By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 17 -- Shell Offshore Inc. has let an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to Technip for a production spar hull and mooring system for the Perdido hub project in the Gulf of Mexico 200 miles south of Freeport, Tex.
The contract covers spar hull and mooring system design and fabrication, load out onto a transportation vessel, transportation and quayside delivery at a Gulf of Mexico yard, and design of the steel catenary risers, top tension risers, and umbilicals. The contract value was not disclosed.
Technip's operations and engineering center in Houston will provide the overall project management, and the global engineering for the hull and mooring system, as well as engineering and procurement support for the riser tensioner system. The detailed hull design and fabrication will be carried out by Technip's yard in Pori, Finland.
Shell will operate the hub, called Perdido Regional Host, with a 35% interest. Other interests are Chevron Corp., 37.5%, and BP PLC, 27.5%. The facility will be capable of handling 130,000 boe/d, and it is expected to come on line "around the turn of the decade," Shell said. It will handle production from Great White, Tobago, and Silvertip fields.
Shell plans to moor the regional direct-vertical-access spar in a record water depth of 8,000 ft of water. The common processing hub, on Alaminos Canyon Block 857 near the Great White discovery, will have a drilling and completion rig and will gather, process, and transport production from wet trees as far away as 30 miles. Pipelines from the facility will connect to undisclosed locations in Texas (OGJ, Nov. 6, 2006, Newsletter).
