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Out in front with J. Ray McDermott
Posted: 7 December 2003
12,785-tonne Front Runner Spar hull set to travel half
the world from J. Ray McDermott’s Jebel Ali fabrication yard
179 meters in length, 29 meters in diameter and weighing over 12,785
tonnes, the Front Runner truss-Spar hull was fabricated by J. Ray
McDermott in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
After 15 months of construction the structure was loaded onto a
heavy transport barge during a 16 hour operation, in early October.
The vessel embarked for the Suez Canal on schedule, and took just
18 days to reach the Mediterranean. It is expected to reach the
Gulf of Mexico by mid-December.
In total the structure will travel over 17,400km, which equates
to nearly half the world, before it reaches its final destination,
Block 338 in Green Canyon 217 kilometers off the coast of Louisiana.
J. Ray McDermott Gulf of Mexico operations will then install the
structure in over 1,067 meters of water, where it will form the
base of Murphy Oil’s Front Runner field development platform.
“J. Ray McDermott is one of only two companies in the world
that has proprietary rights to Spar technology,” explained
Kurt Nelson senior vice president, sales, marketing and strategic
planning.
“Murphy Oil’s Front Runner Spar hull is the third Spar
hull project that our company has undertaken these past two years,
as we broaden our focus into deeper water and into floating production
solutions,” he said. “Built on its side, the hull will
be installed in a vertical position and, once upright in the water,
will have a draft of 164 meters, making it the deepest draft structure
ever built in the Middle East,” explained Nelson. “The
topsides which are still under fabrication at a yard in the Gulf
of Mexico will then be installed on top of the hull, completing
the platform.”
With the successful fabrication of three Spar hulls, J. Ray McDermott
has learned significant lessons and achieved important milestones
for the industry as a whole.
“Firstly, we have advanced state-of-the-art hull design by
leveraging our extensive fabrication experience,” explained
Nelson. “Secondly, we have expanded the number of fully credentialed
Spar hull fabrication facilities, with these projects, Spar hulls
have now been successfully fabricated at J. Ray McDermott’s
Jebel Ali (United Arab Emirates) and Batam (Indonesia) fabrication
yards, and in Finland. And thirdly, we have improved the position
of the Spar concept through the inclusion of our very competitive
yards in both the Middle East and Asia Pacific.”
Once installed, the floating platform will be able to handle 60,000
barrels of crude oil and 110 million cubic feet of natural gas per
day from Front Runner and several other nearby prospects operated
by Murphy Oil. Production is scheduled to start in the second half
of 2004.
J. Ray McDermott, S.A, a subsidiary of McDermott International
Inc., is a leading provider of solutions for offshore field development
worldwide. McDermott is a leading worldwide energy services company.
McDermott's subsidiaries provide engineering, fabrication, installation,
procurement, research, manufacturing, environmental systems, project
management and facilities management services to a variety of customers
in the energy industry, including the U.S. Department of Energy.
For more information see www.jraymcdermott.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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