FDS2 and CastorONE: A Reply for the Deepwater Forthcoming Vision
Authors: Faldini Roberto , Chiesa Giovanni 
Published: April 2012

New oil and gas frontiers are presently looking at projects offshore of theGulf of Mexico and South Atlantic, including West African and Brazilian watersand soon after Asia Pacific. New technologies are required to performinstallation in a cost efficient and safe method; they must encompass the stateof art equipment in order to provide effective solutions. The new ships FDS2and CastorONE are Saipem's replies to the forthcoming challenges indeep/ultra-deep water field development and pipe lying. The new vessels willoperate by using new welding, NDT and field joint coating technologies, including innovative installation equipment able to generate added value forthe implemented solutions. Field development projects include complex risersystems and the new fleet is designed to offer reliable solutions for thefuture configurations, which are designed to route the oil and gas fluids tothe floating treatment units. Saipem FDS2 is described by indicating hercapabilities and her equipment, including those required for project in shallowwater and those specifically designed for deep waters installation. Furthermore, sea keeping and naval features are offered in order to demonstrateher versatility and ability to solve main installation challenges relevant tothe deep water fields. Trunk line projects will be addressed to transportationof large gas volumes over long distances across harsh environments and Saipemvessel CastorONE is presented by showing off her capabilities for the ultradeep water installation. Information on the new state of art rigid stinger isprovided together with some conceptual solutions designed to increase theefficiency of the working stations and of the method to transfer the pipes withspecific equipment. The paper concentrates on the installation requirements forthe in-field production gathering systems and on the oil and gas exportpipelines.

Field development: the leading market trends

Since 1998, numerous deep water field development projects, mainly in the SouthAtlantic region both in West Africa and in Brazil were carried outsuccessfully. The vision for the future leads towards two major trends: evendeeper waters and new surprising geographical regions. Moving in bothdirections, thanks to its top class technologies and assets, Saipem aim to leadthe path towards the even tougher future challenges.

The scope of the work of deep water projects, within EPCI type contracts, hasnormally included all major and minor technical aspect, supplies andinstallation/operations from A to Z, with contract values typically in therange of half to one billion USD. Key of this market segment - which nowrepresents a significant portion of turnover and backlog - has been theintegrated development of original technical solutions and dedicatedfit-for-purpose installation vessels.

Leveraging on its notable competence, track record and offshore constructionfleet, the two main lines of evolution for the offshore field developmentmarket were, are and will be tackled, namely ultra-deep waters and new frontierregions as follows:On one hand, the ultra-deep water developments, emerging in the traditionaloil provinces in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic, will require theIndustry to make available new technologies and equipment to support the safeand effective implementation of the relevant production schemes;Simultaneously, the development of subsea oil and gas fields is taking placein new world regions bringing quite new challenges from both the technical andexecution standpoints.

Exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs in water depths in excess of 2,000m (?6600') is progressively emerging as the new market. Gulf of Mexico, offshoreBrazil and West of Africa are nowadays showing the greatest concentration offield development projects. In addition, subsea developments in new areas suchas East India, Indonesia, Offshore China and Western Australia are appearing inthe offshore oil and gas theatre both for relatively moderate and for deeperwater depths.

Perdido Regional Development in the Western Gulf of Mexico and the Walker Ridgearea in the Central Gulf of Mexico will be significant and challenging offshoreprojects.