Topsides fabrication is set to begin in August for the world's first spar oil and gas production platform.
Work is to occur under a contract let by Oryx Energy Co., Dallas, to J. Ray McDermott SA (JRM), New Orleans. JRM was formed last Jan. 31, through a merger of McDermott International Inc.'s marine construction business with Offshore Pipelines Inc., Houston.
The deepwater spar platform is to be installed in fall 1996 on the Neptune prospect on Viosca Knoll Block 826 in the Gulf of Mexico (OGJ, Nov. 21,1994, p. 33).
Oryx, Neptune operator, shares interest in the lease 50-50 with CNG Producing Co., New Orleans, a unit of Consolidated Natural Gas Co., Pittsburgh. Neptune lies in about 2,000 ft of water 65 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River and 80 miles south of the Alabama coast.
JRM has assumed the role of McDermott Marine Construction in a group that last year proposed the spar concept to Oryx and CNG as a Neptune development option. Other members of the group are Rauma Offshore Contracting Oy (ROC), Pori, Finland, and Deep Oil Technology Inc. (DOT), Irvine, Calif., a longtime proponent of spars for deepwater production platforms.
OTHER WORK
ROC under a separate contract is to fabricate the 72 ft by 705 ft spar hull at its Pori yard.
In addition to designing and fabricating Neptune spar's topside facilities, JRM's agreement with Oryx calls for it to procure production equipment and related systems to be mounted on the deck.
JRM also is to transport and install major components-including spar topsides, hull, and mooring system and Neptune's oil and gas pipelines. Neptune pipelines are to be installed in summer 1996.
JRM estimates value of the pact at $57 million.
Neptune topsides are to rest atop the structure's long, cylindrical, floating hull, anchored vertically to the sea floor by mooring cables and piles.
Proponents of production applications contend it costs less to construct and install spars than fixed platforms or other types of floating production systems (FPSs). Like other FPSS, production spars can be moved to new offshore locations when a field reaches depletion.
A team composed of Oryx, CNG, McDermott, Rauma Offshore, and DOT last year began defining the scope of work and cost of using spar based production units to develop Neptune. Preliminary engineering and planning in that process trimmed a full year from topsides and hull delivery schedules.
Spar platforms are used in the North Sea as oil storage vessels, but the Neptune project marks the first proposal to construct an oil and gas production spar.
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