PDVSA, Roffco and IMR Global Supply Ltd have completed the first ever project to replace large  diameter steel oil pipelines with flexible oil lines, using PDVSA’s production units in Lake Maracaibo.   IMR Global Supply Ltd performed the installation, using the purpose-built Panama flagged installation vessel, Zumaque Tracer, with Aquatic Engineering & Construction Ltd, an Acteon company, who supplied the technicians and equipment to handle and deploy the pipelines and provided Project Management, Engineering  and Operational support throughout the project.

Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish bay in Venezuela, South America. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by the Tablazo Strait (55 km) at the northern end, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. The lake is a major shipping route to the ports of Maracaibo and Cabimas. The surrounding Maracaibo Basin contains large reserves of crude oil, making the lake a major profit centre for Venezuela.

The first part of the installation took place in late 2015 using eighteen reels of GE Oil & Gas/Wellstream, comprising eight reels of 9” (23cm) ID pipe and ten reels of 12” (31cm) ID pipe on 28ft (8.5m) diameter 200Te reels.

The Wellstream reels and Aquatic equipment spread, 500Te modular drive system, 50Te tensioner, and ancillaries, were loaded at Port of Blyth, UK onto transportation vessel, HC Paulina for shipping to Ciudad Ojeba, Venezuela, where all the reels and Aquatic equipment, were transferred to the installation vessel.

Jay Roff, Chief Executive of IMR Global Supply Ltd stated, “This project has guaranteed the replacement of six existing carbon steel pipelines.  Our partnership with Roffco means we can increase our capacity to serve the Oil & Gas industry in Venezuela and the region with our own installation vessels and local technical personnel by working with specialist providers like Aquatic for flexible pipe lay, because we have a high-level of understanding of the safety standards, best practices for operational integrity and the demanding offshore operational conditions in which we operate.”

Commenting on this latest project win in the Americas region, Managing Director, Martin Charles, said “Aquatic continues to remain a dependable partner of choice; we are pleased that we have been able to develop a strong working relationship with IMR Global during this project.  It is essential that we are able to maintain key customer, partner and operator relationships during the management and delivery of their projects, and I am confident that the success of this partnership will be repeated in the future.”

For more information, please visit: www.aquaticsubsea.com

For more information on projects, please visit ProjectsOGP