Moving story
  from: Asian Oil & Gas
  by: Terry Knott
  Friday, October 27, 2006

For the onshore lifting of the Lun-A deck, main topsides construction contractor Samsung contracted heavy lift and transportation specialist Fagioli PSC.

The operation, the first stage of which was performed in April this year, involved moving the deck from a multipoint support in the yard to a four point support, in readiness for jacking the deck up by 24m. This allowed the insertion below of the loadout support frame (LSF) for transportation to the field by barge. Intermediate weighings of the massive deck structure carried out during the moving operation put the deck weight at 23,500t.

The Lun-A deck required 52 L600 jacks for weighing and the same number were used for the lifting of the deck. A multinational Fagioli PSC team, working in back-to-back 12 hour shifts under overall control of Fagioli PSC UK engineers, carried out the lifting operation. The jacking system was computer controlled remotely from a central control cabin. During periodic breaks in the lifting operation to enable Samsung to add new leg can sections, the LSF skidding system was set up by Fagioli, comprising a single L600 jack on each of the two skid tracks along with a 60m-long, 37-strand pulling cable. Each of the jacks was driven by a dedicated L2/70D power pack to give a skidding speed of around 12m/h. The power packs were controlled locally at built-in control consoles, in radio communication with a Fagioli PSC supervisor who guided the LSF along the skid tracks.

On completion of the LSF skidding operation and the placement of bearing pads by Samsung, the Lun-A deck was gently lowered to transfer all load onto the LSF. Next came the setting up of the loadout skidding system, consisting of ten L600 jacks, six on the deck's east skidtrack and four on the west, along with 165m-long, 37-strand pulling cables. Each pair of jacks was driven by a dedicated L2/70D power pack to give a skidding speed of 12m/h, with all jacks and power packs connected to the central computer control system. The LSF and deck were thus moved from the yard onto the transportation barge.

Later this year, the topsides for Lun-A's companion platform for the Sakhalin project, PA-B, will be also be lifted through 24m at the yard, and could weigh as much as 31,00t. AOG

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