There appear to be orders for no less than 10 pipelay vessels designed for deepwater service and primarily targeting the Brazilian market.
While a 50:50 joint venture between Technip and DOF have ordered four new vessels on the back of a batch of eight contracts awarded by Petrobras, IHC Merwede has secured orders for six new layers from Subsea 7 and Seabras Sapura.
Turning first to the Technip/DOF ships, two of the PLSVs will have a 300-ton laying tension capacity and will be fabricated in Brazil with a high national content while the other pair will be designed to achieve a 650-ton laying tension capacity and be built in Europe.
Vard Holdings, a major Norwegian designer and builder of offshore and specialised vessels, will be in charge of the design and construction of the four PLSVs.
First the 650T PLSVs:
Engineering is to be carried out in Norway and Romania based on VARD ship design OSCV 05. Hull fabrication will be in Romania with the bare hulls towed to Norway for outfitting and partial delivery.
Then they will transit to Rotterdam for integration of laying tower and final delivery. Pipelay trials will be conducted offshore Netherlands prior to heading for Brazil to start work.
Key data:
- Dimensions: 146m x 30m x 8,5m
- Laying tension: 650T for flexible laying (0,07 friction factor), max 695T for abandonment
- Flexible storage: 2,500T + 1,500T under deck baskets
- Main crane: 50T @ 3,000m
- Back-up crane: 15T @ 20m
- Vehicles: 2 x 3,000m rated 150bhp ROVs
- Accommodation: 120 people
Turning to the 300T PLSVs, engineering for these will also be carried out in Norway/Romania, but based on VARD ship design OSCV 06. Full construction will take place in Recife, Brazil, with option to integrate the towers in Niteroi, also in Brazil.
Pipelaying equipment will be supplied by Huisman and engineering will be carried out in Rotterdam based on Huisman standard designwork but improved. Fabrication will be split between Huisman yards in The Netherlands and Czech Republic
Key data:
- Dimensions: 140m x 28m x 8.5m
- Laying tension: 300T for flexible laying (0,07 friction factor), max 330T for abandonment
- Flexible storage: 2,500T under deck basket + 3 x 200T reels
- Main crane: 30T @ 2,500m
- Auxiliary crane: 15T @ 20m
- Vehicles: 2 x 2500m rated 150bhp ROVs
- Personnel: 120 people
Under the Technip/DOF joint venture agreement, Technip will manage flexible pipelay and DOF will be responsible for marine operations.
Delivery of the PLSVs is scheduled for 2016-2017. Contracts will last eight years from start of operations, and could be renewed for another eight-year period.
In The Netherlands, IHC Merwede’s Offshore division has been successful in securing orders worth over $1.3billion for the design, engineering and construction of a total of six pipelaying vessels.
The agreements for these six ships have been signed with Subsea 7 and Seabras Sapura, the partnership between SapuraKencana and Seadrill.
IHC Merwede will supply three fully-integrated pipelaying vessels to Seabras Sapura. These will include the complete pipelaying spreads, which comprise of a twin-tensioner tilting lay tower, two below-deck baskets and support equipment for the loading, spooling and routing of products.
The integrated automation system, full electrical installation and electrical machinery package will also be designed and delivered by IHC Merwede. In addition, to assist Seabras Sapura in the training of their offshore personnel, a pipelaying simulator will be provided.
When added to existing orders, this latest order that IHC Merwede is now working on makes a total of six pipelaying vessels for Seabras Sapura.
The orders secured with Subsea 7, a long-standing customer, are for three ships of identical design to the recently launched Seven Waves.
Measuring 146m length overall by 30m breadth, these vessels will be equipped for transporting and installing flexible flowlines and umbilicals in water depths to 3,000m.
As with the existing order for the Seven Waves, Subsea 7 is delivering the pipelaying spreads for the three new vessels.
This latest agreement brings the total number of vessels ordered by Subsea 7 from IHC Merwede to eight.
All six vessels will be built in The Netherlands. They will be delivered in the period between the first half of 2015 and the second half of 2016.
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