Page 36 - Industrial Plants 2014

forced most of the work to be performed during the
night, when temperatures were in line with the
project specification requirement (during the day the
temperatures at site reached 50-55 °C).
Meanwhile, the project was also overcoming the
day-by-day issues related to the environment and
the hot season, particularly trying to keep the
progress in line with the project requirements. At the
head office the procurement activities were finalized
with emphasis on delivering all material and
equipment in time for the requested sequence of
construction. In particular, the “Structure A” (figure
1) of the sulfur unit required the installation of the
equipment by layers, so steel structure and
Fig. 1 - Unit 751- Structure A equipment had to arrive at the site absolutely all at
the right time.
have been always the driver of the project. Ever since Therefore, the procurement team had to work on
the beginning of the engineering phase, operation the best deliveries and on the most economical
and construction resources have been working hand
in hand with the engineering and the procurement
team. The project, now in the last phase, has
The whole development of the project has passed successfully solved all the
through critical moments due to the high quantities challenges due to its large size, hot
of information to be managed during the engineering seasons and remote location
and procurement of materials. The 34,000 isometric
to be issued from the project was a first challenge to
feed the prefabrication on site A lot of effort was market conditions to ensure the optimal procurement
required to set up the 3D model to extract weekly of the material to meet the project requirements.
1000 isometrics in order to maintain the planned This was possible while working in close cooperation
progress. Thereafter the prefabrication was with the project team and using all Saipem
organized in order to produce around 1,5 million dia experiences and capabilities, resources and
inch achieving the peak of 5000 dia inch a day. departments involved.
The start of the civil works during the summer The most critical equipment were fabricated in Italy:
period provided an additional challenge to the for example the 4 HP absorber (figure 2) of 1400
already huge quantities of concrete to be cast and tons and 45 m in height transported from Italy to the
site with a dedicated cargo and with a huge effort to
ensure the viability locally in UAE. The delivery on
the site of these giant pieces of equipment was
completed within two months after the arrival in UAE
by using a special transport configuration and a
good number of trailers to cross the high sand
dunes in the Liwa oasis.
Today, the project is in its last phase. Pre-
commissioning and commissioning activities are the
last challenges of this giant project. Saipem and its
subcontractors are proudly aware that they are
bringing to the end one of the most important
projects ever carried out in the UAE. We are grateful
for the excellent contribution of all our subcontractors
- Descon, Dodsal, Target and Butec, just to mention
a few.
This article contains more detailed descriptions of
individual contracts.
Fig. 2 - Unit 721 - HP
absorber

IndustrIal Plants - May 2014
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