Earlier than planned: Navantia UK starts making subsea structures for Shell’s gas field

Navantia UK has cut the first steel at its recently-purchased Arnish facility for subsea structures destined for Shell’s project offshore Trinidad and Tobago, earlier than planned.

It was reported in February that Navantia UK had won a contract with McDermott Trinidad Ltd. for the delivery of subsea structures that will be manufactured at the Arnish facility it acquired as part of the purchase of Harland & Wolff.

The company now reported that the first steel had been cut ahead of schedule for the structures that will be installed at Shell’s Manatee gas field development.

“Cutting first steel ahead of schedule on the Manatee project continues our strong track record of delivery excellence,” said Albert Allan, Navantia UK’s General Manager. “This is a testament to the expertise we’ve built at Arnish over many years. Our team consistently delivers complex subsea structures to the highest standards, and we’re bringing that same precision and quality to this important project.”

McDermott reported in August 2024 that it had won an engineering, procurement, construction, installation (EPCI), hook-up, and commissioning contract with Shell Trinidad and Tobago Limited for the Manatee gas field development.

Shell took a final investment decision (FID) for the undeveloped gas field in July 2024 based on a development plan according to which the recovered hydrocarbons from Manatee would be delivered by drilling eight development wells from a normally unmanned offshore platform. Afterward, gas and condensate would be delivered to shore via a new gas pipeline.

The hydrocarbons would then be processed at the existing Beachfield facility and delivered for sale. The field is part of the giant Loran-Manatee field, discovered in 1983, which straddles Trinidad and Tobago’s maritime boundary with Venezuela. The combined field has an estimated resource of 10.04 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, of which 2.712 tcf is within the Manatee portion.

McDermott also recently secured an enterprise framework agreement (EFA) with Shell for engineering and procurement services and integrated project management team services (IPMT).