Offshore staff

FALMOUTH, UK – Fugro Seacore (FSCL) has completed drilling on the jacket installation works on the North Rankin B platform offshore northwest Australia.

The platform, which is 100 m (328 ft) long, 50 m (164 ft) wide, and weighs 25,000 metric tons (27,558 tons), has been installed alongside the existing North Rankin A platform, and connected by two new 100-m bridges.

It forms part of the $5-billion North Rankin 2 project that covers the North Rankin and Perseus gas fields offshore Australia.

In April 2008, operator Woodside commissioned Heerema Marine Contractors Australia to transport and install the platform substructure and topside. Heerema in turn contracted FSCL to design and construct two large pile top drills and three complete drillstrings for the jacket installation works, and to operate the drills.

These were fabricated at FSCL’s premises in Falmouth, UK. Following testing, the drills were rebuilt into two complete masts, and two complete base sections, and shipped out to Batam, Indonesia. There they were fully rebuilt and function-tested, along with the complete bottomhole assemblies.

All the equipment was then loaded on to Heerema’s semisubmersible crane vessel for arrival on site in September 2011.

Drilling works began last November following the jacket launch and set down and driving of the primary piles. The team achieved drilling speeds of up to 36 m/hr (118 ft/hr), drilling 2.48-m (8-ft) diameter piles in a water depth of 125 m (410 ft). The complete sockets were finished in an average of 32 hours.

6/29/2012