Victor EzejaA Nigerian energy services firm, Westfield Energy Resources Limited, has won an offshore pipeline installation contract in India said to be worth about $ 85 million.
The company is to work as a subcontractor to a Mumbai-based warship and submarine builder, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, which has won an ONGC contract.
This is the first-ever offshore job undertaken in India by Westfield.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), headquartered in New Delhi, is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, involved in oil and gas exploration and production.
According to Petrowatch, an Indian-based publication covering oil and gas, the contract is to partly replace some of the ageing subsea pipelines in the western offshore. Westfield’s scope of work also involves ‘pre-engineering dive surveys’, according to the publication.
According to reports, Mazagon’s purchase executive, Pawan Kumar Singh, on 9 February 2024, issued a purchase order to Westfield for the subcontract said to be worth $85 million.
This followed ONGC’s LoA to Mazagon on December 7 (2023) for the EPC assignment after it bid lowest. Details of the purchase order terms indicated that Westfield must complete the replacement of 19 pipeline segments by 15 May 2024, in line with the LoA from ONGC.
It added that the 19 segments add up to 45 kms of varying lengths and diameters in the Mumbai High and Neelam-Heera fields in water depths of 45 to 85 metres. While Mazagon will carry out the engineering and buying pipes, Westfield will lay the pipelines and also install crossings and subsea repair units and carry out free-span corrections.
For the pipe-laying assignment, Westfield plans to mobilise by the third quarter of 2024, its barge Kenenna, a 290-man Accommodation and Derrick Pipelay Barge able to lay pipelines up to 200 meters in water depth.
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Westfield also plans to buy a 3000-tonne capacity Heavy Lift Vessel for the assignment.
According to information on its website, Westfield which was founded in 2005, says its vision is “to be the leading provider of integrated energy solutions in Africa by delivering quality projects” to its clients “in a safe and timely manner.”
On June 6 (2023), Westfield signed an MoU in Singapore with Indonesia’s PT Gunanusa Utama Fabricators and Mumbai-based Carlton Industrial Engineers to set up a JV to bid for Oil India and ONGC offshore contracts.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
