Subsea 7 Scores Major Contract for Gorgon Proj.

- Subsea 7 Scores Major Contract for Gorgon Proj.

Friday, July 29, 2011
Subsea 7

Subsea 7 has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $440 million from Chevron Australia Pty Ltd for the Chevron-operated Gorgon Project, offshore Western Australia.

The work scope includes installation and tie-in of heavy lift structures in the Gorgon and Jansz Fields, respectively 65km and 130km from Barrow Island, off the north-west coast of Western Australia, in water depths of up to 1,350m. The project scope includes engineering, spools fabrication, transportation, installation and pre-commissioning of the following:

• 20 subsea structures and foundations, each of up to 1,065 Te;
• 15 heavy spools, each of up to 190 Te;
• 48 tie-in spools;
• 39 electrical and 18 hydraulic flying leads; and
• 5 infield umbilicals and 2 associated distribution units.

Project management and engineering will commence immediately from Subsea 7's office in Perth, Australia, with offshore operations scheduled to commence in 2013 using Sapura 3000 and other construction vessels from our fleet.

Barry Mahon, Subsea 7's Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & Middle East, said, "We are delighted to be awarded this pioneering contract, which complements the recent award of the Gorgon Umbilicals Project and provides an excellent opportunity to further build upon our strong local presence, our expertise in engineering, project management and installation and our long standing track record of
delivering significant subsea projects in Australia."

Jean Cahuzac, Subsea 7's Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Gorgon Project represents an important development for the subsea market in Australia and we are delighted to be awarded this prestigious contract by Chevron. This contract builds upon our world class assets and enhanced capabilities to apply advanced solutions to meet the increasingly challenging needs of our clients in their complex
subsea developments, reinforcing our position as a global leader in seabed to surface engineering, construction and services."

The Gorgon Project is one of the world's largest natural gas projects and the largest single-resource project in Australia's history. It is operated by Chevron and is a joint venture of the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (approximately 47%), ExxonMobil (25%) and Shell (25%), Osaka Gas (1.25%), Tokyo Gas (1%) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417%).

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Subsea 7 Designs, Builds Commercial AIV

Subsea 7 Designs, Builds Commercial AIV

Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Subsea 7

Subsea 7, a global leader in seabed-to-surface engineering, construction and services, on Tuesday announced that it has completed the design and build of the first commercial AIV, a technology which has the potential to revolutionize Life-of-Field projects.

Subsea 7 has an ambitious plan to develop a series of Autonomous Inspection Vehicles (AIV), initially capable of general visual inspection, through to fully capable work-class sized intervention vehicles. A combined project team comprising hardware developers and operational personnel from Subsea 7 and Seebyte, a Scottish based software developer for the autonomous robotics market, has been working together to deliver the first vehicle.

The design and build of the vehicle is complete and successful progress through in-water trialling and commissioning phase is underway. Following completion of extensive in-water testing and capability development, the first commercial AIV is expected to be available in late 2011.

Through the development process, many technical challenges have been overcome, the shape of the vehicle has changed from the original design concept due to the significant work done using the latest Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling to optimize the vehicle's shape with regard to stability and maneuverability, while conserving the onboard power resources.

The vehicle is fully autonomous and can operate for a 24-hour period on a single charge of its lithium-ion batteries, which are housed in pressure vessels within the hull. These batteries have been specifically designed for the vehicle and provide a more cost-effective solution to pressure tolerant batteries, with a lower capital cost and much improved cycle lives. /p>

The sensor package has been developed to cover the requirements of general visual inspection; it comprises the latest sonar technology coupled with high quality video cameras and low power LED lighting.

A significant software integration and development project has been running in parallel with the hardware development and this too has used the most advanced techniques to manage, debug and control the development.

Neil Milne, Subsea 7's Vice President - Life-of-Field Services, commented: "We are delighted with the success of the commercialization program to date for what represents a significant technological advance in the area of subsea remote inspection and intervention. With the arrival of the AIV, subsea structures such as manifolds, wellheads and risers will be able to be inspected by this tetherless technology, significantly increasing flexibility and efficiencies throughout the life-of-field cycle. Following completion of extensive trials and further development over the coming months, we look forward to bringing the first commercial AIV into operations towards the end of 2011."