The 43,000t floating production system (FPS) was built in Malaysia for the Gumusut-Kakap offshore field, where it will be used by a joint venture made up of Shell, Conoco Phillips Sabah Ltd and Petronas Carigali. Before going to work, it needed to be loaded onto a barge, the Blue Marlin, for transport from the fabrication yard in Johor Bahru.
The FPS needed to be moved without any flexing that could damage its structural integrity. An Enerpac system, using 352 PLCcontrolled 700bar 300t hydraulic cylinders mounted on active skids, was used to move the rig.
Arranged in two main groups in east and west configurations, 12in (300mm) stroke cylinders with stroke sensors were used to hoist pontoons and superstructure prior to their joining and launching of the completed structure. The active skids, mounted on guidance tracks, were used for weighing and establishing structures’ centre of gravity to ensure safety and structural integrity, while also ensuring that the structure did not deflect outside of a tightly controlled range during the lifting and launching process.
Conoco Phillips construction manager Michael Heck said "The Enerpac technology gave us the ability to closely control deflection on this project within the required range of 210mm over a 70m span, offering the high level of safety that was integral to the joint venture partners in the project."
In conjunction with Enerpac South Malaysia distributor Perkasa Machinery, the Enerpac South-East Asia operation headquartered in Singapore provided global expertise in synchronous lifting to complement local capability.
"This support was important, because Enerpac has the experience in the field that we don’t have in the yard," said Heck. "You have to have highly skilled people accessible for a complex and challenging operation such as this. Enerpac has such expertise in applications,."
Enerpac’s experienced staff work on the project were drawn from the Enerpac Integrated Solutions team, which is dedicated to lifting, shifting and manoeuvring some of the world’s heaviest and most challenging objects and structures.
Previous Enerpac Integrated Solutions’ (IS) projects include the launch of the world’s highest viaduct, France’s Millau Viaduct, lifting the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco for seismic retrofits, and the use of Enerpac skidding systems in construction of the world’s first LNG regasifier in Italy, involving 90,000m3 of cement and 30,000t of steel.
Enerpac South East Asia managing director Joseph Wang says Enerpac IS technologies are well suited to a wide variety of infrastructure, energy, mining and petroleum projects in the region.
