The project involved the lift of a record weight of 12,100 tonnes last month by the Saipem 7000 crane barge as it offloaded a single integrated deck (SID) from a heavy transport carrier to the platform jacket of the ENI Gas BV’s Sabratha platform.

The SID was successfully installed over a four hour period in near perfect weather conditions. Lloyd’s Register EMEA says it provided verification of this project.

Lloyd’s Register EMEA’s role also included marine warranty services, through its subcontractor Global Maritime, for the transportation and installation of both the platform jacket from Sardinia and the SID module from Korea.

The firm also verified the design, construction and installation of the pipelines and subsea wells, together with the large gas processing plant at Mellitah and the Wafa Desert and Coastal gas plants.

“Lloyd’s Register remains at the forefront in supporting large integrated projects such as the West Libya Gas Project," said Lloyd’s Register EMEA’s verification manager Ciarán McIntyre.

"We help build and support the experience base necessary to delivering such projects successfully.”

Sabratha is located 110km off the Libyan coast and is the central platform in Libya’s Bahar Essalam field, part of the extensive Western Libya Gas Project.

Oil and gas is transported from the giant Wafa field in the Sahara, via two 540km pipelines, to the coastal plant at Mellitah. There the gas is combined with that from the offshore Sabratha field, before being exported to Sicily via a new 32 inch pipeline - the first direct gas link from Libya to Europe.