15-05-2013

Manifa project starts first phase of production

The sheer scale of the project is mind boggling. A few numbers set the scene: More than 80 million construction man-hours without a lost-time injury, peak manpower of more than 21,000, 100,000 tons of structural steel, 9,000 km of pipes and cables — the list goes on.

It is the single largest offshore increment in the oil industry and will provide feedstock to two new joint venture refineries in Jubail and Yanbu’.

The story of Manifa begins in 2006 when the task of determining the most effective way to produce from a shallow, offshore oil field had to be undertaken.

The causeway option took prominence as an alternative to 30 offshore platforms that would have required extensive dredging of the area and would have heavily impacted a fragile ecosystem.

In 2008, the first pile of the longest bridge was driven into the seabed and temporary facilities were constructed. In all, 13 bridges were built in a way so as not to impede vital water circulation.

Manifa Department manager Mohammed Abdulkarim isn’t a man at home behind a desk. He’s a man of the field, content when among towering gas oil separation plants (GOSPs) and engineers.

Abdulkarim is passionate about this project that is close to his heart. He has watched Manifa evolve from the draftsman’s drawing board to what some people term an engineering miracle in the oil and gas industry.

While the causeway inevitably steals the limelight, Abdulkarim is keen to point out that the Manifa Project is also a feat of logistics, planning and scheduling. It all came together over seven years and could not have been achieved without quality people, he emphasizes.

The complicated jigsaw was painstakingly joined together piece by piece.

“We looked at alternatives for the causeway design,” Abdulkarim said. “We had to have an onshore field offshore. The conventional way is to dig channels, long channels to connect to deeper sea — something that, in this case, would have proved very expensive and would have had an adverse impact on the environment.”

The natural environment at Manifa Bay is delicately balanced and marked by a rich area of coral reefs resting under its shallow waters, and playing host to a thriving marine habitat.

An extensive scientific study was performed, marking the locations of the coral and sensitive natural areas.

“The study came up with 13 bridges to ensure the proper circulation of the seawater to preserve the natural environment. The longest of the bridges is 2.4 kilometers. That was a part of the challenge we as Saudi Aramco overcame,” he said.

From the project’s outset, emphasis was placed on research designed to avoid potential pitfalls in construction.

“It was like an exercise in reverse engineering. We talked to people involved in projects elsewhere who knew the pitfalls,” Abdulkarim said. “We were dealing with a lot of complex islands in segments and with confined spaces, with the added threat of H2S gas hotspots, which required specialized study and a lot of risk management. Manifa has monitoring devices for this gas, including on vessels in the sea off the causeway.”

Saudi Aramco’s safety contingencies for the gas are detailed and impressive. A control room monitors wind speed, and a digital map has potential hydrogen sulfide (H2S) zones marked with red circles.

Only essential personnel are allowed to work in these areas at any time. Detailed evacuation plans are in place and have been well rehearsed.

The safety of workers is paramount, in line with one of Saudi Aramco’s core values.

All of the contractors were required to meet stringent safety standards, and about 40,000 workers have been trained in H2S awareness.

In 2008, an unforeseen external menace threatened the completion of the Manifa vision. What became known as the Global Financial Crisis played havoc with the fundamentals of the project.

Tenacity — typical of Saudi Aramco — kept the project on track when many outside commentators might have written it off.
Al-Falih told the 2011 World Petroleum Congress in Doha that Saudi Aramco took the long view with Manifa and that an intelligent and economic review of the program with contractors kept the project alive in a torrid global economic climate.

“It was difficult,” he said, “but we stayed with Manifa despite the economic winds blowing around us, and the project is on schedule for a 2013 start-up.”

In the end, Manifa reached the operational phase in record time, and against the odds, it was an achievement for Saudi Aramco and everyone involved.