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and field engineering engaged at the construction awarded during the projects execution, in close
site, ensuring direct communication with vendors coordination with the UAE Operations units.
and construction subcontractors on all construction- Transportation subcontracts were split among
related issues. different parties, as appropriate: foreign-country
road transportation, airfreight and sea
Procurement transportation.
Procurement and execution of purchase orders The balance of subcontracts was awarded and
were directed by the Corporate Headquarters. managed by the UAE Operations center and site
Saipem UAE operations were heavily involved in offices.
the local procurement and supply of materials and
were able to intervene directly when there were Construction
delays from vendors, particularly regarding steel Immediately after being awarded the contract,
structures. Transportation management was also Saipem Abu Dhabi branch was upgraded to become
handled by UAE operations. the strategic UAE operations center.
To cope with possible market congestion and the Saipem subcontracted and began works on the
related logistical constraints in delivering materials , temporary camp and office facilities soon after being
an early procurement strategy was also introduced. awarded the project, which allowed works to be
In compliance with various owner specifications, a completed within approximately 6-7 months.
proactive approach to material standardization was The main construction subcontractor was involved
taken across the different EPC packages, in close in the design activities since the outset, working with
collaboration with other EPC contractors. the Headquarters Design task force for an early
assessment of all related issues. “Adaptive”
Subcontracting constructability analysis was used: most of the
Saipem employed a multidiscipline subcontracting sulfur recovery units heavy lifting equipment is
approach with civil, mechanical, and E&I activities installed on a 4-storey steel structure (Structure A).
falling under the same subcontract. The initial plan was to add layers as the equipment
The main construction subcontract was finalized arrived, although this plan was later adjusted.
Fig. 3 – Solvent during the tendering phase while the other main For the first time in an oil and gas project in the UAE
regenerator colum construction subcontracts (e.g. for buildings) were Saipem made use of a pre-cast structure to build
part of the electrical substations.
Moreover, some examples of Saipem employed
cutting edge technology include:

• STS (Spools Tracking system): it allows tracking
and monitoring of piping spools (around 90,000
piping spools). The process employs bar codes
tags, palmtop decoders and an electronic data
base;
• PTS (Pipe tracking System): it allows the full
history of spool welding to be recorded;
• Electronic tablets for quantity surveyors and
supervisors: they allow measurement of
construction progress, downloading and
uploading data from the main database, and
provide a visualization of construction drawings.
PAUT (Phased Array Ultrasonic Test): a Non
Destructive Test (NDT) alternative to RX testing
for detection and interpretation of welding
defects. The main advantages compared to
traditional RX technology are:
- the absence of Ionizing radiations, thus
providing a radiation-free working
environment;
- accuracy in the identification and
measurement of welding defects.
Particular care was taken to ensure that all

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