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| In the countdown period leading to the year 2000, the new millennium outlook for INTEC has been significantly enhanced by the addition of three very exciting and challenging projects. Because of these, our ongoing work, and some excellent prospects for next year and beyond, INTEC engineers can look forward to unprecedented career opportunities in the offshore oil and gas industry.
The following are brief synopses of the recently awarded projects:
British Gas Scarab/Saffron Project, Egypt
The contract for the British Gas Scarab/Saffron project in Egypt has been officially awarded to the INTEC-BECHTEL consortium. On Monday, November 29, 10:15PM local time in London, Willem Timmermans signed
Our eighth floor project office will be scene for the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase over the next 10 months. In addition to our own team, we will host approximately 10 client representatives and an equal number of BECHTEL people. In the August/September time frame next year our project team will relocate to the BECHTEL office in London for the procurement phase and, at the end of 2001, the team will move to Egypt for the installation and commissioning. First gas is planned for January 2002.
Not only is this a highly prestigious project and a real coup for INTEC and BECHTEL, the contract also allows us to realize additional bonus payments by bringing in the project under budget and within schedule. We are very confident that Bill Philliber (INTEC) and Barrie Logan (BECHTEL), with their integrated team of premium quality personnel, are up to this formidable task.
Santa Fe Energy Panyu 4-2 Field Development, China
INTEC Engineering has been awarded the engineering activities for preparation of the Master Design Engineering for the Panyu 4-2 Field Development in the Pearl River Basin, South China Sea, in approximately 97 meters water depth. The work is being carried out on behalf of Santa Fe Energy Resources China, Ltd. The field development scenario involves an FPSO and Fixed Drilling Wellhead Platform, with flowlines and flexible risers. Graham Parker has been assigned as overall Project Manager as well as the FPSO Lead Engineer due to his extensive experience in Floating Production systems and FPSO Field Developments. Alliance Engineering, subcontractor to INTEC, is performing the engineering services related to the FPSO production facilities, platform and platform facilities.
Export to the FPSO from the Fixed Wellhead Platform will be via dual insulated (pipe-in-pipe) flowlines. Flexible "Lazy-S" risers with mid-depth buoys will be installed at the FPSO and connected to a PLEM. The selected FPSO will be either a conversion or a newbuild with one million-barrel storage capacity. The FPSO mooring system will be selected as permanent or disconnectable. The Master Design Engineering will be used in the preparation of the Overall Development Plan (ODP) to be submitted to the Chinese authorities for approval. First Oil is scheduled in October 2002.
This is a prestigious project that will consolidate INTEC's presence in the developing and high potential offshore market area of Southeast Asia.
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the contract on INTEC's behalf. This concluded almost three weeks of negotiations with BG and their Partners. Our contract is with Burullus, a newly formed Egyptian operating company for this development. For INTEC, this is the largest contract to date.|
INTEC S.E.A. THE PAST SEVEN YEARS AND THE FUTURE  | ||
| Toehold in SE Asia In March 1993 Bert Schultz arrived in Kuala Lumpur to set up INTEC's second office, with a clear vision to establish INTEC as a premier engineering consultancy to the oil and gas industry in Australasia. Following are representative projects demonstrating INTEC's success in the region:
In addition, INTEC carried out the preliminary engineering work on Shell Malampaya, Esso Natuna, and Conoco West Natuna. We have designed over 2000 miles of large diameter pipelines in Southeast Asia alone, a truly remarkable achievement. Coming from the land of the first Single Point Mooring loading system (in Miri, Sarawak), INTEC SEA can truly claim to be Asia's leader in Marine Terminals. Starting with Unocal SPM 2, we continued assisting our clients on
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From Malaysia to Sri Lanka We have also completed the Cabot CBM and pipeline system in Port Dickson, Malaysia, and the Shell Lanka CBM and pipeline system in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
We have also carried out several FPSO projects in the region. The principal achievement was the Project Management of the Unocal Erawan FSO life extension project. Others of notable involvement include:
With the experience and the expertise gained from these and other numerous projects not mentioned here, we certainly are ready for the challenges our industry will be facing in the new millennium. INTEC places a high strategic value on our presence in the region, as shown by the opening of our new office in Perth, Australia. We are now strengthening our capabilities in the Subsea and Field Development business areas in anticipation of a number of subsea and floating production system based developments currently planned in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, India, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. With the pipeline and the marine terminal prospects looking increasingly positive, we look forward to significant growth in the new millennium.  |
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| 24-INCH GAS PIPELINE CROSSING
In June 1999, Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts awarded INTEC the preliminary engineering of a 24-inch gas pipeline across Long Island Sound, New York. The project is part of Iroquois Gas Transmission Operating Company's planned extension of its gas supply from Northport, Long Island, to Eastchester, NY.
INTEC has already completed the marine survey in Long Island Sound. We are
Project Manager is Gene Mullee. The project was kicked off in INTEC's Delft office, where Ron Tucker and Gene completed an urgent conceptual study. In July Gene transferred back to Houston, where Todd Phillips joined the project as Project Engineer. Simon Bonnell managed the marine survey.
The project has some especially challenging tasks. The pipeline has to be brought ashore at a point in New York State close to The Bronx and Westchester County lines. One of the oldest developments in the Nation, this region is not only highly populated but has numerous public parks and wildlife sanctuaries as well. As if the environmental constraints were not enough, the geology in the region is highly complex and unpredictable. A product of very ancient upheaval and very recent gouging during the last Ice Age, the heavily folded bedrock and boulder-laced glacial deposits pop their heads out all over the site. This calls for special insight into available site info and careful selection of drilling and trenching methods.
The marine survey field work had its own challenges. Pipeline routing took the survey boat through intricate waterways off New Rochelle where the treacherous rocks disappear at high tide. It is said the nearby City Island boat repair shops do a roaring trade after holiday weekends.
Simon, Todd and Gene each spent a few weeks on board survey vessels in Long Island Sound. Todd, who grew up in Florida, caught his first glimpse of snowflakes as the cold November winds visited the site. Simon says it was business as usual, but admits to having been charmed by the beautiful fall colors in Elmsford, Connecticut, where we had our shore support office. With the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers visible from the survey site, Gene says he's seen a wide variety of field locations now - arctic, desert, jungle, but the Manhattan skyline tops them all!!! |
now busy selecting the best pipeline route and engineering this for permitting by various US Federal Agencies.
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Some of the rewarding ongoing activities performed by INTEC employees has been their contribution and participation in conferences and seminars, the presentation of papers and lecturing in courses. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that Dr. Basim Mekha has just finished teaching a graduate class entitled "Matrix Analysis of Structures" for the Fall 1999 semester at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston.
This opportunity being given to one of INTEC's highly qualified employees demonstrates the recognition of INTEC by the outside world, not only for their Engineering and Management skills, but also for their capability in the conveyance of the practical experience gained to the engineers of the future. It also worth announcing that INTEC has recently joined the Offshore Technology Research Center, a joint venture between Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin, as an "in-kind" member. This will provide unique opportunities for INTEC employees to be ahead of the latest research and development activities as well as to interact and to lecture at the numerous seminars and courses offered by the OTRC. These are attended by experts, engineers and students from all around the world. |
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Conoco Indonesia Inc., Premier Oil Natuna Limited and Gulf Indonesia Resources Limited are developing gas reserves in the West Natuna Sea. The gas will be transported to Singapore via a 28-inch diameter trunkline, with the landfall point being on Jurong Island. This is the same pipeline for which INTEC carried out the preliminary design on behalf of Conoco last year.
In association with this development, SembCorp Gas Pte. Ltd. (SembCorp Gas) is developing gas receiving and distribution facilities on Jurong Island and the transportation of natural gas from Jurong Island to the Tuas Power Plant in Tuas. This involves the installation of one 28-inch diameter and two 16-inch diameter submarine pipelines across the 3-km wide channel between Jurong Island and Tuas (Singapore).
In a fitting finale to our previous involvement, we are now carrying out the pipeline detailed design work on behalf of the EPIC contractor HAM-SMIT Joint Venture (HAM-SMIT) on this last leg of the West Natuna Transportation System. This is our first real exposure to a bundled pipeline detailed design in Southeast Asia, and the experience gained will be valuable when pursuing similar projects in the future.
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| In the last issue of the QJ I wrote about a Roman water mill in southern France and issued a challenge to reverse engineer this facility, determine what made it work and what its production capacity would have been based on the arrangement of the ruins and their locale. The solution was provided by Remo Frabotta, an engineering specialist in our Buenos Aires office (I should have known that someone in our Facilities Group would solve the problem). The answer to the question of how the water mill at Barbegal worked was calculated with the following assumptions and results:
If we assume that each Roman, gaul and slave ate half a pound of bread a day (they didn't know potatoes in those days), then the mill's production could feed about 25,000 people, about the same number as fit in the old amphitheater in town. |
I can just picture them watching the play, eating bread and probably drinking beer. How much beer we won't know till the ruins of the ancient Roman brewery are uncovered and we reverse engineer that.
Now that this burning issue has been resolved, let's see what else is happening. Well, business is picking up, in part because INTEC has captured a number of significant contracts that had been moving down the pipeline for some time, and partly because the increased cash flow from higher oil prices is dislodging some of the logjam of stalled oil and gas development projects. The wave front hit our Houston office first, then reached Kuala Lumpur, and can be seen already from Delft; Buenos Aires never did have a quiet period.
The exciting aspect of the newly awarded work is that it includes major long term deepwater pipeline and subsea projects, an area of special INTEC expertise, as well as a number of FSO/FPSO projects. We won some of these jobs in competition, others in cooperation with other firms in our business, most of whom are many times our size. Technical capabilities and flexibility are obviously good attributes to have.
In October we had our planning conference to prepare for next year. I will resist more millennium drivel and just say that we think 2000 will be a lot more exciting in terms of technical challenges and corporate growth than 1999. It's about time! During the second half of this year we sort of got becalmed, but we didn't reduce our crew in the expectation that the wind would soon freshen. Well, it did; all sails are up, hands on deck, stations manned, and I feel pressure on the tiller again. There are oceans to navigate out there!
W. J. Timmermans
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This quarter, eight members of the INTEC staff have been selected for this honor and they are Dolly Ondrias, Angél Barton, Pat Kelly, Lisa Hernandez, Guy Lainchbury, Todd Cowin, Mario Ruiz and Vivian Brandon, aka, The Special Occasion Committee (SOC). This group has brought so much thoughtfulness and pleasure into our office. We hope that this recognition will let them know how very much we appreciate what they are doing for the employees at INTEC.
Despite our growth over the years, we have strived to keep a "family" feeling amongst the employees but, as we have added to our numbers and spread out over three floors of the building, it is more difficult to hear about a sick wife, a new baby, etc., thus the formation of (SOC). The committee members are strategically placed throughout the office so that hardly a single piece of news of note can escape. Cards, flowers, baby gifts and wedding presents are just some of the ways SOC finds to brighten our day.
Funding for the committee started by soliciting employee contributions. Then, to build the budget, they came up with other ways to raise funds. We had a raffle for a turkey at Thanksgiving and, for Christmas, we have a drawing for the beautiful wreath designed by Mario Ruiz. In the Spring of 2000, SOC will publish and sell the first INTEC International Cook Book.
Special occasions get the particular attention of SOC. The holidays really demonstrate how creative and innovative these 8 people are when they get together and share ideas. For Halloween we had a costume contest, an office decorating contest and very appropriate treats. At Thanksgiving, the entire staff enjoyed a beautiful, buffet dinner including turkey and dressing. Christmas plans are still a secret, we know there is a prize for the best decorated office and can only wonder, (with visions of sugar plum fairies?), what else they have in store for us.
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| NEW AWARDS THIS PAST QUARTER | ||
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 For Burullus Gas, West Delta Deep
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For Deutsche Schiffsbank, Inspection of Borgland Dolphin
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| INTEC Engineering, Inc. Intercontinental Building 15600 JFK Boulevard, 9th Floor Houston, TX 77032, USA tel: (281) 987-0800 Primary Fax: (281) 987-3838 Admin Fax: (281) 987-2002 e-mail: info@intec-hou.com |  | INTEC Engineering (SEA) SDN. BHD. Suite 12.2, 12th Floor Menara Aik Hua Changkat Raja Chulan 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +60 (3) 202-2488 Fax: +60 (3) 202-3488 e-mail: info@intec-mal.com.my | | INTEC Engineering B.V. Poortweg 14 2612 PA Delft, The Netherlands P.O. Box 3178 2601 DD Delft, The Netherlands tel: +31 (15) 256-5675 FAX: +31 (015) 256-0194 email: info@intec-delft.com | | INTEC Engineering S.R.L. Lavalle #465 Planta Baja 1047, Buenos Aires Argentina tel: +54 (1) 14 327-4120 FAX: +54 (1) 14 327-4121 email: info@intec-hou.com | | INTEC-egis Adelaide House 200, Adelaide Terrace Perth, Western Australia 6000 tel: + 61 (8) 9220 9374 FAX: + 61 (8) 9325 9897 email: info@intec-hou.com |