Focus on Deep, Ultra-Deep Waters Deep water and ultra-deep water fields development are the offshore oil & gas industry’s newest challenge - and key to its future. Saipem, with its integrated deep water technology development programme is positioned to be a market leader in this sector for many years to come. Although deep water represents a part of global offshore activity it is without doubt the technological leading edge, and the future prospects are considerable. The Company’s new generation of deep water Vessels Saipem 7000, Saipem FDS, as well as its heavy work class Innovator Rovs and the recent investments, the building of a pipelayer “CastorOne” and of another field development ship, the Saipem FDS 2, have definitively reinforced Saipem role as a front runner in the deep and ultra-deep water fields development and trunklines market, building on integrated approach recognized by industry as necessary to cover both those deep water operations carried out on the surface, and those requiring underwater intervention. The Present Within the Group fleet of semi-submersible Vessels, equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies, the most noteworthy is the Saipem 7000, thanks to its dynamic positioning system, 14,000 t lifting capacity and capability to lay subsea pipelines in ultra-deep waters using the “J-lay system”. A significant pipelaying performance of the Saipem 7000 is the Blue Stream Project, comprising the laying of two 24” pipelines in 2,150 m water depth across the Black Sea and thus becoming by far the largest, deepest gas pipeline in the world. The Saipem FDS “Field Development Ship”, an advanced DP multipurpose Vessel, equipped with J- lay tower today capable of laying up to 26” diameters pipelines in deep water (and up to 36” after the planned upgrade) has resulted in the last ten years the main actor in the execution of some of the challenging deep water Fields Development Projects in West Africa. Kizomba A, Kizomba B, and Marimba North EPC3 tie-back system Projects for Esso Exploration Angola, Rosa SURF Development for Total E&P Angola and recently the AKPO field development for Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd are some of the remarkable one’s successfully performed in water depth ranging from 1,000 m to 1,500 m. The “Field Development Ship” Saipem FDS 2 is a DP multipurpose Vessel, equipped with J-lay tower capable of laying up to 36” diameter pipelines in ultra-deep waters and is equipped with a 1,000 t - 400 m below, main crane capacity. Her J-lay tower, designed to lay quadruple joints, has a capacity of 2,000 t. The Future The extraordinary growth of the subsea market over the past years and the raising demand for developments in ultra-deep waters and in hostile environments like sub arctic context has led Saipem to upgrade its fleet and to invest in new vessels. Joining soon our world-class fleet will be the CastorOne, a ship- shaped pipelay Vessel with an overall length of 330 m (excluding stinger) and a DP fully redundant Class 3 System. Ice Class classified she can accommodate on board more than 700 persons. The Vessel, designed to transit at speed up to 13 knots, will swiftly mobilize to work destination across the globe. CastorOne is capable to lay up to 60” pipes in S-lay mode or up to 36” in J-lay mode. With her unique J-lay tower capacity of 2,500 t CastorOne can carry out pipelines and trunklines in water depth down to 3,000 m.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 05:56:42 +0000