More bad luck for CPP and LQUP at Cluster-2
ONGC is having a run of bad luck installing the Control and Process Platform (CPP) with Living Quarters and Upstream Platform (LQUP) at the deepwater Cluster-2 fields at KG-DWN-98/2.
ONGC now hopes to complete installation and commissioning at the eastern offshore block between December 2024 and January 2025. However, ONGC has already been forced to rework the installation and commissioning schedule several times; June 2024 was the last targeted completion deadline.
What's behind the delay? A source explains the topsides of the LQUP have not yet been installed atop the jacket installed on February 24 (2024) by McDermott. These topsides include a 2443-tonne Main Support Frame (MSF), a 2036-tonne Technical Unit (TU), a 2822-tonne Living Quarters (LQ) and a 138-tonne helideck.
While Work Barge DB-50 was installing the MSF, the crew noticed damage to one of its main components and aborted installation. McDermott arranged a barge to transport the MSF to a yard in Batam, Malaysia, where it remains.
As the MSF has not been installed, the TU, LQ and the helideck cannot be installed. McDermott is the Transportation and Installation (T&I) contractor for these Cluster-2 offshore structures manufactured by Sapura Energy (48.3%) in Malaysia and its partner Afcons (51.7%) in India.
After the MSF installation was aborted, ONGC wrote to Sapura demanding to know how the structure was damaged and wanted the damage repaired. Sapura responded with documentary evidence showing no damage to the MSF when it handed over the structure to McDermott on March 11 (2024) at its Lumut yard in Malaysia.
"Sapura's responsibility ended when the MSF was handed over to McDermott," claims a source. ONGC hired McDermott in September 2023 as a T&I contractor for $185m after Sapura relinquished this job in February 2023 following an unresolved payments dispute.
Some believe McDermott delayed arranging barges for the assignment. A source believes ONGC was unwise to reject Sapura's offer to do the T&I job for $115m, in addition to the $720m for which it secured the contract to construct the CPP with LQUP.
"If ONGC had accepted this offer, any damage to the structures during transportation would have been covered by Sapura itself," we learn. ONGC ignored a detailed email seeking comment.