World's first buoyant tower drilling unit sets sail

China’s privately-owned offshore yard Wison Offshore & Marine has delivered the world’s first buoyant tower drilling and production platform to BPZ Energy over the weekend for installation and operation at the Corvina field off Peru.

The unit, known as the CX-15 platform, sailed away early Sunday morning for installation in Peruvian waters in September.
 

The buoyant tower hull for the facility was designed and engineered through a joint venture between Wison affiliate, Horton Wison Deepwater and GMC , while Wison Offshore & Marine (USA), provided project management, procurement, and construction services for the facility’s 2500 tonne hull and topsides.
 

Fabricated at Wison’s Nantong city facility, in Jiangsu province, the unit consists of four ring-stiffened connected cylindrical tubes or “cells” with one central suction pile. Each cell measures 8.4 metres in diameter and 60.1metres long, with a total hull length, including suction pile, of 69.9meters.
 

This design, which is similar to proven cell spar technology, was a key enabler for the project due to the fact that it will not require a derrick barge for installation as it will be located in a region with minimal resident offshore construction vessels, Wison said in a statement.
 

When installed, the buoyant tower will support the 1500-tonne three-level topsides facility designed by Audubon Engineering and GMC.
 

The CX-15 platform will have the capacity to produce 12,200 barrels of oil per day, 12.8 million cubic feet of gas per day and inject 3500 bpd of water. Additionally, the facility will be capable of supporting a drilling rig with 24 well slots.
 

“Delivering this state-of-the-art prototype project in a record time of 11 months and within budget clearly reaffirms Wison’s position as a preferred quality and reliable provider of choice in the offshore and marine industry, especially in this part of the world,” said Wison Offshore & Marine executive vice president of operations, Daniel Chang.
 

“On behalf of Wison Offshore & Marine, I would like to thank BPZ Energy for having confidence in us.”
                                                                                                                                      (By Xu Yihe)

Media Source: Upstream
Writer: Xu Yihe
Date: 6 August 2012
Link: http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1262260.ece