Carmelo Caruana entrusted with major operation for Capricorn energy
Malta: Carmelo Caruana Company was recently entrusted by Capricorn Energy Limited (Capricorn), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy plc, to manage a major operation to store and maintain oil and gas drilling equipment destined for North Africa.
Cairn Energy is one of Europe’s leading independent oil and gas exploration and development companies.
The six-week operation involved the handling and inspection of 3,600 tonnes of casing joints at a dedicated site at Hal Far. The necessary maintenance was carried out under Capricorn’s supervision and project leadership. The casing joints were then stacked in preparation for load-out from Malta to their destination in North Africa.
Numerous logistical arrangements were made on behalf of Capricorn, including pre-slinging and certification of specific equipment before loading, and the co-ordination of transportation of equipment from yard to vessel.
“Capricorn required a central location in the Mediterranean with the appropriate service providers to store and maintain valuable drilling equipment,” Carmelo Caruana Company Ltd managing director Karl Naudi said. “We were able to tick the necessary boxes with our ability to provide all the equipment and labour to support the inspection and maintenance activities that required to be carried out on the casing joints.
“An operation such as this puts Malta on the oil and gas industry map as a logistics and supply base in the Mediterraean. It is beneficial to Malta’s maritime hub campaign – there is significant potential for the future.”
Carmelo Caruana Company Ltd has previously handled more than 140,000 tonnes of concrete-coated steel pipes used for the gas pipeline between Libya and Sicily. The company has worked with many of the top names in the global maritime, logistics, and oil and gas support services industry on diverse operations crucial to industrial and maritime activity in the region.