Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn. Bhd. (MMHE) made a major step toward handling deepwater projects with plans to further upgrade its Pasir Gudang yard on the southern tip of Malaysia.
TheKikeh spar under construction at Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian engineering and fabricating yard is delivering marine structures for the country’s first deepwater development Kikeh field, in 1,330 m of waters off the coast of the eastern Malaysia state of Sabah. A spar will be used to develop the field.
MMHE was scheduled to deliver the spar’s 3,400-metric ton topside and 13,000-metric ton hull late in the third quarter to main contractor Technip Geoproduction (M) Sdn. Bhd. The 25-dry tree unit spar is to operate 18 DTUs in the first phase of development, with first oil scheduled for the second half of 2007.
“We have acquired technology and know-how with the completion of the spar project,” MMHE head of corporate communication and administration, Mohd Adnan Haji Harun, said.
TheKikeh DTU spar being loaded onto a barge for delivery.
MMHE is preparing to further upgrade its yard for future projects that would include semisubmersible units, he said. “We are building capability to handle deepwater projects and to become the number one deepwater center.”
The spar technology came from Technip’s Finland yard, which has been a major builder of spars for the Gulf of Mexico, said Syed Feizal Syed Mohammad, senior VP for business development at Technip.
Fourteen spar engineers and experts from Technip Finland were posted at MMHE to implement the spar project, he said.
Syed Feizal also said that Technip plans to introduce Extendable Draft Floater technology to Asia, mostly through its partnership with MMHE, for deepwater projects.
MMHE also is converting a 273,000-dwt tanker into an FPSO for the Kikeh field, which is estimated to hold 400-700 MMbbl of oil. It is designed to produce 120,000 b/d of oil and 150 MMcf/d of gas. The SBM/MISC owned FPSO, which is about 88% complete, also would inject 135 MMcf/d of gas and 260,000 b/d of water during the eight-year lease period.
Field operator and developer Murphy Oil Sabah Co. Ltd., a unit of Murphy Oil of the US, selected the spar concept as one of the most cost-effective for development of the field. Tension leg platform was the other option but theKikeh spar, the first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific, has set the pace for deepwater and ultra deepwater developments in the region.
The spar, with two heave plates, is considered to be a more stable platform for the Malaysian deepwater, and offers a wider area for on-field work.
MMHE general manager for engineering and construction, Mohamed Zaaba bin Haji Abbas, said it took about 18 months to complete the spar hull at Pasir Gudang yard, which, in recent years, has focused more on upstream marine projects.
The topsides are scheduled to be towed to the Kikeh field for a “float-over installation” on the spar hull, Zaaba said.
Technip’s Syed Feizal said the company’s main contract to design, build, and install the spar would be completed by end of this year.
Murphy is developing the Kikeh field in 80:20 partnership with Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd., a unit of the Malaysian national oil corporation, Petronas. The field development cost was estimated at more than $1 billion.
Meanwhile, MMHE is building Riser-A platform for Petronas’ Turkmenistan block 1, a topside for Woodside Petroleum’s Angel field in Australia, a topside for Shell’s Sarawak field, and a second turret for Australia’s Stybarrow field, having recently shipped the first turret. MMHE also is working on a second tender drill barge for SeaDrill, having recently delivered the first such barge, and conversion of an FSO for MISC destined for the Abu Cluster field in Malaysian water.
It is also carrying out repair work on theBunga Kelana Empat tanker and Al Deebel LNG ship.
