 "L&T unveils high-tech spool base facilities for subsea project in Chennai")
L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), unveiled a high-tech spool base facilities at L&T’s fabrication facility at Kattupalli in Chennai. These facilities are being employed to execute a lump sum turnkey (LSTK) contract that has been bagged from ONGC for a subsea installation by a consortium of J Ray McDermott SA, Berlian McDermott and L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Ltd in international competitive bidding.
The contract is part of ONGC’s integrated development of Deep Water Vashishta & S1 Fields on India’s east coast. It is their first project, involving three subsea wells in depths ranging from 400 m to 700 m involving a daisy chain field architecture with subsea tie back to onshore terminal at Odalaveru through a dual 14-inch pipeline.
“We are proud to be involved in this project that is being done for the first time in India. It is also for the first time that such high-end technology required for deep water operations is being transferred and embedded in India through our consortium partners, McDermott. Apart from seeking more sustainable deployment of this high-end technology, a very positive fallout of this project is the degree of local skill development which augurs very well for the future,” said Subramanian Sarma, CEO and managing director, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering.
“It is indeed a proud moment from an Indian perspective and wonderful to see what was conceptualised in 2011 is being realised today. For our deep water campaign, this is a very significant step because we are going towards a gas-based economy for which it was very important to prepare ourselves to the future challenges. It is also commendable that Kattupalli has geared itself to adopt this new technology and I am delighted with the pace and progress already achieved,” stated T K Sengupta, director - offshore, ONGC. He expressed confidence in the ability of the consortium to deliver such a complicated project on schedule and commence production by mid-2017 and achieve full capacity of 2 billion cubic meters of gas per annum by end 2017.
This approximate 91 km of pipeline laying from onshore terminal to offshore deep water field involves 55 km of shallow water lay and 36 km of deep water lay using the spool lay method. The pipeline installation involves specialised welding, NDT (non-destructive testing) and demands the highest levels of fabrication expertise to ensure operating life of 25 years in a harsh marine environment. Very few companies in the world have the expertise to execute such projects on EPC basis and a project of such magnitude is being executed in deep water for the first time in India in the Eastern Offshore Fields of ONGC, which will set a benchmark in project delivery milestones, execution efficiency and excellence.
L&T’s modular fabrication facility at Kattupalli near Chennai offers both, scale and sophistication. Located just 200 nautical miles from the KG basin, with all-weather delivery, the Kattupalli yard is ideally suited for executing deep water projects in the region. The yard has over a kilometer of length – a prerequisite for installing a spool base and reeling facility for sub-sea pipelines. While this yard will develop as a hub for deep water work on India’s east coast, it also supports L&T Hydrocarbon’s shallow water EPC projects.