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First FLNG turret sets sail to South Korea

Oilfield Technology,


Drydocks World, the international maritime service provider, yesterday announced that Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Group attended the ‘sail away’ ceremony to mark the commencement of delivery of the pioneering Prelude FLNG Turret Modules to the owner SHELL. The first Module, the bogie support structure, standing 22 m high, with a diameter of 30 m and weighing 1300 t, will be transported to Korea to integrate with the Prelude FLNG vessel. Other modules will soon follow.

The unit

The Prelude FLNG unit will be 488 m long, and, when fully loaded, will weigh more than 600 000 t. It will be the largest structure ever sent to sea displacing as much water as a fleet of six aircraft carriers. The vessel is to work at the Prelude offshore field 200 km from the Australian coast. The turret for Prelude FLNG is the biggest turret ever built and over 800 workers are involved in its construction. The turret is being built in five modules which when put together will weigh in at 10 500 t. The first steel cutting took place on May 5, 2012. The nearly 100 m mooring turret is a vital element of the vessel and along with four groups of mooring chains and suction pile anchors will constitute the largest system in the world and help the vessel to remain stable in high velocity tropical cyclone territory.

Khamis Juma Buamim, Chairman of Drydocks World and Maritime World, voiced his excitement about a new future in FLNG liquefaction. After welcoming HH Sheikh Ahmed, Mr Buamimn went on to say that offshore gas liquefaction “will lead the way for many new and challenging projects in the years to come."

Speaking specifically of the turret, he said: “the turret is essentially the heart of the mooring system and is an engineering challenge, which needed to be executed with great technical precision. It is a testimony to our enduring engineering capabilities and project management skills that we have achieved this on time and by adhering to the highest possible standards in safety, quality and environment. The project involved meticulous planning and technical finesse in implementation and we have succeeded in raising the bar in Operational Excellence through this project.

Driving a new future

“Such projects help us to take forward a process of changing mind sets and provide new challenges for the future. It helps us exemplify the driving thought behind the undying ‘Can Do’ spirit of Dubai – ‘Don’t think past-Think future, Think opportunities’, which has formed the basis for our business and strategic outlook ” he added.

Drydocks World has extensive experience in building turret structures having built the internal turret for SBM Frade project, two external turrets for Saipem (installed on board FRSU Toscana and FPSO Firenze) and a smaller internal turret for BW Offshore.

Adapted from press release by Ted Monroe

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/25092013/first_prelude_flng_turret_modules_set_sail_for_south_korea/

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