Smart innovation for Africa

The client was looking for a solution to install oil offloading lines to an FPSO offshore Nigeria in the most time and cost-efficient manner, keeping the number of port calls to a minimum. A key requirement for this project was the use of non-serrated steel pads, specified by the product manufacturer. The product specification also drove the requirement for a 5.5-metre track contact length and circa 120-tonne line pull.

The newest and largest pipelay tensioner in the company’s equipment fleet, the MDL TTS-4/375 Series Tensioner, proved ideal for the job. Like the rest of the MDL equipment, this system is road-transportable and can be mobilised on board a vessel in a single lift. At 5.5m it features the longest track contact length on the market for a single 150-tonne unit.

The system was mobilised from MDL Peterhead facility in modules onto trucks for transport to port, where it was reassembled off critical path before being lifted onto a cargo vessel in a single lift. Once at the project mobilisation port in Lagos, it was then lifted from the cargo vessel directly onto the project vessel and installed onto a HLS ramp, also manufactured bespoke by MDL in Peterhead. The operation was carried out safely and on schedule. Besides a fit-for-purpose solution, the additional benefits on the project came from the use of a single unit in place of a dual-tensioner system. The single-unit option decreases the footprint of the equipment on board and the associated engineering costs, but also reduces the safety hazards associated with running two systems in tandem.