Longitude Develops New Decommissioning Barge Concept
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Longitude Engineering has developed a new decommissioning barge concept for the safe removal of small oil and gas platforms.
The work is part of a contract awarded earlier by Thai state owned oil company subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP).
As per the contract, Longitude Engineering was tasked to develop a viable and cost-effective alternative to conventional ‘reverse installation’ through the use of heavy lift crane barges, for the removal of the topsides and jackets.
The contract focuses on removal of 90-100 of PTTEP’s minimum facilities platform assets in the Gulf of Thailand, which have topside weights up to 800 tons and jacket dry weight up to 1000 tons.
Longitude is also responsible for the delivery of conceptual naval, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering as well as outline operational procedures, schedule and CAPEX & OPEX costing for the new removal concept.
Longitude Lead Engineer Jean-Baptiste Meier said: “By developing this time and cost-saving solution, we hope to create a wider awareness among contractors within the region in order that they may adopt similar methods in the removal of multi -platform fields.
“The South East Asian fields present many similar small platforms where innovative thinking can be used to make an economy of scale in the removal operations.”
Using reverse float-over and on-board lifting methods, the new barge concept solution will be able to remove both the topside and substructure utilizing the same vessel.
Longitude said it has teamed up with German-based Bosch Rexroth for the development of a heave compensated hydraulic lifting and skidding system for the the primary float-off lifting system.
The resulting vessel design is expected to accommodate the removal of different types of topsides and jackets, without modifying the barge.
PTTEP is in discussion with Thailand’s Department of Mineral Fuels (DMF) to secure permit in order to commence decommissioning work in the coming years.
Source: Energy Business Review
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