The Congo River Canyon Crossing project (CRX) is Angola’s most important project; designed to supply natural gas from two offshore operations (Block 0 and Block 14) to Angola’s gas liquefaction plant “ALNG”. As a project of national importance, it is the cornerstone of Angola’s plans to develop and commercialize its natural gas resources, as well as reduce gas flaring.
The construction of the liquefaction plant began in 2008 west of the city of Soyo in the northwest corner of Angola.
The facility is designed to process 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, 5.2 million metric tons per year. Gas from offshore fields will be piped into the plant, which will supply up to 125 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to Sonangol for Angolan distribution. Project partners are Chevron (36.4 percent interest), Sonangol (22.8 percent interest), Eni, Total and BP (with 13.6 percent interest each). BBC Chartering’s project division engaged in providing pipe feeding solutions for this project and project coordinator Christoph Krüder reports about his experiences.
SAIPEM as turnkey contractor
The Congo River Crossing (CRX) includes an 81-mile pipeline originating at South Nemba platform and terminating at ALNG. A major share of the project went to Saipem, a well known international turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry. Through a contract awarded by the Cabinda Gulf Oil Company (CABGOC), Saipem was asked to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation of three subsea pipelines (with a total length of 110 kilometers), the subsea spools, as well as trenching and crossing works in water depths up to 117 meters. BBC Chartering’s Christoph Krüder said, “CRX project execution started in Q4/2012 and it was planned to be completed by the end of 2013. To support the logistics, we were the selected maritime transport partner to provide pipe feeding and offshore storage solutions for the first lot of the project called CRX I.”
Pipe feeding and offshore storage solutions
It was in December 2012, when BBC Chartering got involved in helping deliver the logistic spread of the assignment.
Three vessels were supplied: the BBC Germany, as “pipe mother vessel”, mainly in charge of executing discharge operations in safe offshore waters, and two “pipe feeder vessels”, the MV Saxum and MV Barbarossa, which were tasked to supply pipes from the mother vessel to a pipe laying barge. “All three vessels commenced the project by loading pipes in Leith, Scotland and then sailed to Luanda Bay, Angola to provide onsite services as required,” said Christoph.
The unit which needed to be served by the feeder vessels was the S355, a barge for shallow water pipe-laying works.
In order to stay in position, the S355 barge employs a 4-point-mooring-system, i.e. an anchor and winch system that keeps the vessel in position at sea. Through this system, the barge can only berth vessels of a maximum length up to 83 meters to fit between the mooring lines.
This led to the selection of the MV Barbarossa and MV Saxum. With a length of 82.5 meters they were the most suitable candidates for the job. “During this project spread BBC Chartering vessels feedered a total of 10,000mt of pipes until February 2013,” remarked Christoph.
Mainly charged with managing the commercial task of the project, Christoph Krüder said “The vessel crews were instrumental for the successful onsite delivery of the assignment. We were very grateful for the great cooperation in this project.” These were the teams around Capt. Nikolay Gombalevsky (BBC Germany), Capt.
Bogdan Kowalski (MV Saxum), and Capt. Igor Ivannikov (MV Barbarossa).
Services were continued on CRX II
The completion of this first project, demonstratedthe performance of vessels and crews, and BBC Chartering won another share for the continuation of the CRX project in June 2013. This time three “mother vessels” were supplied by BBC Chartering to support the installation works of the pipe layer CASTORO 7. As the works had to be carried out in deeper waters further offshore, requirements for safe marine operations needed to be met. Christoph Krüder said, “this time, we had to focus on the mother vessels only. So called platform supply vessels (PSVs) with a DP system had to be employed as feeding units by the client.”
The BBC Chartering provided vessels were the MV Skaftafell, MV BBC Thames and MV HR Marion. Starting July 2013, the vessels loaded a total of about 35,000mt of pipes in Leth, Scotland before making their way to Angolan waters. “Also this time the challenge was that lifting trials had to be done to test a potential new pipe transfer location offshore Cabinda,“ said Christoph. “The site however showed unfavorable swell conditions and in the end operations were moved back to Luanda
Bay.” The project was concluded by the BBC Thames in the beginning of November, after HR MARION already completed her part in mid-October 2013 and the Skaftafell by mid-September. “It is always a challenge to make ends meet with the client and all the parties involved,” reported the project coordinator, “but again we made it happen, and we like to thank the crews around Capt. Pavel Gonchar (MV Skaftafell), Capt. Vitaliy Teplow (MV BBC Thames) and Capt. Yevhen Dems’ky (MV HR Marion) for their support and engagement.” The next assignment is already in the works as the project division was awarded another pipe feeding and offshore storage contract on the Mafumeira project offshore Angola. “We just started in September 2013,” said Christoph, “and we are glad to have the MV Stoertebeker, the MV Barbarossa, and their experienced crews around Capt. Alexander Fomin and Capt. Igor Ivannikov currently deliver the project.” This project is planned to end in March 2014.
We can conclude from the many pipelines being built at the moment that Angola clearly holds an interesting pipeline of future projects, which we are convinced may also prove beneficial for Angola’s economy and people.
BBC Chartering is proud it could support such “a project of national importance,” as it is considered by the Angolan government. We take this opportunity to thank all parties involved for their solicitousness, engagement and support that made things happen!