Heavy lifting company ALE is wrapping up load-out operations for the Upper Zakum 750 Island Surface Facilities (UZ750) project offshore Abu Dhabi, UAE.
ALE, a UK-based transportation specialist, secured a contract to deliver almost 100 different modules to the artificial islands of the Zakum oil field, the second largest field in the Arabian Gulf.
Upper Zakum field, located approximately 84 kilometers northwest of Abu Dhabi, has an estimated 50 billion barrels of oil reserves. The field currently produces 640,000 barrels of oil a day (bpd) but is set to increase UAE’s overall oil production by 750,000 barrels of oil per day in 2017.
The Upper Zakum 750 (UZ750) project involves four production artificial islands comprising of a central complex with processing facilities, and the north, south and west satellite platforms.
The modules consist of a variety of pipe racks, process modules, buildings, and substations, weighing between 120t – 4,700t and some modules measuring over 50m long.
ALE said on Monday that it had delivered all 29 modules offshore to the south island, 38 out of 40 for the north island, with the final 26 awaiting delivery for the west island.
During this project ALE has used 40 – 252 axle lines of self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) to perform the transportation and load-out operations.
Sachin Kumar , Project Engineer for ALE, said: “It is fantastic to be involved in one of the world’s largest offshore projects. The challenge scope of transporting such heavy and abnormally-sized loads by land and sea has meant that we are combining different techniques and equipment.
“As we progress with the project, we look to continue these standards, and we are on schedule to complete the delivery of all items in the next few months.”
ALE added that only the final portion of modules for the west island remain and that the project is expected to finish mid-2017.
The field is owned by the Zakum Development Company, a joint venture of ADNOC acting as the operator, ExxonMobil, and Japan Oil Development Company.