Subsea 7 Opens New Pipeline Spoolbase at Port Isabel, Texas
The investment in the spoolbase, in excess of $30 million, allows the company to expand its presence and capabilities in the North America and Mexico regions and provide customers with a leading edge world-class solution to serve the increasing deepwater pipeline and steel catenary risers (SCR) market.
The state-of-the-art spoolbase covers an area of 58 acres and is 2km (6000 ft) in length. The spoolbase will fabricate and store oil and gas pipelines of up to 20" diameter (16" steel plus 2" insulation coatings) in lengths of up to 1.2km (4000 ft) for spooling onto reeled pipelay vessels.
The facility will be equipped to weld any steel line pipe material from traditional carbon steel to duplex and clad pipe. In addition, the base will be able to complete the fabrication of plastic-lined pipelines, pipe-in-pipe systems and SCRs. When in full production the base will be able to hold approximately 18,000 tonnes of pipe stalks.
The base employs up to 100 people when working at normal capacity.
The first project to be undertaken at the spoolbase is the fabrication and installation of two 8" flowlines totalling 58km (36 miles) for Marathon Oil Corporation's Droshky field development. The Droshky development is located approximately 180 km south of Houma, Louisiana, USA with water depths ranging from 1,350 ft to 3,000 ft in Green Canyon block 244. Pipeline fabrication is already underway at the new Port Isabel facility, with pipeline installation scheduled for Q4 2009.
Ian Cobban, Vice President - North America for Subsea 7 stated: "The opening of Subsea 7's North America Pipeline Spoolbase at Port Isabel in Texas is a significant milestone in building upon the significant infrastructure that Subsea 7 has already established in the United States. The investment enables Subsea 7 to remain highly competitive for future pipelay projects and gives us the ability to successfully execute subsea projects to the high standards expected by our clients across the region. The facility is also strategically positioned to serve the emerging Mexican deepwater markets."
