Offshore staff

SINGAPORE -- The Keppel SLP Consortium has completed the onshore construction of two 220-crew accommodation platforms for Pemex Exploración y Producción, a subsidiary of Mexican national oil company Pemex, ahead of contractual schedule.

Apart from the earlier ex-yard delivery, the Keppel-led consortium accomplished three significant achievements for Pemex in the design, engineering, procurement, construction, and offshore commissioning of this first Mexican project for Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd.

According to Keppel, the HA-KU-M and HA-KU-S platforms will be the first fully integrated accommodation units offshore Mexico. The entire living quarters and the machinery decks were built as a single unit at the Keppel AmFELS yard instead of two separate modules as was done traditionally in Mexico. This construction method reduces the offshore commissioning time, which saves time and cost for Pemex.

The design is optimized, and weight control has been successful, the company says. Each platform weighs about 3,300 metric tons (3,638 tons), which is more than 100 metric tons (110 tons) below the contractual weight.

Keppel AmFELS says the company registered no lost-time incidents for the 1 million manhours in the construction of each platform.

The two platforms are en route to the Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) field in the Bay of Campeche, Gulf of Mexico. Hookup and commissioning completion is expected by early 2007.

12/15/2006