Offshore staff
UTRECHT – Heavy lift and transport specialist Mammoet reports that it has achieved the safe and efficient load-out and offshore installation of a production, drilling, and quarters (PDQ) platform for the Azeri Central East (ACE) project in the Caspian Sea.
The ACE project is the next phase of the development of the bp-operated Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field in the Caspian Sea.
Mammoet’s scope included the weighing, jack-up, load-out and floatover installation operations of the 19,600-tonne PDQ platform. The firm says that it ensured the precise transfer of the platform’s topsides unit from the quayside onto the transportation barge STB-1 and subsequently onto the jacket foundation offshore.
Prior to its departure, the topsides unit underwent commissioning and operational testing onshore, thereby reducing offshore installation and start-up activities, the firm said.
At the quayside, the topsides unit was jacked up to a height of 17 meters and then lowered onto a custom loadout support frame, utilizing Mammoet’s jacking system, the Mega Jack 5200. The unit was then skidded onto the barge, where it was sea-fastened and prepared for its voyage to the ACG field.
The skidding operation onto the barge deck was accomplished using four 900-tonne strandjacks, break-out jacks, a high-capacity ballast system, load monitoring quay jacks comprising of six 600-tonne jacks, and mooring winches.
Upon its arrival at the designated field location, Mammoet executed the installation of the topside unit onto the jacket foundation through a floatover operation.
The topsides unit contains oil and gas processing facilities, an integrated drilling rig, a gas compressor, and living quarters, and was constructed by Azfen in the Bayil fabrication yard near Baku.
Drilling is expected to commence in the coming months with the delivery of ACE’s first oil projected to begin in early 2024.
09.19.2023
