Steel catenary riser is the first choice for deepwater oil and gas development due to its simple structure, and S-lay technology is mature, so it is of great significance to explore the limit water depth for steel catenary riser with S-lay. In this work, the normal laying of SCR with a pipe-laying vessel in a gas field in the South China Sea was simulated with Orcaflex so that the threshold environmental conditions for safe operation of the riser are determined. The influence of wave direction, surface velocity, outer diameter and wall thickness of the riser on the operating window was investigated. Further, the applicability of the riser with different outer diameters and wall thickness under different water depths was analyzed to determine the limit laying water depth of the riser with S-lay. Results show that the installation window of riser is sensitive to wave direction, and it is safer to lay pipe under following wave condition. With the increase of the surface velocity and the outer diameter and wall thickness of the riser, the height-period operating window decreases and the limit laying water depth decreases.