Bahr Essalam Barge Support

FULLY SUPPORTED BARGE SERVICES FOR LOADOUTS

The Bahr Essalam gas and condensate field is Libya’s biggest offshore production site. Located in the Mediterranean, around 120km northwest of Tripoli, it holds c.260 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. Throughout the project, we were contracted to supply four tugs and three barges to Technip, and to support those vessels with full services. This included:

• Vessel assurance, interface with MWS, day to day management of port calls, crew changes, spares and provisions, coordination of tug and barge operations alongside CSVs.
• Designing, fabricating and installing sea-fastenings for PLEMs and manifolds.
• Structural design, MWS approval, Technip QAQC approval, transport manuals and passage plans, bollard pull calculations and tug suitability assessments.
• Supply & installation of sea-fastenings for all spool load outs.

RAPID TURNAROUNDS  

Experience makes a difference, not only in the supply of standard equipment – calling on our partners and subcontracting vessels we’ve used before – but also in recommending and fabricating the right sea-fastenings.

For Bahr Essalam, we completed sea fastening design, fabrication and installation at very short notice. This meant carrying out deck strength evaluation of the barges quickly and efficiently, and then designing and delivering those fastenings within a tight timetable. We use an extended network of subcontractors and  a preferred partner in the Netherlands to do this, which has always proven highly cost effective – they have an excellent track record of punctuality, too. Our design meant the barges arrived with them preinstalled, ready to receive structures. In short, this means loadouts could be done with no need for hot works, gas free testing or other delays.

IN-HOUSE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Many of our offshore team have been with us for several years – some for a decade or more. This experience makes a difference. We made sure our engineers were onsite for the entire load out of all cargo, which meant more reassurance for the client. It also meant we had confidence the barge would always be ready to receive cargo, MOCs could be done promptly, and weather windows could be optimized for departure. We’re in charge of the schedules from start to finish, cutting costs and time not corners.

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP

We subcontracted out the welding to local companies as required, but our in-house project managers ensured everything was completed in compliance with Technip’s High Quality requirements. This included the welding of D-Rings, Spool Frames and Structural Supports, and of course our engineers were then on site to supervise the locating, welding and testing of the D-Rings and spool gooseneck support frames. In addition, we have a long standing relationships with a variety of tug owners. These connections mean we can ensure flexibility in projects where schedules are unlikely to remain static.

END-TO-END SERVICES

For the Bahr Essalam gas and condensate field, our scope of work epitomises the range, flexibility and capability of our subsea oil and gas team.

• In the office – rapid sea-fastening design, procedures, high levels of attention to detail in all communications and documentation
• On site – welding, overseeing local contractors to ensure quality control and compliance with high standards, ballasting, and full mobilisation and demobilisation
• Offshore – tug selection, provision of our own barge master, running the DP vessel approach, transferring to and from barges, complete barge setup, and organisation of safe havens right along the route from Ravenna to the Bahr Essalamfield. With support from our local contacts we identifies suitably sheltered areas and ports that would let towing operations be suspended in severe weather conditions – all critical to the towing manual being approved.