The Nordeste project involved the installation of 3 oil and water pipelines in the Rio Grande do Norte area in the northeast of Brazil. Bezemer Dordrecht was requested to provide a 500-tonne linear winch for two stages of this project. Once for the installation of the first offshore section of the pipeline and once for the shore pull and tie-in with the onshore pipeline.  

Offshore pipeline installation 

The first stage of this project took place in 2012. Bezemer mobilised the C1100 HS linear winch together with 3 sections of wires. This winch has a pulling capacity of 500 metric tonnes and was used to execute 3 pulls of approx. 2800m length. 

 In this phase of the project, the pipeline sections were pulled from the lay barge until approximately 1800 meters from shore. The pull wire was disconnected, and the pipeline section was abandoned until the tie-in with the shore section. Which would take place when the onshore pipeline was completed.  

Tie-in with the onshore pipeline 

In 2014 Bezemer returned to Brazil to complete the second phase of this project. This time we provided our CPM 1100 linear winch, which is also capable of providing a 500-tonne pulling force. Our client outfitted a pull barge, for which we supplied the pull-in equipment and a back anchoring system for the winch. The barge was towed to a location in Brazil and the 3 sections were pulled from the beach to the just-installed Pipeline Tie-in Location. In addition, one section of the pipeline was pulled over a sandbank which could not be reached by the lay barge. 

 We are thankful to Boskalis for the project award. It was a great project that resulted in 6 successful pulls and even more beautiful photos of the operation.