McDermott books Heerema for Saudi project

Offshore contractor Heerema Marine Contractors has secured a contract with McDermott to transport and install six large jackets within Package-1 of Saudi Aramco’s Marjan increment programme in Saudi Arabia.

The Marjan oil and gas field is located in the Arabian Gulf off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. The Marjan increment programme is an integrated development project to increase the production capacity from the Marjan offshore field.

McDermott secured a contract for Package 1 of Saudi Aramco’s Marjan project in 2019. The contract included the fabrication of over 165,000 tons consisting of 6 major topside platforms and jackets, 12 bridges and 6 bridge support platforms and jackets, as well as over 70 kilometres of 36-inch oil export trunk lines and more than 90 kilometres of 230kV composite subsea cables.

Heerema’s contract with McDermott includes the transportation and installation of six jackets, piles, and boat landings, which make up part of the Gas-Oil Separation Plant (GOSP) complex. The jackets are all within the weight range of 4,500 to 6,700 metric tons with a maximum footprint of 90 x 52 meters.

As detailed by Heerema, the company will be in charge of transporting the jackets from the L&T yard in Oman to the Marjan offshore field, using the company’s H-591 barge.

Furthermore, Heerema will use its largest semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir, which runs on emission-reducing LNG and has a lifting capacity of 20,000 metric tons, for the installation. The giant vessel will lift install the jackets and the 92 piles, which have a combined weight of 24,000 metric tons, in 2023.

Michel Hendriks, Heerema’s Transport and Installation Director said: “The award of the Marjan jacket scope is evidence of McDermott’s confidence in Heerema’s capabilities to deliver large transport and installation scopes in the Middle East.”

The project will be run from Heerema’s Leiden Office and the soon-to-be-established Al Khobar office. The company pointed out that the Marjan Increment project is an important step in its ambition to expand activities in the Middle East further.