Successful Installation of Salman's Well Jacket Platform

Discovered in 2011, the Salman field sits between BSP’s Iron Duke and Champion fields. Benchmarked against other projects even at a global level, the project has trailed behind it hard work, tough decisions as well as recognition of once being the Most Competitive Portfolio within all Joint Ventures from Shell’s Upstream Impact Awards.

Plans to develop the Salman field dates back to 2017 after years of undergoing Decision Gates (DG) to assess feasibility. By 2020, the first steel cut commemorative event took place at the Marine Construction Yard (MCY) to kick-off the fabrication. The construction was carried out locally consisting of the well jacket, topside as well as water injection module.

Despite the challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in the following two years, BSP successfully loaded out and installed its Salman Well Jacket-01 (SLWJ-01) just 10 kilometres from its Champion 7 complex in October 2022.The Water injection module was also successfully installed on the CPWA07 complex. All were completed in October 2022 before the monsoon period arrived.

The platform is made up of the jacket and the topside, weighing approximately over 1600 metric tons – as heavy as eight Statue of Liberty!  Due to the size of the platform, it had to be transported in two parts, spanning over two days when weather and sea conditions were permitting. This means that stable sea state and wind speed were integral in ensuring a safe transportation and installation process.

Echoing its priority, Safety was at the forefront of the operation. The load-out process itself was an intricate procedure that required about 100 people on the ground. But focus did not waver even as the modules travelled the one-day ride from onshore to infield offshore, with the offshore team fully prepared for the arrival to proceed with installation.

BUILT IN BRUNEI BY BRUNEIANS, FOR BRUNEI 

But Salman is more than just a story of an engineering feat. It is about the talent and perseverance of Orang Kitani. At the height of construction, it took more than 300 personnel at MCY to deliver the next milestone for the company.

“Through Salman, we are witnessing the restart of major activities such as fabrication at our local yard,” Afiqah Zainulabidin, Greenfield Project Lead, shared in reference to MCY, which had been dormant for six years. “Lots of job opportunities have been created for our local workforce and alhamdulillah, we have reached our local employment target by 2021 and I hope that more of our local talents will be part of this milestone in the future.”

With a total of 1.8 million manhours under their belt, predominantly spent in operational bubbles to manage the COVID-19 infection, the sailaway was a testament of close-collaboration and Bruneian capabilities directly contributing towards Bruneian progress.

Involvement in the project for our local engineers was not only as a job opportunity, but an upskilling experience. This is showcased by the seven young engineers who successfully became welding inspectors.

“These inspectors are certified by the internationally-recognised institutes in their skillpool. In addition, we do have more than 50 IBTE students who graduated from Salman upon completion of their HSE task books. This project has been a reflection of our BSP Bersatu strategy – Pride in Orang Kitani in making sure our local workforce is future-ready.” Voon Oi Mee, Head of Offshore Project, proudly shared.