The National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), a part of Senaat, one of the UAE’s largest industrial investment holding companies owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi, today announced the expansion of its fleet with a new vessel, with a lifting capacity of 1,600 metric tons (MT).

The vessel has proven offshore and subsea construction capabilities and will further enable NPCC to undertake deep-water projects in the region and globally.

With advanced European specifications, the new vessel – Delma 2000 – marks an investment of more than AED 330 million by NPCC to strengthen its service offering, working deeper and further into the sea, with capabilities to lift up to 1,600 MT and extend pipelines to a depth of 2,000 meters. This adds to NPCC’s flagship vessel, DLS400, which has a lifting capacity of 4,500 MT.

The new vessel acquisition was announced by NPCC at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference (ADIPEC) being held at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) and takes the total fleet size of vessels and barges under NPCC to 23.

Announcing the new arrival, Eng. Ahmed Al Dhaheri, CEO of NPCC, said, “At NPCC, we are committed to strengthening our capabilities to serve our customers more efficiently and push the level of complex services that we can offer. A significant investment in enhancing our future growth prospects, more so as we expand our operations globally, the new vessel will enable us to undertake projects offshore that call for deep water competencies. As the UAE looks to tap into its newly identified and existing oil and gas resources, we will continue to support our partners in their operations through highly efficient solutions.”

He added, “As the EPC major of choice for the energy sector, we are expanding our geographic presence by serving major oil and gas companies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and India, in addition to other core markets. This calls for bringing the most advanced facilities to the operations including a strong fleet of offshore vessels that can support shallow and deep-water operations. The addition of the state-of-the-art vessel, with exceptional strengths in full-field development will further add to our reputation in the industry and enable us to offer competitive and efficient services for our customers.”

A multi-functional vessel, the new ship is equipped with Class 3 dynamic positioning, and a 1,600 MT heavy-lift slewing crane, S-lay pipelay spread and a 200 MT subsea active-heave compensated crane with 2,000 meters of water-depth capacity. The vessel also has substantial accommodation facilities including 308 high-quality berths to host a large team of professionals on board.

NPCC’s fleet strength can help lift structures weighing up to 4,200 MT and is equipped for laying sub-sea cables and pipelines, up to 66 inches diameter; in water depths from 10 to 2,000 meters.

As of March 2019, NPCC has executed more than 1,190 EPC projects, laid over 6,199 km of pipeline and 1,374 km of subsea cables as well as installed more than 1,360 structures. The new vessel with further scale up the offering of NPCC for its customers.

Built at the Pertama Dry Dock in Panama, the 2010 vessel is Special Purpose Ship (SPS) code compliant and has a deadweight of 17,963 MT and displacement of 35,374 MT.

With overall length (LOA) of 180 meters, the ship also has five offices and two conference rooms, a mess room that seats over 150, a large recreation room, a 24-seater cinema and fully equipped gym.

The ship’s main Liebherr fully revolving crane can lift 1,600 MT while the Active Heave Compensated Subsea Crane can lift 200 MT. With Leroy-Somer generators throughout, the ship has total available power of 30,632 kW, fuel capacity of 4,589 cubic meters and fresh water capacity of 1,343 cubic meters.

Its helideck is designed for Sikorsky models – S-92 and S-61N. The vessel has already undertaken complex pipelay projects in Mexico and is capable of laying 6 to 60-inch pipe in steep and conventional S-Lay modes.

A world-class Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company established in 1973, NPCC has a team of over 1,200 engineers including 300 Emirati professionals and four engineering centers - Musaffah, Abu Dhabi; Mumbai and Hyderabad in India; and La Ciotat – France.

NPCC’s manufacturing yard in Musaffah is the largest in the Middle East – at 1.3 million square meters and capacity to fabricate up to 100,000 MT of steel annually