EB's Presence at Offshore Europe

Major projects such as the Jay-Lay Tower currently being constructed by EB have resulted in the company having an order book for innovative and large pieces of equipment to be delivered to the offshore oil and gas industry over the course of the next two years. The Jay-Lay Tower, now at fabrication stage, will be approximately 65m high with a large array of highly complex equipment installed on to it. Most of the additional equipment and control systems are now being produced in parallel to the tower at EB facilities and throughout the north-east of England supply chain.

One of EB's areas of expertise is in trenching equipment for both pipeline trenching and for cable laying. Recently they delivered two new pipeline trenching ploughs to Saipem UK Ltd. The main trenching plough was designed to bury pipelines up to 1550mm diameter up to 2.5m below the seabed, sustain a bollard pull of over 350T and maintain speeds of up to 3000m/hr where seabed conditions permit. The backfill plough was an all-new concept where all four of the main skids sit outside the trench. This EB-developed design enables the plough to run on undisturbed soil, thus increasing stability and reducing the risk of damage to the laid pipe. Recent trials confirmed the plough's ease of steering and stability, even at relatively high offset steering angles, and ability to backfill the 2.5m trench.

EB is also seeing growing order books and demanding project requirements for cable plough systems for use in the offshore wind and telecom sectors. A new plough, the Sea Stallion 433, has been designed for burial of power cables up to 3m in hard seabeds in one pass; and the Sea Stallion 3 which is now capable of working in 2000m of water, features EB's proven share design, which allows 3m burial in a wide range of conditions, whilst minimising residual tension in the installed cable.

Further information on EB's services and pioneering developments is available on Stand 1154 at Offshore Europe.