Diversified steel fabricator Belmet Marine, of Cape Town, which operates in the marine, oil and gas, and diamond-mining industries, has successfully completed one of the largest subsea projects undertaken by PetroSA in recent years.

The PetroSA South Coast Gas Development (SCGD) project was subcontracted to Subsea 7, one of the largest subsea engineering and construction contractors, and Belmet Marine, which secured the contract for the fabrication of seven subsea manifold structures.

Belmet Marine identified the potential for fabrication opportunities existing at Subsea 7 in late September 2005. Contact was established with Subsea 7’s African operation and, following audits, inspections and visits to the Bellville fabrication facility, Belmet Marine was afforded the opportunity to formally submit tender prices.

The tender process was extremely involved owing to Subsea 7’s and PetroSA’s commitment to using local labour and black economic- empowerment (BEE) requirements, Subsea 7’s rigorous Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) and Quality requirements, and the technical aspects of the high-specification fabrication.

Belmet Marine had placed itself in a strategically advantageous position through the ongoing fabrication relationship with Nico’s Boilermakers (a 100% BEE-rated operation); having entered into a cooperation agreement with Dubai-based high-pressure (HP) pipe fabricator 3cMetal International; and having invested in early 2006 in a computer numeric controller (CNC) pipe cutting machine from HGG in the Netherlands.

These aspects, together with the overall package including outsourced nondestructive testing and inspection capabilities, coating specialists, sound HSE principles, technical competence, and a hands-on management style, enabled Belmet to secure the initial aspects of the contract, which included the fabrication of seven subsea manifold structures, including the highpressure piping.

PetroSA and Subsea 7 did, however, reiterate that should there be a single lost-time injury on the project, they would regard the entire project a failure. This placed enormous pressure on the Belmet employees to work to the highest safety standards, while fabricating 60-t structures, 15 m long by 5 m wide by 3,5 m high, in the relative confines of Belmet’s main workshop.

The focus on safety enabled Belmet to concurrently develop its HSE programme to OHSAS 18001:1999 standards, resulting in this management system currently being audited by Bureau Veritas for UKAS accreditation.

The seven structures were fabricated to EEMUA 158, BS 4515-1, BS 4515-2 and BSEN 1435 specification with 100% ultrasound testing on all primary structure welds.

The weld defect percentage was 0,067% for the structural fabrication, 0,031% for duplex HP piping and 3,0% for small-diameter carbon steel HP piping, which is well below international standards, that are generally in the region of 5% to 7%.

This was achieved with Belmet’s own contingent of permanent welders and only 15 addi- tional welders contracted for the project. The HP piping was performed by 3cMetal International, but involved a transfer of skills for the welding of duplex stainless-steel and carbon-steel piping to ten local welders. Once again, the weld defect rate was extremely low when compared to international standards.

The tight delivery of the structures to Cape Town harbour for load-out to Mossel Bay was easily achieved with the CNC pipe-cutting machine used to cut all structural pipes to AWS D1.1 fit-ups and weld bevels, including all intersections for exact fit-up, thereby ensuring a constant flow of material to the shop floor.

Similarly, the close relationship that existed between Belmet and Subsea 7 ensured that all technical queries were handled immediately and Belmet gained profound insight into international HSE requirements, thereby ensuring that the project was completed without injury and within budget. The structures were transported from Bellville directly to the harbour during November 2006 to await the load-out that started in mid-January 2007.

As the project progressed, and Subsea 7 identified with Belmet Marine’s sound fabrication capabilities, further fabrication work was awarded to Belmet. This included tie-in spool prefabrication, the fabrication of tee protection structures and on-site fabrication (metrology) of tie-in spools in Mossel Bay.

The overall success of the SCGD project and the team that Belmet Marine had assembled for this contract enabled Belmet to bid on additional subsea contract work from Subsea 7 at very short notice.

This resulted in Belmet’s being awarded the fabrication of 32 FLET structures for use by Subsea 7 on the Exxon Mobil Saxi Batuque project in Angola over an eight-month period during 2007. Employment resulting from these two contracts equates to over 250 jobs over an 18-month period, and the success of these contracts will certainly place Belmet Marine at the forefront of subsea fabrication in Africa.