Technip to lay world’s deepest gas pipeline

Technip has been awarded an important engineering, procurement and installation contract by Shell Offshore for the development of subsea infrastructure for the Stones field. This field is located in the Walker Ridge area in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, at a water depth of approximately 2,900 meters. This development will host the deepest floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in the world and will be Shell’s first FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico.
Technip will be in charge of installation of the subsea production system and Stones lateral gas pipeline, inclusive of associated project management, engineering and stalk fabrication.

The production system is comprised of dual 8-inch insulated flowlines associated with pipeline end termination (PLET), and dual eight-inch steel lazy wave riser (SLWR). The Stones lateral gas pipeline is comprised of a single eight-inch gas pipeline associated with PLET, in-line sled, and a single 8-inch SLWR.
Technip’s operating centre in Houston, Texas will perform the overall project management. The flowlines and risers will be welded at Technip’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama. The offshore installation is expected to be performed in the second half of 2014 by the Deep Blue, Technip’s deepwater pipelay vessel.

“With greater depths come greater challenges for our clients and we are delighted to help Shell push back subsea frontiers by laying the deepest gas pipeline worldwide,” said Technip’s senior vice president, North America Region, David Dickson. ”With the award of this high-profile project, Technip confirms its subsea leadership and keeps differentiating itself through innovation to remain at the forefront of frontier projects.”