GALLERY: HHL delivers 516 t carousel for Total’s Egina field in Nigeria

Heavy transport specialist Hansa Heavy Lift (HHL) has transported a giant carousel together with eight reels, weighing around 3,500 metric tonnes from the UK to Nigeria.

HHL said on Tuesday that the equipment, destined for the Egina oil field, was transported by the HHL Lagos vessel. The vessel was mobilized in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to prepare the vessel with additional deck strength for the extra-large carousel, which weighs over 2,200 metric tonnes including spooled product and a diameter of over 25 meters.

Tom Kröger, the project engineer of HHL, said: “Close connection between HHL engineering, superintendents, and the vessel’s crew allowed for a fast deck reinforcement through the installation of additional underdeck stiffeners and a spooling platform.

“Our in-house team of experienced naval architects carried out structural calculations to assess the structural integrity of the vessel.

“The team performed structural analyses to develop a tailor-made solution accordingly with the project related requirements and designed and installed bespoke shim-plates on deck to support Saipem with the accommodation of the carousel.”

Saipem in cooperation with HHL installed the empty carousel, which weighed 516 metric tonnes, together with the required equipment, on the vessel before sailing to Newcastle, where the cargo spooling took place.

The company worked with Saipem upon arrival at the port of Lagos to achieve double banking with Saipem’s offshore construction vessel Normand Maximus to unspool the products from the carousel.

Egina field

The field, located some 130 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria at water depths of more than 1,500 meters, is being developed using an FPSO of the same name, operated by Total.

The FPSO is 330 meters long, with 61 meters across and 34 meters high, with a storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels of oil.

When operational, Egina, the largest FPSO in Total’s fleet, will be producing 200,000 barrels per day, increasing Nigeria’s daily production by 10 percent.

Earlier this month, offshore marine and engineering consultancy Aqualis Offshore was awarded the position keeping role for the installation of Egina FPSO.