Though much oil and gas industry focus over the last few years has been rig availability, there is another critical shortage in the industry that needs to be addressed - the shortage of construction and installation vessels.
Recently, a number of companies have made plans to address this need with newbuilds capable of carrying out a broad range of construction and installation activities.
Norway’s MPU Enterprise AS is one of the companies investing to meet this critical need. MPU is a technology branch company that provides heavy lifting, transportation, installation, and removal of heavy offshore structures, as well as drilling, floating production, and storage services.
According to Kolbjørn Høyland, MPU’s managing director, the decision to build a new vessel arose from the company’s evaluation of the marketplace. “The market for offshore lifting and installations is very promising, and the capacity of an aging heavy lifter fleet is limited,” Høyland says.
Decommissioning, particularly in the North Sea was also a consideration. “There is a promising market for decommissioning,” Høyland says. “There are more than 400 platforms to be removed in the North Sea and closer to 4,000 worldwide.”
The Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) was another catalyst. OSPAR states that all platforms, with only a few exceptions, must be removed when production ends.
“The OSPAR agreement was the definite kickoff for the decommissioning market,” Høyland says.
Multi-purpose design
In Dec. 2006, MPU awarded Norway’s Grenland Group an engineering contract for the new semisubmersible concrete vessel, theMPU Heavy Lifter.
TheMPU Heavy Lifter is a multi-purpose buoyancy lifter for use in offshore installations. It is designed to lift by deballasting and can remove topsides from jackets or floating substructures and can install topsides onto jackets or floating substructures. The vessel is also equipped for removing and installing jackets.
TheMPU HL will be the first single lift vessel to enter the market
TheMPU Heavy Lifter’s U-shape houses a set of parallel steel lifting frames that run along the lifting area inside the U. The lifting frames, weighing about 1,000 metric tons (1,102 tons) each, are hinged at the attachment points on top of longitudinal pontoons. The unit has mechanical systems for ballasting, operating the lifting frames, and operating the jacking system, as well as a number of other systems needed to perform safe load transfer and transport to shore.
What makes theMPU Heavy Lifter unique, Høyland says, is that there are no other single lift vessels in the market. “A handful of concepts are on the drawing board, but the MPU Heavy Lifter will be the first one built. It is important to differentiate between single lift vessels, lifting the entire topsides or jacket in one piece by using Archimedes, and the traditional heavy lift crane vessels that lift modules hanging in the crane,” he says.
The new vessel will be able to remove and install intermediate and large topsides and jackets and provide lifting services related to subsea installations and rescue operations. “We also plan to prepare for installing a crane onboard for traditional lifting operations,” Høyland says.
Worldwide application
TheMPU Heavy Lifter is designed to work worldwide, according to MPU.
The unit is designed to be transported on a heavy lift ship, Høyland explains, noting that the vessel is not self-propelled. The unit is equipped with thrusters and a DP system, however, to maintain position during lifting operations.
TheMPU Heavy Lifter has a lifting area of 48 x 63 m (157 x 207 ft). Its design allows it to lift topside weights to 15,000 metric tons (16,535 tons) and jackets up to 25,000 metric tons (27,558 tons). The unit will be able to work in 30 m (98 ft) minimum water depth for lifting operations, Høyland says.
MPU awarded Keppel Verolme BV the contract to build the vessel.
According to Høyland, MPU undertook a comprehensive evaluation process, approaching a number of potential builders.
“Keppel was best suited based on experience, yard facilities, location, schedule/availability, price, and commitment,” Høyland says.
Keppel Verolme will execute the marine outfitting works and build the accommodation block. The yard also will fabricate and carry out steelwork and install equipment for lifting topsides and jackets. For this particular project, Keppel Verolme also will lease its facilities for the construction of the concrete substructure by the owner’s appointed civil contractor.
The yard expects to deliver the semisubmersible platform by early 2009.
MPU hopes to put the new unit to work right away.
“We are primarily building it for the spot market, but there are some large decommissioning contracts to be awarded soon. The most important one is Ekofisk Cat 2,” Høyland says.;
