Vessel Demand Sustained by Egyptian Gas Projects

14 April 2016

Gas projects in Egypt are sustaining the offshore support vessel market in the Mediterranean. There has been no let-up in gas developments as energy majors continue to invest in the country to develop large deepwater gas reserves. Subsea 7 was the latest winner from these gas projects. BP awarded a contract to Subsea 7 covering subsea installations on the Giza, Fayoum and Raven fields in the West Nile Delta block offshore Alexandria.

The work scope includes installing subsea infrastructure for 12 wells over the three fields, 220km of pipelines and 80km of umbilicals. The contract also includes installation of the export pipelines from the subsea centres to the Idku terminal. Offshore installation is scheduled to be undertaken in two stages. The first is due to begin in 2017. It will involve installation of pipelines to the terminal in shallow water. The second stage will comprise the deepwater pipelines, flowlines and umbilicals in 2018. Seven Borealis and Seven Antares will be used for the pipelay, while heavy construction vessel Normand Oceanic will be employed for other construction activities.

Eni also made progress with its Zohr project in Egypt. The Italian group gained government approval for the Zohr development lease, which enables Eni to progress with the project in the Shorouk concession. It plans to commence an early production project, using contractors Petrojet, Enppi and Saipem, to begin in the fourth quarter of 2017 and install more systems in 2018 and 2019. Eni recently drilled a successful appraisal well on the field and began bidding for the offshore contracts. It intends to drill three more wells this year.

more [source: OSJ]