Helix Producer I is a ship-shaped monohull floating production and offloading vessel, converted from the ferry MV Karl Carstens.

[2] The ship was built in 1986 for Deutsche Bundesbahn as a roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferry serving on the Vogelfluglinie, a connection between Fehmarn, Germany and Denmark.

[4] Helix Producer I has a Disconectable Transfer system (DTS) designed and supplied by Flexible Engineered Solutions LTD (FES), UK, and consists of a riser buoy supporting sub-sea risers and control umbilicals that would be connected to a deep water well and can be released from the hull, allowing the vessel to move out of the way of an approaching hurricane.

It is operated by the Helix Energy Solutions Group and was scheduled to operate on the Phoenix Oil Field in the Gulf of Mexico, but on 14 June 2010 Helix announced that the ship would be directed to assist BP at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site.

Starting in early August mud, later cement was pumped into the well, eventually closing it, so that by 19 September 2010, it could be announced that the Macondo Well had been finally killed.