Technip was awarded a lump sum contract by Hess Corporation for the development of the Tubular Bells field, located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico at a water depth of approximately 4,500 feet (1,370 meters).  Tubular Bells’ JV partners include BP (30%) and Chevron (30%).

The contract covers the design, engineering, fabrication and subsea installation of more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) of flowlines(1), steel catenary risers(2), pipeline end terminations, piles and structures.

Technip’s operating center in Houston, Texas will perform the overall project management. The flowlines and risers will be welded at the Group’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama.

Offshore installation is scheduled to be completed with the Deep Blue, one of Technip’s deepwater pipelay vessel, during the first half of 2013.

Last month, Wood Group’s Alliance Engineering announced that they had been awarded the detailed engineering and design of the topside facilities and deck for Tubular Bells’ production facility which will sit atop a Williams Partners’ Gulfstar FPS™ spar production platform.  The construction of this production platform is expected to take upwards of 30 months to built.

Once on station, the facility will have the capacity to produce 60,000 barrels of oil per day, up to 200 million cubic feet of natural gas (MMcf/d), and the capability to provide seawater injection services. The facility is a spar-based floating production system that utilizes traditional three-level topsides mated to a classic spar hull.