Reliance blesses fast track project

Mr. Prasad performed part of a traditional Indian ceremony, the Puja, of breaking a coconut. This part of the Puja seeks the divine blessing for the load out of the 6,300MT-deck, marking the auspicious beginning of its passage to the east coast of India, offshore Kakinada.

Once installed, the platform will form part of Reliance's Dhirubhai 1 and 3 Field Development Project. The Field will produce 80 million standard cubic meters of natural gas per day for domestic consumption in India. It will increase India's domestic natural gas production by approximately 100%.

"It is a measure of Reliance's faith in J. Ray that they chose us to build this fast track project, with just 18 months between the award and completion. Our relationship with Reliance dates back to the early 1990's and the success of this project will only serve to further strengthen the mutual respect we share with Reliance', said Stewart Mitchell, Vice President and General Manager, Middle East and India.

PMS Prasad, CEO of Reliance E&P Business stated, "J. Ray McDermott has been our partner in all our big projects, including the Petrochemical Complex at Hazira, the Refining Complex at Jamnagar and now the first deepwater gas field development on the east coast of India. We have full confidence in J. Ray's ability to mobilize its worldwide resources to meet the challenging deadlines set by Reliance for this development."

J. Ray's derrick barge DB101 is currently installing the jacket structure and the topsides. Hook-up will follow with project completion expected during the second quarter of 2008 - 18 months from the date that the project was awarded.

J. Ray's Houston office performed design development engineering and associated equipment procurement; the jacket was fabricated at the company's Morgan City fabrication facility in Louisiana, USA and topsides construction was carried out in Jebel Ali. Fabrication work on the topsides recently crossed a safety milestone of over one million man-hours without a Loss Time Incident (LTI) proving that at J. Ray, despite an accelerated fabrication schedule, the speed of fabrication did not compromise safe working.