The huge offshore cable-laying vessel Leonardo da Vinci is poised to kick off operations on Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (Adnoc’s) $3.8 billion landmark Lightning project that aims to significantly reduce the carbon footprint at some of Abu Dhabi’s largest offshore oilfields.

The advanced cable-laying vessel owned by the Prysmian Group arrived in the UAE from Europe for an initial four-month period and will lay bundled cabling along the first 134-kilometre segment, before returning later to lay cables along a second 141-kilometre route, WAM — the official news agency of the United Arab Emirates — reported on Monday.