Decom Engineering has expanded its presence in the mooring chain cutting sector and is experiencing a revenue boost after securing nine chain-focused projects so far in 2026.
Two-thirds of those projects are installation campaigns, reflecting a strategic shift beyond Aberdeen-headquartered Decom’s traditional decommissioning market and growing demand for its C1-16UL and C1-10 Chopsaws.
Michael O’Neill, Decom’s Head of Business Development, puts the success down to developing proprietary tools which can span both ends of the asset lifecycle – the removal of legacy infrastructure at one end and the installation and commissioning of new offshore assets at the other.
During installation campaigns, mooring lines are laid and tensioned to position the floating asset. Excess chain left after tensioning must then be removed before the installation can be completed, creating a requirement for fast and controlled cutting close to new or operational infrastructure.
O’Neill said: “Offshore cutting has traditionally been viewed as the final stage in an asset’s lifecycle. That perception is changing and we are increasingly being deployed much earlier in the asset lifecycle, particularly for installation and commissioning.
“We don’t think of ourselves as a decommissioning contractor but rather an engineering business that solves cutting problems for operators, wherever in an asset’s life that problem happens to sit.”
Mooring chains encountered on Decom’s projects range from around 80mm up to 200mm in diameter and come in two broad forms: studded chain and studless chain.
The C1-16UL is the larger of the two cold-cutting saws and was developed with mooring chain in mind, targeting diameters from roughly 120mm upward. It was first trialled on a Brazilian campaign in 2025, where Decom completed chain cuts in under 15 minutes – less than half the client’s 30-minute benchmark.
In the last month, Decom has completed a four-cut mooring chain severance campaign on an active project offshore West Africa – using a C1-16UL Chopsaw and for the first time a heavy-duty C1-16HD version. The primary mooring lines, under approximately 400 tonnes of tension, were severed simultaneously, allowing the mooring system to release cleanly under full load, with individual cuts completed in approximately 11 minutes.
“There isn’t much on the market that cuts chain as quickly,” said Decom’s Head of Engineering, Calum Dey. “At around 130mm diameter chain, we typically see three to five cuts from a blade, while still keeping the speed and reliability offshore clients need.”
The C1-10 model, launched earlier this year, addresses lighter mooring chain below 120mm and a defining feature is its deployability – it can be deployed and positioned by an ROV manipulator arm without a conventional skid frame, allowing the tool to work at greater depths.
The third component of Decom’s mooring chain capability is a retention clamp system which creates an artificial stud on studless chain and allows the cut link to be secured in position and recovered before the clamp is removed by ROV.
Calum Dey added: “It is a small but very effective piece of engineering which allows us to work on live, producing assets, where a dropped object is just not an acceptable risk.”
Two C1-16UL units are permanently deployed in Brazil, another two are engaged on East Coast Canada, with other units active or mobilising in the US, UK North Sea and Cameroon. The smaller C1-10 stablemate has been deployed in Australia and Brazil.
By the end of 2026 Decom will have ten C1-16UL Chopsaws in its fleet and plans to have four C1-10s operational in the same timeframe.
Michael O’Neill said: “As floating wind and other renewable installations begin to add to the established oil and gas market, we believe there will be growing demand for fast, reliable and controlled mooring chain cutting. We are well positioned to respond to that shift and to strengthen our standing in the installation, commissioning and decommissioning sectors.”
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