Partner Article

Sparks fly as shipyard wins major contract

ONE of the region’s shipyards is celebrating having won an important contract which will safeguard 210 jobs.

Hebburn based A&P Tyne will be working around-the-clock to complete a major order for a new offshore oil field in Africa.

The ship repair yard will build two complex subsea structures for the USAN oilfield, run by supermajor Total, which lies 100 kilometres off the coast of Nigeria.

It’s an important development for the yard, part of the A&P Group, as it makes in-roads into the oil and gas sector.

Neil Jarvis, A&P Tyne Sales and Commercial Director, said the group was “delighted in achieving this key milestone” so quickly in its drive to extend services and target wider markets.

He said: “We will gain invaluable exposure to a number of large multi-national clients and are looking forward to winning further work in the subsea oil and gas sector over the coming months, securing jobs and growing the business.”

Preparation work has already begun on the Mid Water Arches (MWA), made from steel and polymer materials.

The arches are buoyant support structures, tethered to the seabed, which support the pipelines on their way up from the oil wellheads to a moored FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel).

A&P Tyne will cut, shape, weld and assemble the 12 metre high and 25 metre long structures around large polymer buoyancy units.

The order is due for completion next March (2011), when the arches will be transported out of the Tyne, bound for the USAN oil and gas development.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .