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Christened Leighton Eclipse, the 130-metre long vessel was constructed by Leighton International and will initially be deployed in India on its $US 750 million Pipeline Replacement Project (PRP II) contract in the Mumbai High field approximately 180 kilometres off the coast of Mumbai for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

“PRP 2 requires Leighton to install around 60 kilometres of pipelines from 6-inch to 16-inch in water depths of 70-80 meters during the 2009-10 weather window which ends in April 2010 and a further 60 kilometres the following season,” Leighton Offshore Oil and Gas General Manager Russell Waugh said today.

Mr Waugh said Leighton International undertook the construction of the vessel itself in order to meet the tight timeframes and exacting standards required.

“Eclipse has been built to ABS class and Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit requirements and is Special Purpose Shipping (SPS) code compliant,” Mr Waugh said.

“A number of jurisdictions are beginning to adopt SPS code and there are very few pipe-lay construction vessels in the market that can genuinely claim to be SPS compliant.”

Eclipse is 130 metres long, 32 metres wide and has a hull depth of 8.5 meters. The vessel is capable of handling pipe diameters from 6-inch to 60-inch OD, and has two 60MT pipe tensioners. Eclipse is fitted with a 300MT pedestal crane and can work in water depths of up to 150 metres. Eclipse is set up with facilities for manual, semiautomatic and fully automatic welding.

Leighton Eclipse has state-of-the-art mooring systems. The vessel uses the latest technology electric mooring winches, and has fully integrated bridge mounted controls.

Leighton now has two pipe-lay barges operating throughout South East Asia, India and the Middle East. Its flagship pipe-lay barge, Leighton Stealth, was built in 2006 and has recently undergone an extensive upgrade including a new 232-person accommodation block.