Page 65: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Oct/Nov 2013)

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Pipelines ultra-deep pipelines

Global ofshore pipelines

Offshore pipelines subsea vessel subsea vessel operations in depths greater than operations expenditure expenditure 2008-15. 1,700m. Brazil will also

Source: Douglas-Westwood’s account for 58% of the world subsea vessel operations 4 market forecast. world’s fexible fowline demand over the next fve years, with more contractors already at capac- 3 than 3,300km of antici- ity and investing at record pated pipe to support the levels, it seems there is development of Petrobras’ ample opportunity for new 2 pre-salt felds in the Santos players to gain a share in basin. the offshore pipe and subsea US$billion

However, while the umbilicals, risers and fow- 1 deepwater sector grabs lines (SURF) sectors. industry headlines, con- We have already seen ventional pipelines in less signifcant strides made by 0 than 200m of water will relative newcomers such as 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 remain a signifcant market EMAS and SapuraKencana with over 12,500km of in the technically-challeng- anticipated projects to be laid over the just under US$1 billion on three state- ing North Sea and Brazilian markets. 2013-2017 period. of-the-art, 550MT top-tension capacity The wider industry eagerly awaits to

Some 73% of the shallow water fexlayers in July 2013. Subsea 7 began see how the rest of the supply chain pipeline segment will be accounted a joint venture between Technip and will react. for by the Middle East and Asia’s DOF Subsea, spending US$1.1 billion support of fxed-platform infrastruc- on four similar vessels. As it stands, Thom Payne joined ture projects such as ADMA-OPCO’s the current order book will provide Douglas Westwood long-awaited Um Lulu development. an additional 3,000 vessel days, but as an analyst in

Comprising of 215km of infeld and despite this multi-billion dollar invest- 2006. He is involved export pipelines, the contract was ment, DW Energy Group predicts that in research, market awarded to the National Petroleum up to 13 additional high-end pipelay- modelling, and

Construction Company (NPCC) earlier ers of various types will be required to analysis for a range this year. The proposed Trans-ASEAN satisfy global exploration and produc- of sectors through- gas pipeline (TAGP) project could add tion plans over the next fve-to-seven out the upstream oil and gas supply up to 4,500km of mostly shallow water years. chain. He holds a law degree from the pipelines to the global network. With such unprecedented levels of University of Kent and an MA in

However, such ambitious construc- demand expected, and the established political sociology. tion plans are subject to supply chain capacity. The offshore sector faces

Suppliers beneft from pipelay demand a major challenge in ensuring such

IHC Engineering Business, part of IHC Merwede, is benefting from a demand for adequate capacity is available to pre- greater capacity in the pipelay market. vent the rampant price infation which

It is currently working on fve orders from Seabras Sapura for 550-tonne capacity caused severe slowdowns, delays and even cancellations during the 2006- vertical fex lay systems (FLS) to be installed onboard fully integrated IHC Merwede 2008 period.

newbuild vessels. These are due to be deployed globally, with delivery of the frst ves-

With pipelayer demand, vessel days sel due in Q2 2014, to enable activity to start on Petrobras projects in Brazil. are expected to jump from 15,500 days

The 550-tonne capacity FLS system consists of a twin, four-track tensioner in 2013 to 22,700 days by 2017, an system, with a maximum dynamic line tension of 600-tonne. It can accommodate a increase of 46%. Currently, there are product range from 50mm to 648mm, and has a primary and secondary abandon- approximately 28,680 potential vessel ment and recovery system and tower tilt functionality.

days available to work in the global

For these projects, IHC EB subcontracted some of the scope to SAS Ofshore, market; however, only around 35% of that capacity is suited to the rigors of based in Alphen, Netherlands, which is providing 300-tonne four-track tensioners. deepwater operations. The scale of the

This year IHC EB has already supplied McDermott with a 300-tonne capac- task becomes especially clear when ity vertical FLS, to upgrade the horizontal FLS of the for work in

North Ocean 102 combined with the anticipated global the North Sea, and, early next year, it will deliver a 300-tonne capacity system to deepwater demand growth of 114%

SapuraKencana for Petrobras operations. Sea trials were recently completed on a over the next fve years. 450-tonne capacity reel lay system on Technip’s fagship vessel . Once

Deep Energy

Subsea 7 has already taken signif- in service, will be one of the fastest pipelay vessel ever built.

Deep Energy cant steps to close this gap, investing oedigital.com October 2013 | OE 67 1013OE_Pipelines1_Pipelay.indd 67 9/29/13 10:15 PM