29 June 2014, News Wires – The Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn Bhd (MMHE) and France’s Technip SA joint venture have been kept busy with a number of offshore projects in Malaysia and abroad. While domestic projects are carried out at two shipyards in southern Peninsular Malaysia, those for the Caspian Sea are being undertaken at Kiyanly shipyard in Turkmenistan.
“The renewed focus by Petronas on local exploration & production development, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) initiatives and marginal field developments, will positively impact on our yards as we will be able to capitalize on these future opportunities from a position of strength,” Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Bhd (MHB) Managing Director & CEO Dominique De Soras said in an interview with Rigzone.
Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, Petronas Nasional Bhd (Petronas), is investing $91.86 billion (MYR 300 billion) on its projects, including a number of deepwater and EOR projects.
“MHB is bullish of business prospects,” he said.
MHB, as the listed parent group of MMHE, has upgraded its shipyards to cope with demand for providing high-end engineering projects.
“Over the course of the year, our business performance further improved as tight discipline, process controls and competency enhancements were introduced. Some of the key milestones included long-term agreements with our strategic partners – the subcontractors and vendors – on critical improvements to our framework and pricing,” he said.
The upgrade began with MHB’s October 2010 initial public offer, which raised $658.21 million (MYR 2.03 billion). Technip, with its globally renowned oil and gas expertise, joined MHB as an international strategic investor.
Soras was happy with his group’s performance. MHB’s Offshore Business Unit ended 2013 with orders worth $765.5 million (MYR 2.5 billion). He projects more prospects, citing Petronas’ MYR 300 billion commitment for projects to be implemented between 2011 and 2015. Field development in Malaysia would continue from 2016 onwards.
CURRENT PROJECTS IN MALAYSIA
The joint venture is currently working on an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract for the development of two gas fields in Block SK316. The fields are located around 111.84 miles (180 kilometers) north of Bintulu offshore Sarawak in water depth of 341.2 feet (104 meters). The partners had earlier participated in the front-end engineering design competition with subsequent rollover to EPCIC execution, he said.
The EPCIC contract includes a central processing platform and a bridge-linked wellhead platform, which would be constructed at MMHE’s fabrication yard at Pasir Gudang in the southern Peninsular Malaysian state of Johor. The contract, awarded by Petronas’ upstream unit Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, also includes the installation of a 46.6-mile (75-kilometer) pipeline by one of Technip’s pipelay vessels.
The Technip-MMHE joint venture is also the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the Malikai Tension Leg Platform (TLP). The TLP is a fully-manned platform to be installed 68.3 miles (110 kilometers) off Sabah, East Malaysia, in water depth of approximately 1,640 feet (500 meters) for Sabah Shell Petroleum Co Ltd.
“Both projects have created new performance benchmarks, increasing our credibility as a world-class fabricator,” stressed Soras.
“For this year, we will leverage on our strength to accommodate very large and heavy structures up to 55,000 metric tons and continue to support Petronas’ especially in its frontier field development projects,” he said.
MHB yards are currently working on a 26,400 metric ton Malikai topside and TLP hull and 33,100 metric tons-projects for Block SK316.
MHB TRACK RECORD
MHB has completed a number of projects last year, including fabrication and load out of Gumusut Kakap – Asia’s largest semisubmersible floating production system (FPS) – project installed off the coast of Sabah, Soras said with reference to the firm’s achievements.
Others included the topside and jacket for Telok B, the topside and jacket for Damar A, F14/F29 topsides, substructure and process module and the OSX-3 turret.
“These project deliveries are a reflection of the successful strategies put in place by the group to strengthen our project management capabilities,” he explained.
– Rigzone