Fugro Survey's Marine Division Manager, Mr Bill Russell-Cargill, said that the unique vessel was especially converted to perform geotechnical investigations which met the high quality and safety standards required and set by the offshore industry.

"She is capable of performing a variety of special in situ tests using Fugro's patented coring techniques and operates a number of seabed tools," Russell-Cargill said.

"The Mariner has a long-term record of providing our clients with excellent quality survey data on major geotechnical site investigation projects.

"The ship is very well known throughout the offshore oil and gas industry having operated mainly in the northern North Sea known for its severe weather conditions, but also in the Mediterranean, West Africa, South Argentina, Middle East, Far East , Brazil and now in South-East Asian and Australian waters. She was mobilised this month at Dampier for its current contracts."

The vessel is equipped with a 6-point mooring system and is capable of self-anchoring in up to 200m of water. When assisted by an anchor handler, the depth it can operate at is increased by 60 per cent to 320m.

MV Mariner's rig is the permanently installed Fugro Offshore Drilling Rig (FODR) which can penetrate at least 400m below seabed with 5in API standard drill pipe.

Its equipment includes a power swivel with ball valve through which all sampling and CPT tools can pass, fixed 23.75m high derrick, mud mixing and pumping and other tools and accessories required to carry out geotechnical and geological investigations.

Additionally, a heave motion compensator with a 4.2m stroke is fitted to the power swivel to ensure the drilling bit maintains a uniform pressure during coring and drilling operations. Additionally a "piggyback" coring unit can be mobilised onto the vessel to enable HQ size rock cores to be obtained.

Drilling is through a 4.2x4.4m centre well, or moonpool, located amidships for maximum stability. Adjacent to the drill floor is a purpose-designed laboratory capable of providing many of the geotechnical parameters of the soils and rocks sampled. More advanced testing can be carried out by Fugro's accredited geotechnical laboratory in Singapore or in its state-of-the-art facilities in the UK and US.

Mr Russell-Cargill said that MV Mariner's biggest advantage was that it remained completely mobilised at all times, thus avoiding start-up problems associated with vessels mobilised for each assignment.