Polish-built hull returns to a Polish-backed field: Olympic Notos leaves Ulstein Verft after Yggdrasil conversion

Norway's Ulstein Verft has completed the deep conversion of Olympic Subsea's CSOV Olympic Notos, preparing the 2024-built vessel for a long-term Walk-to-Work contract with Aker BP. The unit whose hull was built at the Crist yard in Gdynia, Poland will service the unmanned Munin platform in the Yggdrasil development, in which PKN Orlen's Norwegian arm, Orlen Upstream Norway, holds a partner stake.

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18 may 2026   |   16:16   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. Ulstein Group

From offshore wind to oil & gas: an unusual move in the Tier 1 CSOV segment

Olympic Notos is a hybrid-powered Construction Service Operation Vessel (CSOV) based on the ULSTEIN SX222 design, delivered to Olympic Subsea in 2024 and operated from day one in the offshore wind segment. The decision to redeploy a vessel just two years into service to the oil and gas market is uncommon, by industry accounts, Olympic Notos becomes the first Tier 1 CSOV on a long-term oil and gas charter.

The deal signed between Olympic and Aker BP runs for a firm five years, with options for another five. According to the owner, the contract alone lifts Olympic's combined oil & gas and renewables backlog above USD 500 million.

New SMST motion-compensated gangway and adaptation for unmanned installations

The retrofit began on 6 March 2026, when Olympic Notos arrived at Ulstein Verft. It included the replacement of the vessel's original Walk-to-Work system (initially an Ampelmann W-type) with a new motion-compensated gangway supplied by Dutch specialist SMST. The unit was purpose-engineered for unmanned installations of the Munin and Fenris type, under a separate contract signed by Aker BP back in August 2023.

The yard scope also covered upgrades to deck systems and adaptation of the vessel for operations in which the gangway remains permanently connected to the platform for the duration of personnel presence on the installation — also serving as the primary evacuation route. Detailed engineering was led by Ulstein Design & Solutions.

Fenris first, Munin next

Operations will roll out in two phases. In the summer of 2026, Olympic Notos will support the hook-up phase of the Fenris platform in the Valhall area. From the fourth quarter of 2026, the vessel will transition into continuous operations in the Yggdrasil area, with its primary task being support of the unmanned production platform Munin and the normally unmanned wellhead platform Hugin B.

Aker BP's operating philosophy assumes that Munin will have no helideck, no living quarters and no lifeboats, personnel will only visit the platform during planned campaigns, accommodated on board Olympic Notos and walking to work via the motion-compensated gangway.

Yggdrasil: and the double Polish supply chain thread

Yggdrasil is currently the largest ongoing development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It encompasses the Hugin, Fulla and Munin licence groups, located between the Alvheim and Oseberg areas in the North Sea, with estimated gross recoverable resources of around 700 million barrels of oil equivalent. Aker BP is operator, with Equinor and Orlen Upstream Norway, the Norwegian subsidiary of Polish energy major PKN Orlen, as partners.

That is the first Polish thread in the project. The second is Olympic Notos herself: the vessel's hull was built at Crist S.A. in Gdynia, Poland, and shipped to Norway for outfitting, sea trials and final handover to the owner. The combination - a Polish-built hull returning to serve a field with Polish equity backing - is a notable supply chain pairing even by the standards of the tightly integrated Baltic–Norwegian offshore industry.

Crist supplied the hulls of both vessels in Olympic Subsea's SX222 pair: Olympic Boreas, delivered in July 2024, and Olympic Notos.

Vessel particulars

Olympic Notos is an Ulstein Design & Solutions hybrid, based on the SX222 platform with the TWIN X-STERN solution, featuring main propulsors both fore and aft. Length overall 89.6 m, beam 19.2 m, accommodation for 126 people in 91 all-daylight cabins. Diesel-electric propulsion with variable-speed generators, a large-capacity battery energy storage system, methanol-ready fuel system and a shore-power connection for emission-free port operations.

A growing market for offshore conversions

The Olympic Notos retrofit fits a clear trend in the offshore market. Ulstein's total tally of W2W projects newbuilds and redesigns combined, now stands at 22, of which 16 are in operation. Rather than ordering further newbuilds, operators increasingly opt to repurpose vessels that are only a few years old, cutting time-to-operation and reducing the embedded emissions of the investment.

Olympic Notos is a textbook example: a 2024-delivered unit, after less than two years in the offshore wind sector, returning to its building yard to transition into an entirely different segment and doing so with up to a decade of contract horizon for long-term operations alongside an unmanned production platform.

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