IOEC completes busy six-month campaign

Heavily involved in the South Pars gas field development is the Iranian Offshore Engineering & Construction Company (IOEC), established in 1993 as Iran’s first offshore general contractor. With the addition of its pipe coating facility in 1999, the company embarked on an offshore services expansion programme which continues to this day and the company now lays claim to being able to provide projects with full marine fleet support for pipelaying, platform installation, hook-up and commissioning.

The South Pars offshore view has been changed by a number of events during the last six months,’ reports Nima Shirzadi (pictured, right), IOEC’s head of planning and project control on South Pars 15 and 16. The latest offshore work campaign on those phases, and now replicated in phases 17 and 18, called for the installation of six jackets and decks including two wellhead platforms, two relief platforms with associated bridges and supports plus 32in pipelines with 4in piggyback lines. The pipelines on 15 and 16 are both 230km long. EPC contractor for the platforms is SAFF & ISOICO, with IOEC taking the offshore leadership role as pipelines EPCI contractor and handling platform installation.

Meanwhile, under phase 12, the work programme required fabrication and installation of the topsides for three platforms under EPCI contract, including associated bridges and supports, 441km of 32in pipe, 5.1km of 30in pipe, single point mooring and PLEM.

Main jackets being installed for South Pars phases 15 (left) and 16 (right).

Between June 2009 and January 2010, four four-leg main jackets ranging in height from 74m to 79m and weighing in total 13,750 tons, were installed in South Pars. Three of them (for phases 17, 18 and 16) were installed by IOEC and the fourth (for phase 15) by SAFF as subcontractor of IOEC. The phase 17 jacket including piles and appurtenances weighed in at about 3600 tons, while for phases 18, 16 and 15 respectively the weight was around 3700, 3200 and 3250 tons. All four jackets were installed by the AB-1200 vessel using the launch method.

Another vessel, IOEC’s multipurpose C-Master, was also kept busy during this time installing South Pars pipelines. With its advanced hull design, and an overall length of 203m including stinger, this modern DP3 vessel can serve in pipelay, platform installation and accommodation vessel mode and is equipped for diving, pile driving, flexible pipelay and/or subsea installation work. The C-Master pipelay spread includes a portside mounted S-lay system with capacity for 4-48in pipe and three 60 ton SAS tensioners. IOEC says the vessel’s best pipelay performance to date is a rate of 4.2km/day for 10in diameter pipe.

At South Pars over the six-month period, the vessel completed the shore pulling of six lines: three 32in and one 30in pipelines for the phase 12 project and two 32in lines for phases 15 and 16.

IOEC’s versatile DP3 C-Master vessel at work on South Pars pipelines.	Shore pull at Assalouyeh.

According to Shirzadi, C-Master carried out the shore pull for four lines (with lengths ranging from 900 to 1200m) and 13km of conventional pipelaying under phase 12 in just 16 days – ‘another good record for the company’, he adds. AOG

Issue: January/February 2010
Author: Nima Shirzadi