Industry News - Asian Oil & Gas Reports - Angel in its firmamentAngel in its firmament
from: Asian Oil & Gas
by: Darius Snieckus
Friday, June 06, 2008
Clough Aker Joint Venture has laid claim to a new ‘world height record’ following successful installation of the topsides for the North West Shelf Venture’s Angel platform off Western Australia. Darius Snieckus reports.
The transport and floatover installation of the Woodside Energyoperated Angel gas platform’s 7500t topsides was completed by the Clough Aker JV, aided by Dockwise heavylift vessel Black Marlin, in April during the penultimate phase of a A$40 million EPCI contract signed in late-2005.
Following outfitting in Batam, Indonesia, Black Marlin arrived at the Pasir Gudang, Malaysia yard of fabricator Malaysian Marine & Heavy Engineering (MMHE) in February to collect the topsides.
By mid-March, the Dockwise vessel was ballasted down to loading draft and the link beams installed so that the wires for the four 27-strand jacks – with a pulling force of 2000t – could be pulled into the onboard anchors. It took 13 hours to skid the topsides on to Black Marlin.
The journey to location, in 80m of water some 50km east of Woodside’s two existing fixed platforms on the North West Shelf, North Rankin A and Goodwyn A, took six days.
April’s installation of the Angel topsides – in a floatover operation similar to that employed by the Clough Aker JV in 2003 for ConocoPhillips’ 11,500t Bayu- Undan CUQ deck in the Timor Sea, using Dockwise sister vessel Blue Marlin – also established a new industry benchmark for installed deck height, reports the JV’s topside installation project manager Thor Hevroy.
The topsides sit atop a 21m high deck support unit, weighing a further 850t. ‘Due to the extreme installed height with respect to sea level, this was a unique floatover challenge worldwide,’ says Hevroy.
Angel’s 7500t jacket had earlier been delivered on J Ray McDermott’s Intermac 650 launch barge and installed by the J Ray derrick barge DB30. The jacket is secured by eight drilled and grouted, piled foundations, each weighing more than 3000t.
By late April, the Clough Aker JV had completed its hookup work, with all 15 risers installed and jacket-to-topside leg welds finished. Demobilisation of the scaffolding and jacket temporary platforms was under way and collection of the temporary mooring system for the floatover operation was imminent, prior to carrying out a final ROV survey.
Unusually for Woodside and a platform this size, the Angel gas platform is designed to operate in normally unmanned mode. It will have drying and dehydration facilities but power and control will come from the North Rankin A (NRA) platform, whose control room and control systems are also being upgraded under the A$1.6 billion Angel gas development.
CTC Marine was last month expected to begin installing the 51km power cable that will link NRA with Angel. Three umbilicals will also be installed to connect the Angel platform to adjacent FMC-supplied subsea trees. Angel’s three subsea satellite wells will be tied back to NRA via a new 50km, 30in subsea pipeline – installed by J Ray McDermott – tied into the first North West Shelf trunkline and commingled with NRA production for onshore processing at the North West Shelf Venture’s Karratha plant.
Angel has an estimated resource of 1.8tcf. Its anticipated production levels are up to 800mmscf/d of gas and up to 50,000b/d of condensate. AOG
North Rankin 2 gets green light
Operator Woodside announced in April that the North West Shelf Venture participants have taken a final investment decision for the development of the North Rankin 2 (NR2) project on the North West Shelf.
The NR2 project, designed to recover remaining low pressure gas from the North Rankin and Perseus gas fields, will include the installation of a second platform (North Rankin B) which will stand in about 125m of water and include gas compression facilities, utilities and new living quarters.
North Rankin B will be connected by a 100m bridge to the existing North Rankin A platform. The NR2 project will also include necessary tie-ins and refurbishment of North Rankin A. Upon completion, both platforms will be operated as a single integrated facility. The NR2 project total investment is expected to be around A$5 billion, with project start-up anticipated in 2013.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte said the development project would continue to maximise the value of Australia's largest resource project. 'This project will extend the field life of the North Rankin and Perseus fields and will support the venturefs onshore gas commitments to supply customers post 2013,' he said.
The six equal participants in the North West Shelf Venture, all with 16.67% stakes, are: BHP Billiton Petroleum (North West Shelf), BP Developments Australia, Chevron Australia, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI); Shell Development (Australia)and Woodside Energy (operator). CNOOC NWS is also a Venture member but does not have an interest in North West Shelf Venture infrastructure.
J Ray McDermott has been awarded a contract to construct the North Rankin B platform substructure and piles by Woodside Energy. The scope of work for this contract includes the fabrication and loadout of the 22,000t jacket (including buoyancy tanks), 18,900t of piles and the bridge link to the North Rankin A platform. McDermott says contracts of this nature are typically valued in excess of US$100 million.
'Completing the NRB substructure will be a major milestone for our Batam Island, Indonesia facility, as this will be the largest jacket ever built in the Southeast Asia region,' said Bob Deason, president & CEO of J Ray. 'This award confirms our strong working relationship with Woodside. Their decision to award this project underscores Woodside's confidence in J Ray's ability to deliver large structural projects on time.'
Construction work will be performed at the contractor's Batam Island, Indonesia facility and is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2008. At the peak of construction activities, 1300 people are expected to work on the project. AOG
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