Expect more CPP and LQUP Cluster-2 delays
ONGC has reworked the time needed to complete the long-delayed Control and Process Platform (CPP) with Living Quarters and Upstream Platform (LQUP) at Cluster-2 inside KG-DWN-98/2.
Initially, it targeted the end of February 2024, then the end of May 2024, and then the end of June 2024. But even that deadline now seems unachievable.
McDermott is the Transportation and Installation (T&I) contractor for offshore structures manufactured by Sapura Energy in Malaysia and its partner Afcons in India. ONGC wants the CPP and LQUP installed in water depths of around 30 metres, about 20-km from shore, a departure from its original plan to have them in water depths of 100 metres.
A source says McDermott installed the CPP topside on March 24 (2024) but has not yet installed the LQUP topside, comprising a Main Support Frame (MSF), Technical Unit (TU), Living Quarters (LQ) and the helideck. McDermott must install these facilities using cranes atop the LQUP jacket installed on February 24 (2024).
However, the LQUP jacket took much longer than expected to settle on the seabed, delaying plans to install the topside structures. Anytime now, the eastern offshore monsoon season is expected to begin, which means the installation can only happen around October 2024 when the rains end.
"McDermott also delayed arranging barges to transport these structures from Malaysia," said a source. The barges carrying the topside structures are anchored around the new installation location.
Barge Lanpan CB7 sailed out of Lumut on March 11 (2024) carrying the 2433-tonne MSF; barge QSA333 left Lumut on March 17 (2024) carrying the 2822-tonne LQ; and Eastern Orbit left Lumut on March 27 (2024) carrying the 2036-tonne TU and the 138-tonne helideck. A sea voyage to India's east coast takes around three weeks, we hear.
"No Cluster-2 structure is pending with Afcons or Sapura," says a source, adding that McDermott would have completed all installations within ONGC's schedule if the barges had been mobilised in time.