(WO) — Decom Engineering has secured nine mooring chain cutting projects so far in 2026, with two-thirds supporting offshore installation campaigns as the company expands its technology beyond traditional decommissioning work.
The projects use Decom’s C1-16UL and C1-10 cold-cutting Chopsaws to remove excess mooring chain during installation and commissioning. After mooring lines are laid and tensioned to position a floating asset, excess chain must be removed, requiring controlled cutting near new or operating infrastructure.
In a recent campaign offshore West Africa, Decom used its C1-16UL and heavy-duty C1-16HD Chopsaws to complete four mooring chain cuts. Primary mooring lines under approximately 400 tonnes of tension were severed simultaneously, with individual cuts completed in about 11 minutes.
The larger C1-16UL targets mooring chains from roughly 120 mm in diameter and above. The system was first trialed during a Brazilian campaign in 2025, where cuts were completed in less than 15 minutes.
Decom’s smaller C1-10, launched earlier this year, is designed for chains below 120 mm and can be deployed and positioned using an ROV manipulator arm without a conventional skid frame, allowing operations at greater water depths.
“Offshore cutting has traditionally been viewed as the final stage in an asset’s lifecycle,” said Michael O’Neill, Decom’s head of business development. “That perception is changing and we are increasingly being deployed much earlier in the asset lifecycle, particularly for installation and commissioning.”
Decom currently has C1-16UL units deployed or mobilizing in Brazil, Canada, the U.S., UK North Sea and Cameroon. The company expects its fleet to reach 10 C1-16UL units and four C1-10 systems by the end of 2026.
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