carried out under the supervision of the two support vessels, TSM Kermor and REM trader. Their role was to identify any potential contamination during this lifting phase.

Ailes Marines confirmed that the source of the leak is not damage to the structure of the jig, but a hydraulic connection that loosened during the work.

The incident resulted in the release of "PANOLIN HLP SYNTH ” hydraulic fluid, 48 hours after the incident. It is estimated that 170 litres were lost. PANOLIN is classified in the category of “readily biodegradable fluids”, according to the criteria international standards 301B, with low environmental impact.

On June 15, 2021, after several overflights carried out by customs, the maritime prefecture confirmed in his press release: "the evolution of the favorable situation [...] since the iridescence of surface, clearly visible yesterday for several kilometers, has now completely disappeared ”.

An investigation by the judicial police and the maritime gendarmerie into the incident is still in progress. Ailes Marines reiterated its commitment to working with the authorities and all stakeholder parties during the construction phase of the wind farm and its operation.


Aeolus has since left the bay of Saint-Brieuc for its home port in the Netherlands (Vlissingen). Consequently, Ailes Marines and Van Oord have decided to temporarily stop the drilling work to focus on the analysis and improvement of the tools for the continuation of drilling works in an optimal way.

The 496 MW
Saint-Brieuc wind farm, 16 km off the French coast, will feature 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD turbines, standing at 207 metres high. It is being developed by Ailes Marines, subsidiary of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola. Covering an area of 75km2 the project will be the first large-scale offshore wind farm in Brittany and, when operational in 2023, it will be capable of generating 1,820 GWh/year of electricity, expected to meet the demands of  835,000 people.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide, click here.  Alternatively, projects worldwide can be viewed on 4C Offshore's Interactive Map.

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