US Underwater Services L.P (USUS), a subsidiary of leading engineering services company Neptune Marine Services (ASX: NMS) has been awarded a major project in the United States for the installation of a disconnectable transfer system (DTS) onboard a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The project is for a major Energy Company and is valued at more than US$3m (AUD$3.4m). USUS/NMS will utilise its patented NEPSYS dry underwater welding technology to secure the subsea portion of the DTS to the interface that has been installed on the vessel’s starboard forward hull.
The weld area is estimated at 157 linear feet (48 linear metres) and is expected to take more than 30 days of 24 hour operations to complete in water depths of 25-30 feet (7.5-9 metres).
The vessel’s hull is currently being refurbished in Croatia and the DTS is being fabricated in Holland. The two will come together at the Kewitt Shipyard located in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lloyd’s Register is overseeing the project and classification of the vessel.
Neptune’s Managing Director and CEO, Christian Lange, said the recognition from Lloyd’s Register emphasised the technical superiority that the NEPSYS technology had over more conventional options. “This latest project reinforces Neptune’s successful commercialisation of the NEPSYS technology in the international marketplace and lays a solid foundation for ongoing adoption of the technology by operators who recognise the intrinsic value of applying a permanent, class society approved, cost and time effective solution to the maintenance and repair of their valuable assets,” he said.
The USUS/NMS involvement in the project is scheduled for May 2008.
