Van Oord has been taking its engineering expertise in the dredging sector and applying it to the oil and gas business – with much success. Elaine Maslin reports on a first in deepwater and a new market.
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Van Oord’s new rock installation vessel, the Bravenes. Photos from Van Oord. |
Family-owned, Van Oord has a luxury – it can do things differently. And the firm, traditionally a dredging contractor, is doing just that, creating new possibilities and new markets as it does so.
Last year, the company set a world depth record for rock installation, on the Aasta Hansteen development and associated Polarled pipeline, using its flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes, which will continue work on the project this year and into next.
Through working with an American operator offshore Australia, Van Oord has also developed a new way to ease pipelines down steep inclines, a technique since adopted and used offshore Norway for Statoil.
In both cases, there was no market before Van Oord came up with a solution. In deep water, pipelines were built thicker to withstand long freespans, as rock installation wasn’t thought an option. For laying pipelines crossing steep and deep submarine ridges alternative routes were found or long free spans again had to be incorporated.
Van Oord is also investing. It has a new rock installation vessel, the Bravenes, being built at Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group Shanghai’s yard in Ningbo, China. It will be able to install rocks in three modes, and, with a shallow draft, be able to operate in both shallow and deepwater up to 600m.
“Developing new technologies will develop new markets,” says Cor Jan Stam, offshore engineering manager for Van Oord. “When you have a new technique or technology, that is cost effective, it will generate a new market.”
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Cor Jan Stam, Offshore Engineering manager for Van Oord. |
The industry certainly needs it. In the current low oil price and slashed spending climate, costs are under the microscope. “A lot of projects have been delayed or canceled and everyone has been used to certain levels of cost, which has been increasing over the years,” says Joep Athmer, managing director, Van Oord’s offshore division. “Now everyone in the supply has to get used to different costs, be cheaper and more efficient without cutting corners in safety. Productivity has to increase on the contractor and operator side.”
But, there are still opportunities, he says. “The opportunities are reducing the paper work. One of the reasons for the enormous increase in costs has been more and more specifications. Every operator has their own standards, making it difficult for us to comply. There is also going to be work around facility replacement – such as old pipelines and installations – as well as LNG. Those are, for us, some of the opportunities in the future.”
Deepwater record setting
Last year, Van Oord set a record for the deepest water rock installation campaign, on the Aasta Hansteen project and associated Polarled pipeline. Over a four-week campaign, using the Stornes flexible fallpipe vessel, with some modifications, the firm performed pre-lay rock installation in up to 1277m water depth, mostly to enable a stable support for the pipeline, which would otherwise be on unstable seabed. This summer it has been performing post-lay installation. In total, some 300,000-tonne of rock will have been installed, mostly on the deepwater section of the pipeline and some infield pipelines.
Over winter 2014-15, the Stornes was further modified, at Dutch firm Damen Shipyards, so that it can install rocks in deeper water for longer, in greater quantities and in a broader weather window. This meant splitting the fallpipe in two and hanging the two sections off two different hang off points on the vessel, spreading the increased weight, effectively doubling capacity from 900-1000m water depth to 2000m. “This has created a market where there was not one before,” Cor Jan Stam says. “They were just not able to install rock at this depth. Now there is the ability and we think it will create its own market.”
Deep excavation
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Joep Athmer, managing director, Van Oord’s Offshore division, Koos van Oord. |
Working with a client, Van Oord has created what it sees as another new market for the oil and gas industry, through its deep excavation system (DES). Created initially to solve a problem to laying a pipeline down a ridge, dropping, for example, from 600m to 700m water depth, over only 50m, offshore Australia, Van Oord created a system to dredge the edge of the escarpment so that the pipeline could better follow the curve, without bringing subsoil to surface. Van Oord designed the system using a hydraulic grab, controlled by the fallpipe vessel’s ROV, from the end of the fallpipe. The 3m x 2m grab scoops up subsoil and places it to one side, using the propulsion inside the ROV and without moving the vessel. “This technique is more controlled than water jetting and can deal with harder soils,” Cor Jan Stam says. Its accuracy, due to the ROV positioning, means that it can also be used near coral reefs. Van Oord has since invested in making the system more efficient and it is also being used on Polarled, where the seafloor has deep scours from passing icebergs.
Fleet addition
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Van Oord’s flexible fallpipe vessel Stornes. |
Van Oord also saw an opportunity when it ordered its new vessel, the Bravenes. It wanted to replace its oldest flexible fallpipe vessel Tertnes, but also wanted to add a shallow draft vessel to its fleet, which was also capable of deeper water work and handling larger rock for maximum flexibility, says Koos van Oord, area manager Subsea Rock Installation at Van Oord. Bravenes, due to be completed yearend 2016, is a modern Ice class 1A, X-Bow style design vessel with DP3. It can work in close proximity to platforms thanks to an over the side tremie pipe system as well as through its moonpool. It will also be able to handle larger size rocks and will be Van Oord’s most high-tech rock installation system, incorporating a semi-automated system, linking the DP3, with ROV subsea positioning and rock distribution systems. Its accuracy will help reduce the amount of rock needing to be installed, Van Oord says.
Flexibility
Key to the firm’s success has been adapting its marine engineering expertise from the dredging industry and applying its skills in innovative ways to the oil and gas industry, Athmer says. “We are a marine contractor bringing all our knowledge to the offshore market,” he says. “Focusing on the problem and inventing new technologies, more versatile and more economic solutions.”
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