North Rankin B installation to set records

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 16 -- The floatover installation of the North Rankin B (NRB) platform topsides on Australia’s North West Shelf will set world weight and water-depth records, says a contractor.

The 23,600-ton topsides will be set on a steel jacket in 413 ft of water. Wood Group’s Mustang calls it the world’s deepest open-water floatover steel jacket.

Woodside Energy Ltd., Australian operator of the North West Shelf Venture, selected Mustang to provide the independent assessment and verification of readiness for the installation.

The NRB is part of a redevelopment project that will recover low-pressure natural gas from North Rankin and Perseus gas fields, extending field life to about 2040, according to Woodside.

The NRB, scheduled for start-up in 2013, will be bridge-linked to the North Rankin A platform 100 m away. The platforms will function as a single integrated facility known as the North Rankin hub.

The NRB topsides will be transported to the field on a 20-m high deck support frame for installation, without cranes, atop the jacket at an elevation of 28 m.

The North Rankin A platform, 135 km northwest of Karratha, Western Australia, can handle 1.815 bscfd of gas produced by 25 wells. North Rankin field was discovered in 1971, Perseus in 1996.