J. Ray to Install Australia's North West Shelf Angel Jacket

McDermott International, Inc. said that a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, S.A. recently won a contract from Woodside Energy Limited, operator of the North West Shelf (NWS) Venture, valued at approximately $200 million, for substructure and pipelay installation for the Venture's $1.2-billion Angel platform development.

The Angel development will include the installation of the Venture's third major platform off Western Australia's North West Shelf. The remotely operated Angel platform will be in about 260 feet of water and will be fully operational by the fourth quarter of 2008.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with the NWS Venture and in particular its operator Woodside again,” said Bob Deason, J.Ray’s president and chief operating officer. “This is the second contract we have undertaken for Woodside within the past 12 months.”

The substructure and pipelay installation contract will involve transportation of the 7,500MT jacket and piles by J. Ray's launch barge, the Intermac 650, from a fabrication yard in China to the offshore installation site as well as the launch, upend, and set down of the jacket. One of J. Ray's marine vessels will install the jacket and pipelines.

The offshore project will also involve the installation of a new subsea pipeline tied to the first trunkline about 80 miles west of the proposed Angel platform, along with the installation of in-field flowlines.

The drilled and grouted jacket foundation requires installation of eight primary and eight secondary piles in holes up to 10 feet in diameter. J. Ray will install the 80-mile 30-inch export pipeline and the three in-field 14-inch CRA pipelines using in-house automated welding systems.

The project will be managed by J. Ray's office in Perth, Australia, supported by its regional headquarters in Singapore. Installation engineering will be supported by J. Ray's marine construction engineering group based in Dubai. The construction of drilling work decks, caissons, and other items will be performed at the company's Batam Island fabrication facility in Indonesia.

The installation program is timed to ensure the jacket is installed before the cyclone season by the fourth quarter of 2007. The CRA pipelines and 30-inch pipeline installation will be completed during the first quarter of 2008