Sarens transported heavy equipment for Aramco-operated Marjan oil field to increase production
(WO) – Sarens, a global provider of heavy lifting, engineered transport and crane rental services, was responsible for transporting the heavy equipment from the supplier's facility in Rabiq (western Saudi Arabia) to Marjan's facility in Safanya (northeastern Saudi Arabia) and then carrying out the assembly of parts for the new platform modules.
Saudi Aramco has already begun expansion work on the Marjan oil field, which already has the capacity to produce up to 500,000 bpd of crude oil from existing infrastructure, to compensate for the reduction in oil capacity at other nearby fields. The Marjan oil field is owned by the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil and gas company Saudi Aramco, which has relied on Abdullah Nass and Partners (ANPC) with Sarens Consultancy to transport the necessary materials to the site and then place them in their final location, completing the facility's expansion work.
Saudi Aramco's extensive offshore and onshore operations are expected to maintain production in the Gulf area for the next decade, as hundreds of new wells will need to be drilled to support other operations in nearby oil fields. The project aims to expand the field and increase its crude oil production capacity by 300,000 bpd, as well as produce 360,000 bpd of ethane and natural gas liquids (NGLs) by processing an additional 2.5 Bscfd of gas produced from the field. Therefore, the production capacity of the Marjan field is expected to reach 800,000 bpd after the expansion of the facilities.
Sarens/ANPC was responsible for transporting heavy equipment from the supplier's facility in Rabiq (western Saudi Arabia) to Marjan's facility near Safanya (northeastern Saudi Arabia) via several multi-axle vehicles. But also, there were large parts that had to be transported by sea. These components were taken from the supplier's facility to the port of King Abdullah, where they were loaded onto heavy lift vessels for sea transport to the industrial port of Jubail, and then transported to the construction site by road.
The placement of each of the pieces of the different modules was carried out with heavy lifting equipment. In this case, two CC2400-1 (Crawler Cranes with a capacity of up to 400 tons) and two Mobile Cranes with a capacity of 300 and 100 tons were used. Since the Marjan oil and gas field is located in the Arabian Gulf, off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, after the assembly of the different modules, the project will require the appropriate machinery to load them to the gas processing facility, where they will be finally placed.
Sarens/ANPC deployed onsite a complete professional team, including approximately 25 employees, with 1 manager, 3 supervisors, 2 engineers, 3 administrative staff and around 16 workers for rigging, machinery operation or driving, among others. In addition, the project was also a major challenge for Sarens/ANPC, as it was the first in Saudi Arabia to require maritime transport operations, considering the import and export of assembly parts and navigation through international waters.
Notably, the client was on a tight schedule, having to start equipment installations in January 2023. Given that the cargoes needed to be transported by sea from the west to the east of Saudi Arabia, having the materials in place at the destination point by December was a complicated job. However, Sarens/ANPC was able to execute this work just in time, managing the booking of the vessel and organizing its resources to carry out the transportation, all of this just to have the cranes ready at the Project site before the arrival of the heavy equipment and, consequently, to install on site ahead of schedule.
According to Nour Jamal, Project Manager at Sarens, "This has been a very demanding project, as we started preparing and operating at very short notice. In addition, we encountered quite a few difficulties, especially when it came to booking the vessel and arranging the transport, due to the need to obtain approval from the authorities. At King Abdullah Port, it was necessary to modify gates and turnouts in order to receive the cargo on time, and similarly, from Jubail Industrial Port to the Project site we required several permits from the Royal Commission, the Saudi Electricity Company and the Ministry of Transport, which we were able to apply for prior to the arrival of the cargo. This way we were able to meet the schedule agreed by the customer".
Sarens has extensive experience both in the region and internationally in the oil & gas sector. Together with McDermott, the company took part of the heavy lifting and load out operations at Jabel Ali as well as at Battam for Saudi Aramco’s Marjan Field Package 1. Sarens has also collaborated in projects such as the construction of several offshore jackets to increase QFAB's liquified natural gas production and the expansion of the Al Shaheem offshore oil field in Qatar, as well as the upgrade and improvement works of PT Pertamina refinery in Balikpapan, Indonesia.
