Houston based Cal Dive International established another Gulf of Mexico first this month when it installed a reeled flowline / riser combination in 350 feet of water. Cal Dive utilized its newly established Pipe Spool Base at their Morgan City, Louisiana operational headquarters to: weld, x-ray, sand blast and coat 14,000 feet of 4.5 inch .337 wall pipe with fusion bonded epoxy. The pipe was reeled directly onto an 8.6 meter installation reel provided by CDI’s strategic alliance partner Coflexip Stena Offshore. CDI’s procedure is to secure reels on a barge during the spooling process, in order to expedite transportation to the staging area.

The flowline was laid by the DP DSV WITCH QUEEN from a subsea tree in East HI A-378B to the platform in East HI A-379 then hung in place as a conventional riser system utilizing standard riser clamps to secure it to the jacket leg. Catenary risers systems are not new to the Gulf; however, this is the first time a flowline has been reeled off and hung in place with riser clamps. The CDI vessel Cal Diver I completed the tie- in at the subsea tree and commissioned the flowline.
Mr. Paul Byington, CDI’s manager of Reeled Products, stated: “this procedure can reduce field installation time, flanged connections, and ultimately offer a cost savings to our clients in addition to putting their development on line sooner than anticipated”.