BP Azerbaijan announced that the second topsides unit of the Production and Risers (PR) platform built for the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project, arrived in its location in early June.
The PR platform topsides unit, which was completed ahead of schedule, sailed away to the Shah Deniz contract area in the Caspian Sea from the Azfen fabrication yard in Bibi-Heybat on 15 September, the company reported on September 20.
Prior to that, the topsides unit was jacked up onto the load-out frame at the quayside of the fabrication yard on 6 August 2017 and was transferred onto the STB-1 transportation barge on 9 September in preparation for sail away.
The transportation, float-over and installation activities were carefully planned and took 6 days to complete. The unit now has been installed on top of the PR jacket which was already at its offshore location in a water depth of 94 metres waiting for the deck.
The PR platform topsides sail away and safe offshore installation is an extremely important project milestone as it finalises the offshore facilities fabrication delivery, said Ewan Drummond, BP’s Vice President for Projects.
“We are very pleased to deliver this final offshore installation activity safely and in time to support the giant Shah Deniz Stage 2 project completion and First Gas delivery next year. I am pleased to say that the project is making good progress towards full completion on schedule and below the planned budget. I would like to thank every person whose hard work has made it possible to achieve this milestone with excellent safety results,”he said.
The PR platform topsides unit weighs about 15,800 tonnes and is 100 meters long by 60 meters wide. It contains a 133-meter-long flare boom, 10 flowline reception facilities, five production separators, two flash gas compressors and three production export flowlines.
The construction of the PR topsides unit, which was built by the AMEC-Tekfen-Azfen (ATA) consortium at the Azfen fabrication yard, was fully undertaken in the country using local infrastructure and facilities.
Over 5,000 people, including sub-contractors and specialist vendors, were involved in the construction works. More than 90% of these were Azerbaijani citizens.
Shah Deniz Stage 2 is a giant project that will add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) of gas production to the approximately 9 bcma produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.
Shah Deniz Stage 2, one of the largest gas developments in the world, will help increase European energy security by bringing Caspian gas resources to markets in Europe for the very first time. Shah Deniz gas will travel 3,500 kilometres, to elevations of over 2,500 metres, and over 800 metres below the sea.
During the first half of 2017, implementation of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project continued successfully. The project is now over 95% complete in terms of engineering, procurement and construction, and remains on target for first gas from Shah Deniz Stage 2 in 2018.
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