Netherlands-based Mammoet helps build for gas in Malaysia

Netherlands-based Mammoet used a 1,350 tonne capacity Liebherr LR 11350 crawler crane to help build a gas platform being constructed by Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE) at the Johor shipyard in Johor, Malaysia. IC reports.

The gas platform will be deployed at the PC-4 gas field off the coast of Bintulu, Sarawak.

The LR 11350, which is less than one-year-old and, until now, was used exclusively at a refinery project in India, joined the project for a four-month period. The plan was to move it to another project in eastern Malaysia after the assembly of the infrastructure is complete.

Mammoet also has a Liebherr LR 11200 crawler crane on long-term hire to MMHE. It has been at the yard for about three years.

Mammoet has its own division in Malaysia, based at Nilai, and has a team of 10 personnel at the MMHE yard, under the direct on-site supervision of Harry van den Brink.

He says the Liebherr LR 11350 was brought in because the construction of the platform required a crane that can handle exceptionally heavy lifts, both during assembly and the launch of the platform.

Exceptional lifts

The LR 11350, the largest in Liebherr's range of LR crawler cranes, offers a maximum lift of 1,350 tonnes at 14 m and has a main boom of up to 150 m.

This, he says, matched the specification of the gas platform infrastructure, allowing fast assembly, as the platform is due to be towed out to the PC-4 field late this year.

For the job, the crane is using a 114 m lattice jib and a 42 m derrick mast.

"Despite its size, the crane's design enables straightforward transportation and rapid set-up, with the diesel engine, hydraulics, electrics and crane cab transported as a complete unit," says Liebherr.

MMHE, a division of Petronas subsidiary MISC Bhd, is one of the few shipyards in the region that has the capability to carry out construction of deepwater facilities.

Located on the coast at Pasir Gudang on Johor, Malaysia, the company has 1,500 permanent staff.

The PC-4 field is located 148 km offshore at Bintulu, at a water depth of 79 m, in block SK310. Two wells will be drilled, with each expected to produce up to 200 million standard cubic feet per day. The unmanned platform to be sited at the wells is being constructed at the MMHE yard.