The North – Eastern Offshore (NEO) pipeline will transport natural gas from the Angostura Field, located off the northeast coast of Trinidad, to the New Abyssinia Accumulator Station, then on to the existing Trinidad and Tobago gas distribution network.

The 93.5 km, 36 inch diameter pipeline will be composed of an 83 km offshore section, running from the BHP Billiton Gas Export Platform (GEP), currently under construction in the Angostura Field, to landfall at Mayaro Bay. It will also include a 10.5 km onshore section that will traverse the remaining distance to the Accumulator Station.

This pipeline is intended to open access to a new field where there is no gas pipeline infrastructure, and also creates an opportunity to develop other marginal gas fields, as it lowers the infrastructure development cost for other players.

The National Gas Company (NGC), which is wholly owned by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, has been responsible for the construction of the pipeline. Meanwhile, BHP will construct the platform and its associated pipeline infrastructure.

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HDD will be used to install the landfall section of the pipe, to prevent cutting through the coastline and thereby minimise disruption to this sensitive environment. In addition, only water-based environmentally-friendly bentonite will be used.

The laying of the HDD pipe string began in late 2009, and since then directional drilling work has been conducted on a 24 hour basis. According to Assistant Project Manager Gayapersad Beharry, HDD has been successfully used to install a 1.25 km section of 12 inch pipe, and work on a second 36 inch HDD installation is currently underway. Progress on this 1.65 km section has been facing some challenges, but Mr Beharry is confident that these will soon be overcome.

Work on the onshore segment was started in January 2010 and should be completed by August, while offshore pipe installation began in April. The NGC has imported 8,054 lengths of pipe for the project from India, and the sections to be installed underwater have been concrete coated to ensure the stability of the pipeline on the seabed and offer protection from third party damage.

It is intended that the entire pipeline will be commissioned by early 2011.