Northern yards chasing spoils of upcoming platform projects

Stacking of the main Britannia production and weather decks in March at TJB's Port Clarence yard.

Although all field developments are welcome, most offshore construction yards cannot live on floating production alone. Regular platform jobs are also needed to maintain a large workforce.

For years the Northern yards have been mourning the demise of big UK sector projects, but there are at least five new ones about to be launched:

Elf's high pressure/high temperature Elgin and Franklin development in the central North Sea will involve two wellhead platforms, with the Elgin one bridge-linked to a central production and utilities platform - possibly a TGP 500 jack-up.
In the same area, Shell's Shearwater and Puffin Fields could share a new pipeline with Elgin and Franklin: bids are thought to be out already for the 2,500-tonne Shearwater wellhead jacket.
BP's Bruce Phase II project is being chased by various UK/international consortia, with one possibly picking up the combined package of a 2,500-tonne jacket, 2,000-tonne topsides, a bridge and four piles.
Amec Process and Energy is thought to be working on a FEED contract to develop the southern sector of Chevron's Alba reservoir: this may call for a new platform with long-reach wells bridge-linked to the existing Alba North facility.
The concept for BP's giant Clair oilfield off the Shetlands could depend on the outcome of an extended well test currently in progress: a floater is thought to be favourite, but the waters are not too deep for a platform.

Current workload

The bigger yards on Tyneside and Teesside have varying conventional workloads at present. Amec has fewest gaps in its schedule short-term: current work includes the 700t gas injection module for Phillips' Judy platform; the 14,000-tonne topsides for the ETAP Marnock processing platform; and the process module and module support frame for Phillips' Ekofisk 2/4J platform.

Trafalgar John Brown at Teesside, now under Kvaerner's management, has begun fabricating the triangular-shaped M3 flare boom for the Britannia gas condensate development. This will be one of the biggest flare booms ever built, weighing 720 tonnes and measuring 12 metres by 12 metres by 122 metres long. It will include a flare tip platform and equipment support deck, and will be constructed in five sub-assembiles before being joined together for commissioning and load-out.

The boom should sail out next August with the integrated deck, also being built at the Port Clarence yard under the direction of the Britannia Topsides Alliance: SLP's site across the river is contributing the drilling module. The deck is a colossus even by old North Sea standards, measuring 93.5 metres long, 40 metres wide and 22.5 metres high. Lift weight will be over 11,000 tonnes.

TJB, as an Alliance member, is paid a lump sum for certain fixed costs and will be reimbursed for direct costs such as labour, but it has also been set a performance-based incentive. The Alliance as a whole will share the profits gained from reducing the £390 million CAPEX figure.

The deck is thought to be around 60% complete currently: labour levels at Port Clarence will peak at 800 as fit-out activity steps up. The complete topsides is due to be out on the field by early autumn 1997, to prepare for first gas in the second half of 1998.

Britannia's joint operators (BOL) shared an investment with TJB into a new angled quay at Port Clarence where the river bends. This allows large barges to draw up alongside and transport big decks: previously, barges had to struggle in end-first.

TJB has no work pencilled in after Britannia, and Kvaerner's plans for the site have not yet been published. SLP needs a new jacket contract to replace the two recently completed for Arco's Trent/Tyne development. Outside the UK sector, it has been bidding for Ekofisk bridges and flare booms via a Norwegian contractor.

McNulty revives

McNulty is creeping back into the top flight of fabricators following the award last year of its biggest topsides contract ever: the two-level deck for the Texaco normally unmanned Erskine platform, and a 1,300-tonne process module for Amoco's Lomond platform, which will control Erskine. According to proposals manager Doug Cambers, Mcnulty got Texaco's vote beacuse "they liked our flexibility: we're a private yard with not too many set ideas".

For the first-time, McNulty is working in a risk-reward alliance: the other members are Texaco, Kvaerner H&G, AOC International and Seaway Heavy Lifting. Payment is based on gas production targets being reached by a certain date: the alliance will share in set proportions savings achieved from the £290 million budget.

First steel was cut last August: the deck and process module are currently 60% complete and should be finished by the end of March. Erskine's deck will include a temporary safe refuge and chemical injection facilities, while the Lomond module has separation, dehydration, compression and metering equipment. To cope with the high pressure gas (up to 15,000psi), super duplex 33 stainless steel is being used in places, with some pipes up to 35mm thick.

McNulty's deepwater quay will allow the Stanislav Yudin to berth alongside to remove the modules for installation next year. First gas is due in October 1997.