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Weblog july
Liwan 3-1 Third Party Verification
On May 22, 2010, The China National Offshore Oil Corporation, (CNOOC), awarded ODL the third- party verification of the Liwan 3-1 deepwater jacket basic design and the float-over installation basic design of the Central Processing Facility. This project marks an important step in the Liwan 3-1 field development project, because it is China’s first deepwater project, with estimated contingent reserves of between 4-6 trillion cubic feet of gas.
In 2007, ODL completed a similar project for CNOOC: The detailed design of the PanYu 30-1 jacket. While working with the design team, ODL was able to reduce the steel in the jacket by 3,000 metric tons, comparing to a similar jacket design done at the same water depth with the same deck payload, and improve the installation methodology. At the time, this was the largest conventional fixed jacket located in the South China Sea, where the weather is known to be extremely turbulent.
Our latest project award has similar challenges to the PanYu 30-1 project. However, the Liwan 3-1 scope of work must be completed in a record time of three months. As an ODL project manager, it has been my experience that the basic design configuration is the most important part of the entire design. The project is especially challenging because of the massive size of the jacket and the topside. Therefore, we are utilizing engineers in our Houston and China offices to save valuable time and offer much more to our client in such a short period. Our designs have already reduced the jacket weight by a considerable amount, making the jacket’s Not-To-Exceed steel weight about 32,000 metric tons to support an installed topsides of up to 40,000 metric tons in the typhoon-prone South China. When installed, this jacket will be the third largest conventional fixed jacket in the world, in terms of jacket steel weight, and the largest one outside of the Gulf of Mexico.
The scope of work includes jacket configuration design, jacket in-place design, jacket load-out/transportation/floatation/set-down designs, and the deck float-over basic engineering design. The jacket launch and float-over installation is scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.
We are more and more recognized for our expertise in deepwater jacket and float-over design. This is certainly not a typical design project for any engineering team. There are few companies that can provide their customers with multiple in-house structural and marine engineering services, as well as offshore installation expertise like we can.
James Lee
Vice President, Projects
