By the OGJ Online Staff
LONDON, June 26 -- Shell Exploration & Production Co. has awarded Coflexip Stena Offshore Inc. the contract to install infield flowlines and risers for the ultradeepwater, six-field Na Kika development on Mississippi Canyon Block 474 of the US Gulf of Mexico.
The French contractor said Monday its recently built deepwater subsea construction vessel CSO Deep Blue will lay lines in waters ranging from 5,800-7,000 ft connecting Ariel (MC 429), East Anstey (MC 607), Fourier (MC 522), Herschel (MC 520), and Kepler (MC 383) fields to the floating production platform. Shell's Coulomb field (MC 657) will follow.
The CSO vessel, operating out of the company's new construction support base in Mobile, Ala., will install over 100 miles of high specification lines including an 8-in. reeled gas flowline, an 8-in.-in-12-in. reeled pipe-in-pipe (PiP) system, a J-laid 10-in.-in-16-in. PiP system, and steel catenary risers.
Flowlines and SCRs will be installed by the CSO Deep Blue between the third quarter 2002 and second quarter 2003, making use of both the vessel's deepwater J-lay and reel lay capabilities.
Using the J-lay method, the SCRs to be laid will include an 18-in. oil export riser, a 20-in. gas export riser and two PiP steel catenary risers of 8-in.-in-12-in. and 10-in.-in-16-in. diameters respectively, along with two 8-in. risers and two 4.5-n. gas lift risers.
CSO said the Na Kika project defines new frontiers for the industry "both in terms of water depths and the level of technology applied to the design and installation of flowlines and risers." It said Deep Blue's systems will make possible the installation of "the deepest ever PiP system using the J-Lay solution, and the deepest ever fully reeled SCR, as well as the deepest ever PiP SCR."
CSO will also design and build the 8-in.-in-12-in. reeled PiP system. Onshore fabrication of all the reeled flowlines and SCRs will be at the Mobile facility.