Italian engineering and construction services provider Saipem said on 29 November that it had secured two new offshore contracts with an overall value of about $1.9 billion.
The first contract is from ExxonMobil for the Whiptail oilfield development, the sixth project located in the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, at a water depth of 2000 m.
Saipem said the scope of work includes the “design, fabrication, and installation of subsea structures, risers, flowlines, and umbilicals for a large subsea production facility.”
It added that the FDS2, Constellation, and Castorone vessels will perform the work and that its Guyana Offshore Construction facility located in the Port of Georgetown will be a key fabrication site.
With the award of this contract, the company can begin some limited activities including engineering and procurement. It is subject to the project attaining necessary government approvals, the project sanction by ExxonMobil Guyana and partners, and an authorization to proceed with the final phase.
The second contract is from Equinor for the Raia pre-salt gas and condensate fields in the Campos Basin, which is located about 200 km offshore the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. In September, Equinor submitted development plans for the fields in the BM-C-33 concession.
The estimated $9-billion development will utilize an FPSO capable of processing gas and oil/condensate to meet sales specifications without further onshore processing. The FPSO will have a production capacity of 16 million m3/D of gas with expected average exports of 14 million m3/D.
Saipem said its scope of work includes “the offshore transport and installation of a subsea gas export line and associated equipment in water depths of around 2900 m, as well as the horizontal drilling activities for the shore approach.”
The contractor said it will use its Castorone vessel to work on what it said is one of the “most important gas development projects in Brazil, which could represent 15% of the total domestic demand of the country.”
The extracted gas will be transported through pipelines installed by Saipem for approximately 200 km from the field to a gas receiving facility to be built in Cabiúnas, in the city of Macaé in the State of Rio de Janeiro.
