Grootste pijpenlegger !!
Allseas' Solitaire begins work on Sable Project
28-06-99 The largest pipelay vessel in the world
will soon be put to work off the shores of Nova Scotia
as part of the Sable Offshore Energy
Project. The Allseas vessel, Solitaire,
will be responsible for installing 197 km of 26" pipe along the ocean floor.
On June 26th, the Solitaire set-up about 1 km offshore from Sheet Harbour
and spent the following day being "mobilised" or readied for the task ahead.
Today, the Solitaire begins work on the main gathering line,
approximately 1.5 km from the landfall (where the pipe meets the shore) at Goldboro,
Guysborough County. The main gathering line,
which transports the natural gas,
will run between Sable's Thebaud platform and the shore of
Nova Scotia.
"The arrival of Solitaire is definitely a major milestone
in the life of the Sable project," says Eric van Baars,
project manager for Allseas.
"The momentum is building and we are getting closer and closer
to bringing natural gas to Nova Scotia."
The pipelaying process itself involves a number ofsteps.
Specially coated pipes are loaded on to dedicated pipe carrying
vessels in Sheet Harbour from the Shaw & Shaw coating site
and are then transported to the Solitaire offshore.
These pipes are loaded onboard Solitaire and are
welded together to form the main pipeline string.
As the Solitaire moves forward, the string is laid onto the seabed.
"The Solitaire is able to lay pipe 24 hours a day
at a speed of about 4 - 7 km per day,
depending on the weather and other factors,
which is twice
as fast as other pipelay vessels." says van Baars. "
All the welds are inspected by an
Automatic Ultra Sonic Testing system to ensure their full integrity.
The system sends acoustic signals through the weld
and a computer is able to read those signals and
determines the integrity of the weld."
The Solitaire is 285 metres,
or 935 feet long and her hold can store about 15,000 tonnes of pipe.
She also has the ability to work in waves as high
as about 4.5 metres or 15 feet.
The Solitaire is expected to work on the Sable Offshore Energy Project
for approximately seven weeks.
The Solitaire picks up where Allseas other pipelay vessel Lorelay
left off after four weeks working in the field. On June 18th, the 182-metre long
Lorelay completed the laying
of the inter-field pipelines -- a total of 57 km of 18"gas/3" methanol pipeline
between the Venture and Thebaud
platforms and another 35 kilometres of 12" gas/3" methanol pipeline
between Thebaud and North Triumph.
"We are very proud of Lorelay's accomplishments
as she was able to complete her assignment safely
and well ahead of schedule," says van Baars.
Sable Offshore Energy (SOEI) is on schedule to deliver gas for November 1999.
SOEI is owned by Mobil Canada (50.8 %),
Shell Canada (31.3 %), Imperial Oil Resources (9.0 %),
Nova Scotia Resources (8.4 %), and Mosbacher Operating (0.5 %).
Source: Canada Newswire via Newspage
|
