MUSCAT -- L&T Modular Fabrication Yard (MFY) on Friday completed the load-out of a massive jacket structure from its facility at the Port of Sohar, in a successful operation that underlines Oman's growing indigenous capabilities in the fabrication of offshore marine structures. The jacket, weighing a colossal 2,200 metric tonnes, is the largest offshore marine structure to have been fabricated in the Sultanate. It was transferred onto a barge with the help of self-propelled multi-axle hydraulic trailers for onward transportation to the Mumbai High South offshore field of India's Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC).
L&T MFY's Chief Executive Officer, S K Malhotra, hailed the successful load-out as a reflection of the yard's growing all-round engineering prowess and technological sophistication in executing heavy fabrication contracts. "This contract completed in a record time of less than four months serves to showcase the yard's capabilities in undertaking a wide range of heavy fabrication jobs.
In addition to the fabrication of well-head and process platform jackets and topsides, we also have the technical wherewithal to undertake the fabrication of jack-up and semi-submersible rigs, the conversion and integration of Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) systems, and other high-end offshore structures," Malhotra stated. L&T MFY, a joint venture of Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) India's largest engineering and construction conglomerate and The Zubair Corporation of Oman, ranks among the largest fabrication yards of its kind in the region.
Friday's load-out was the second since the yard commenced operations in 2007. But unlike the first load-out in October 2007, which involved the use of cranes to lift a large shipment of steel piles onto a barge, the latest operation was executed with the use for the first time of multi-axle hydraulic trailers. Also fabricated along with the gigantic jacket were 5,200 metric tonnes of pile sections of between 72-inch and 78-inch diameter. The pile sections form part of the same jacket structure.
Meanwhile, officials are preparing for yet another load-out later this month of a Flare Platform being fabricated for installation at the offshore facilities of Maersk Oil Qatar. The Flare Platform consists of an 800 MT jacket, 200 MT deck, 100-metre-long bridge and 100-metre-long flare structure. Also under way at the Sohar facility is the complete repair and refurbishment of an old self-elevating jack-up rig belonging to the UK-based Lynemouth Drilling Company, an affiliate of Foresight Drilling Company. The contract covers the fabrication and installation of new 477-feet-long legs, heli-deck, derrick, and jacking system for the rig, among other components.
Set on an area of 400,000 sq metres at the Sohar industrial port, the L&T MFY Yard has exclusive access to a 300-metre quay wall specially constructed to withstand heavy loads. Consequently, the Yard can undertake load-outs of ultra-large structures and modules fabricated at the facility. According to officials, the fabrication contracts secured by the Yard have led to significant employment generation, as well as the transfer of specialist fabrication technology to the Sultanate. Around 200 Omani trainees/engineers and office staff are currently employed at the facility. Several units that provide ancillary services to the Yard have also sprung up in the Sohar area.
By Conrad Prabhu
© Oman Daily Observer 2009
