In 2007, SAL was entrusted by Reliance Industries Ltd. via two of the world-leading offshore EPC contractors, Technip and Aker Solutions, to serve as their heavy lift transportation provider in the MA-D6 project.

The MA-D6 oil field is located in the Krishna Godavari Basin in the Bay of Bengal South East offshore Kakinada. The oil field is part of the larger KG-D6 oil and gas field situated at a water depth of 1,200 m. The exploration of the oil and gas field constitutes a significant milestone in satisfying India’s growing energy demands.

In this challenging ultra deep offshore Oil & Gas environment, SAL offered groundbreaking transportation solutions. It flexibly mobilized three heavy lift vessels from November 2007 to April 2008 to load both in Europe and Asia to discharge offshore equipment in Kakinada. The array of cargo included umbilicals and risers, an STP system, 9 anchor piles, 1 manifold foundation suction anchor and 1 production manifold (330 mtons).

For this special offshore operation, a linear winch was installed on MV “Annette” to enable the lowering and wet handshaking of a 330 mtons manifold below sea level. This operation called for numerous modifications on the vessel that were developed by SAL’s offshore engineering team. Amongst the modifications was the strengthening of the shipside for a dynamic load of 1,000 mtons, the design of a special underwater traverse, as well as the construction of a linear winch platform. With the assistance of the specially installed winch, the manifold was lowered 87 m below sea level and was taken over by an anchor handling tug for installation on the sea bed.