Saipem Claims Installation Records Off Brazil

Saipem said it recently established new milestones with the installation of two gas export free standing hybrid risers (FSHR), 20-inch and 19-inch respectively, located in the pre-salt area of Santos Basin.

The operation took place at approximately 300 kilometres from the Brazilian shoreline.

Reportedly, the operations related to the 20-inch FSHR set records for the largest, deepest and heaviest installation of such systems in the industry, as well as the longest and heaviest buoyancy tank ever installed.

In both operations, the buoyancy tanks were uprighted in the water using the self-upending method, which involves controlled flooding.

The operations were performed by Saipem’s field development ship, FDS2, in water depths of 2,200 meters, using the vessel’s full lifting and handling capacities and technology, which include a 1,000 t main crane, 750 t and 500 t A&R winches, and two 1,500 t capacity patented friction clamps on the J-lay tower.

“These outstanding results are in no small part the outcome of continuous engineering, fabrication and operational improvements that have been constantly nurtured through the successful implementation of a number of FHSR systems in projects all over the world,” the company said in a press release.