The offshore contracting business is getting increasingly crowded as several new players are getting their foot in the door.
Dredging-rockdumping specialist Van Oord has picked up a contract with Shell in Gabon for the installation of a new dual looped oil export line.
The twin 10km 22in pipeline system is replacing an existing 30in line to a plem and allows for pigging.
Van Oord hit the pipelay market last year when it took possession of its shallow water laybarge Stingray which was ordered in 2011. It undertook its first jobs in the Asian market - the trenching and installation of a 42in pipeline and a plem for a single point mooring terminal at a refinery in South Korea and a similar job for at a Chinese Petroleum Corp refinery in Taiwan.
Also out there is Hilong of China which has picked up the pipelay for phase two of the Weizhou development for CNOOC. The contract covers seven infield pipelines with a total length of 38.5km.
Hilong acquired the pipelay barge Hilong 106 from Shanghai Zhenhua Industries at the end of last year for $164mn. According to a company report, it was due to have been delivered in the spring, but was only delivered in September.
The barge can handle pipe up to 60in in waters to 300m.
Hilong seems set to expand and move into other markets having acquired Texas Internal Pipe Coating earlier this year. TIPC provides a powder-based internal coating service for oil country tubular goods (OCTG).
Ceona has picked up two jobs in Nigeria in cooperation with strategic partner Marine Platforms. It will install flexibles, umbilicals and a suction pile for a plem for the Abo-12 satellite project for Eni. It will also handle some unspecified duties related to Shell’s EA platform and the Sea Eagle fpso.
Sea Trucks has also won work in Nigeria, again with a local partner West African Ventures. It will use two of its pipelay construction vessel for Afren’s Okwok project.
It will install 60km of pipelines plus a plem, flexible riser and spoolpieces along with a wellhead jacket, piles, bridges and topside.
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