BUTTING has won its largest single order in its 230 year history. The order, from Subsea 7, is for 84km of clad pipes for the Guará-Lula NE field project in Brazil. Part of the largest pre-salt oil fields discovered by Petrobras, the Guará-Lula NE fields are located in the Santos basin off the coast of Brazil. Exploration will begin in the coming years, under severely technically challenging conditions, more than 6000ft below the Atlantic Ocean. The USD 1 billion SURF (subsea umbilical, riser and flowlines) project won by Subsea 7, for four decoupled riser systems to be installed in the Guarà-Lula NE is the biggest engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) contract awarded to date in Brazil.
Subsea 7 will equip the risers for the production, gas and water supply pipes from the buoys with BuBi® pipes and clad pipes from Knesebeck. The BUTTING pipes are being used for the harsh conditions of the seabed, around 750ft below the surface of the water. For this order, BUTTING will deliver over 75km of BuBi® pipes and 9km of metallurgically clad pipes. As a result of these conditions, the material combination of Grade 450 and Alloy 625 was chosen.
Before the company received this contract, it was necessary to ensure the reel capability of the mechanically clad pipes. Subsea 7 and BUTTING put together a joint comprehensive program to develop the technology and display its suitability. This program was accredited last year by independent institutions. As a result, these projects will for the first time witness the laying of the BuBi® pipes by Subsea 7 using the reel-lay process. The mechanically clad pipe was technologically certified by the DNV under DNV RP A-203 for this particular use. Production is set to begin in Knesebeck in July 2011, with the first pipes scheduled for delivery in November 2011.
