Buoyant tower Corvina unit sails for Peru

Aug. 7, 2012
The hull and topsides of what the builders call the world’s first buoyant tower drilling and production platform have been loaded out and sailed away from the construction site at Nantong, China.

The hull and topsides of what the builders call the world’s first buoyant tower drilling and production platform have been loaded out and sailed away from the construction site at Nantong, China.

The CX-15 platform, built by Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd., is en route to Corvina oil field operated by BPZ Energy offshore Peru (OGJ Online, Mar. 5, 2012).

The platform can support production of 12,200 b/d of oil and 12.8 MMscfd of natural gas and injection of 3,500 b/d of water.

It also can support a drilling rig with 24 well slots.

Water depth in the Corvina area averages 200 ft.

The hull, designed and engineered through a joint venture between Wison affilate Horton Wison Deepwater and GMC Ltd., has four ring-stiffened, connected cylindrical cells and a central suction pile. The cells are 8.4 m in diameter and 60.1 m long. Total hull length, with the suction pile, is 69.9 m.

The unit does not require a derrick barge for installation.

The tower weighs 2,500 tons, and the three-level topsides facility weighs 1,500 tons. Audubon Engineering and GMC Ltd. designed the topsides.