The Deep Blue, a 225-m long construction vessel, completed its most recent challenge for the Na Kika project in water depths down to 2500m (7600ft). The Shell/BP joint venture will develop six separate oil- and gasfields surrounding Mississippi Canyon Block 474. In March, the Deep Blue completed the infield pipelines as well as the steel catenary risers (SCRs) that will bring a production totalling 110,000brl/d of oil and 425m. cuft/d gas to the Na Kika platform processing plant.
Among the vessel’s achievements on Na Kika are:
deepest pipe-in-pipe (PiP) J-lay: 2058m (6272ft)
deepest rigid pipeline by reel-lay: 2483m (7568ft)
deepest pipe-in-pipe by reel lay: 2277m (6940ft)
deepest pipeline SCR: 2087m (6360ft)
The ultra-deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico are pushing the technological limits further than ever before. Despite this, and most impressively, Technip has successfully completed the offshore construction phases without any LTI (lost-time incidents). The Na Kika project will receive the ‘Distinguished Achievement’ award at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.