Mammoet supports delivery of offshore Turkmenistan drilling platform

Mammoet has loaded out a new drilling platform for the Garagol Deniz West development, 75 km (46.6 miles) offshore Turkmenistan in the Caspian Sea.

Initially Mammoet had supported the engineering and construction contractor ILK Insaat, with load-out of the jacket for the Garagol Deniz Drilling Platform A (GDDP-A).

The company was then invited to return to the same site near Turkmenbashi to complete load-out of the platform’s topsides. As this had been left in-situ for some time, there were concerns about friction occurring during breakout.

Mammoet’s solution was to deploy high-capacity hydraulic breakout jacks in combination with strand jacks, to help ensure trouble-free manoeuvres. In the event, although the friction was still high, the method allowed the company to precisely realign the structure throughout the operation.

Initially, the topsides was jacked up and weighed 4,000 tons, using load cells. Load-out was divided into three phases: the initial breakout of the platform, the movement via skid tracks onshore, and finally, load-out from land to the transportation barge.

Mammoet worked with the client to grease the skid tracks, before pushing the topsides from its initial position using the breakout jacks. It then applied strand jacks to skid the topsides along the skid tracks, followed by load-out onto the barge for delivery to the Garagol Deniz West field.

During the campaign the company deployed 24 600-ton loadcells, two hydraulic breakout jacks and four 600-ton strand jacks. GDDP-A should start service before the end of this year.

The platform is designed to operate automatically, reducing the need for onboard staff.

At peak it should produce 10,000 b/d of oil and 35 MMcf/d of gas.

Source: Offshore Magazine