Subsea Equipment Installation Challenges for Malaysia's First Deepwater Development

Abstract The Kikeh Development is the first deepwater project in Malaysia located Offshore Eastern Malaysia in the South China Sea with a water depth of 1320 m. Kikeh is produced via a Spar and a subsea water injection and production system back to a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit (see Figure 1). Kikeh is planned to be developed using 34 wells and initial production commenced in August 2007. The main subsea installation portion of the Kikeh development was executed through an Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, and Commissioning Support contract with Technip Marine (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. The installation scope of work included the following:5 manifold support piles*5 subsea manifolds*5 flexible risers and flowlines with a total length of over 31 km of flexible pipe7 riser holdback anchor piles4 electro-hydraulic control (EHC) umbilicals (2 dynamic/static and 2 infield static)*5 rigid spools c/w vertical connection module (VCM) clamp connectors (out of 14 in total)*5 subsea distribution units*6 hydraulic flying leads (out of 27 in total)*6 electrical flying leads (out of 48 in total)*Pre-commissioning of the subsea systems * Free issued from subsea equipment EPCC contractor The paper will discuss the process of offshore installation vessel selection including the effects on the decision process of utilizing local equipment versus mobilizing deepwater construction equipment from other deepwater basins around the world. In addition, with deepwater Sabah being a greenfield deepwater basin, a number of challenges arose in relation to availability of equipment within the region and logistics to support the deepwater construction operations. Highlights from Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III installation programs are also presented.