J. Ray McDermott has completed and handed over the Devils Tower spar platform to Dominion Exploration & Production Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominion. Dominion E&P operates Devils Tower field, a deepwater development approximately 150 mi south of Mobile, Alabama, in the Gulf of Mexico's Mississippi Canyon block 773. The structure is placed in 5,610 ft of water. Dominion E&P owns 75% of Devils Tower field, with partner Pioneer Natural Resources owning 25%.
SparTEC, a subsidiary of J. Ray McDermott, provided overall project management for the design, engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, and commissioning of the spar.
The design of the facility uses proprietary technology designed for water depths to 9,000 ft. It consists of a hull, mooring system, topsides, and production facilities. The hull was constructed at J. Ray's Batam Island, Indonesia, facility. It is 586 ft in length and 94 ft in diameter and weights over 11,000 tons.
The 9,300-ton topside was prefabricated in subassemblies at J. Ray's Veracruz, Mexico, facility and then assembled and outfitted near Corpus Christi, Texas at the Harbor Island facility. The platform mooring piles and production riser buoyancy can systems were also fabricated at the Veracruz facility.
J. Ray completed the offshore lift and set of the topsides on Nov. 30, 2003, using itsDerrick Barge 50 and shearleg crane. J. Ray also conducted the hookup and commissioning of the platform.
Devils Tower field is capable of producing 60,000 b/d and 60 MMcf/d. Dominion expects production to begin in mid- to late-second quarter.
02/10/04
