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Offshore Drilling and Petroleum Production Practices

Unit 04: Offshore Mobile Units – Part I

Raj Kiran, PhD


Assistant Professor

Disclaimer: This material is created for academic purpose and property of IIT (ISM). It should not
be reproduced or freely distributed in any form.
Content

 Overview
 Types, description, and installation
 Station keeping methods
 Conventional mooring
 Dynamic positioning system

Slide 2
Overview

Classifications of mobile units for drilling & production units Slide 3


Overview

Offshore Mobile Drilling Unit

Slide 3
Overview

Offshore Floating Production Unit Slide 4


Overview
 Bottom-supported units and floating units remain mobile or
floating during relocation
 Bottom-supported units will have its support at the bottom,
or at the seabed, at the time of drilling
 Floating units remains floating even during drilling mode.
 Advantages of Bottom-supported units
 During drilling operation and at the same time can be relocated at any other
place within a relatively short time with greater savings of the cost.

Slide 6
Overview
 Limitation will be the depth.
 Jack-up rigs are quite handy and popular for water depth
(350–400 ft.
 Submersibles have restriction up to a very shallow depth
(50 ft)
 Jack-ups ~50% of the world’s offshore drilling fleet.

Slide 7
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible
Conventional sized barge with columns
high enough to support a platform at a
safe above-water distance.

Usually operate in shallow


water (50 ft. deep)

Lower hulls designed to withstand the


weight and the drilling load.

Slide 8
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible
Totally submerged while
operating

How do we submerge it at the


bottom to rest on sea floor?

Ballasted to rest on the river bottom.

Pontoons – provided both stability


and displacement control.

Slide 9
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible
Stability while ballasting – a critical factor

By attaching pontoons at each of the long ends

One pontoon ballasted until that end of the unit sat on


1 the bottom and after stability was ensured

Other pontoon ballasted until the unit rested on the


2 bottom with topside-up every time

Slide 10
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible
Pontoons

Slide 11
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible
Submersibles fading in recent days

Water-depth restriction – free standing height of the units while


transportation.

One submersible with two hulls


 175-ft water depths.
 Upper hull(Texas’ deck) for crew quarters and equipment
 Drilling performed through slot with a cantilevered structure.
 Lower hull (ballast area) – foundation used while drilling.

Slide 12
Bottom Supported Unit: Submersible

Brought to location Ballasted to sit on sea Deballasted and towed


floor while drilling

Slide 13
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs

Slide 14
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
Components
1 Footings

Spud cans/tanks
Mats

Purpose of footings:
Increase the legs’ bearing area, thereby
reducing the required capacity of the
soil to provide a solid foundation to
withstand the weight
Slide 15
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
Based on the type of footings, jack-up rigs are classified
into two basic categories:

A Independent leg type

B Mat-supported type

Slide 16
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
A Independent leg type
 Separate footing for each leg
 Will operate anywhere currently
available
 Normally used in area of FIRM SOIL,
CORAL, or UNEVEN SEA BED.
 Depends on a platform (spud cans)
at the base of each leg for support.
 Spud cans are circular, square or
polygonal, and are usually small.

Slide 17
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
A Independent leg type: Spud Cans
 Water jets and piping for washing
accumulated material on top of the can
 Drain valves and vents to allow free-
flooding capability
 Largest spud can ~ 56 ft wide
 Bearing pressures ~ 5000 – 6000 psf
 Exception: 10,000 psf in North Sea

Slide 18
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
A Independent leg type: Spud Cans
 More weight required for stability in
softer soil (Preloading)
 Preload weight
 ~ 1/3rd greater than the weight of the
platform + allowed variable load.
 Obtained by pumping water into tanks.
 While installing this load is given and once
the maximum penetration is reached, the
preload water is dumped.

Slide 19
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
B Mat-supported type

• Legs connected to common


support (mat)
• Designed for areas of low soil
shear value (to keep low bearing
pressures)
• Contains buoyancy chambers
• Buoyancy chambers flooded
when the mat is submerged.
• Bearing pressures ~ 500–600 psf

Slide 20
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
B Mat-supported type
Advantage:
 Minimum penetration of the sea bed takes
place (5–6 ft.)
 Requires less leg than the independent jack-up
for the same water depth.
Disadvantage:
 Need for a fairly level sea bed (Maximum sea
bed slope ~1½°)
 Occurs in areas with coral or large rock
formations.
 Uneven bottom can lead to failure

Penetration of 40 ft in an independent leg jack-up Slide 21


Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
Components
2 Legs

Slide 22
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
Components
2 Legs

 Steel structures supporting the hull (when the unit is in the


elevated mode
 Provide stability to resist lateral loads.
 Independent leg units are able to cant (or slant) the legs for
adding strength against overturning in deep water.
 Types
Trussed legs
Cylindrical / Columnar legs
Slide 23
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
2 Legs Trussed legs
 Triangular or square cross-section
with chords and braces.
 Braces – shear capacity
 Chords – axial and flexural
stiffness

Slide 24
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
2 Legs Trussed legs
Racks
 For engaging with the gears or
pinions in the jacking assembly.
 Special high-yield strength steel with
good impact characteristics.
 Larger in size
 Require a larger deck area.

Slide 25
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
2 Legs Cylindrical / Columnar legs
 Hollow steel tubes fabricated from 1½ in. to 2¾ in. thick
structural steel.
 10–12 ft dia. and 225–312 ft length.
 Six pin holes along its length at intervals of 6 ft
 Spaced around the leg at 60° intervals.
 Holes are meant for engaging the pins in the jacking
assembly.
 Legs require less deck area.

Slide 26
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
3 Jacking System / Elevating System

 Used for lifting and lowering the hull


 Types:

Rack-and-pinion type

Electro-hydraulic type

Slide 27
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
3 Jacking System Rack-and-pinion type
 Designed for manual (individual leg) or fully automatic
 Include pairs of pinions to engage a double rack to balance the
spreading forces between the rack-and-pinion gear teeth.
 Provides a console in the control room of the rig with function
switches for independent or simultaneous operation of the legs.
 Each leg has 3 – 4 leg-guide elevating assemblies, one at each
corner of the leg.
 Each assembly includes 3–6 motor gear units
 Electric motor equipped with a spring-loaded brake which
engages automatically when the motors are not energized.
Slide 28
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
3 Jacking System Electro-hydraulic type
 Manual, semiautomatic, automatic, semiautomatic
interlock and automatic interlock
 Contains ram and yoke assemblies, hydraulic pumps, and
electrical control system
 Controlled from a console located in the control house
which includes pump controls, jack controls, function
switches, operation selection switches and pressure
gauges.

Slide 29
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
Components
4 Hull

Slide 30
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs
4 Hull
 Watertight structure to support or house the equipment,
systems and personnel
 When the jack-up unit is afloat, the hull provides buoyancy and
supports the weight of the legs and footings equipment and
variable load.
 Generally built of stiffened plate.
 Configured to efficiently transfer loads acting on the various
hull locations into the legs.
 Axial and horizontal loads are transferred into the legs through
the hull leg interface connections and chords.
 A bulkhead terminates at each leg chord location.
Slide 31
Bottom Supported Unit: Jack-up Rigs

Slide 32
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
1 Transportation

 Depends on the method of its movement


 Methods of Movement: (a) self-propelled, (b) propulsion
assisted, or (c) nonpropelled
 Nonpropelled can be towed by (i) wet tow and (ii) dry tow.
 Wet tow – process of towing by tugboat when the jack-up unit is
afloat on its hull
 Dry tow – process when the whole jack-up unit mounts on the
deck of another vessel as cargo

Slide 33
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
1 Transportation
Wet tow

Field tow Extended Field tow Wet ocean tow


 Towing duration < 12 h  Similar to the field tow  Float move lasting > 12 h
 Corresponds to the  Towing duration >12 h  Jack-up unit is afloat on its
condition where a jack-up  Requires that the unit own hull with its legs
unit is afloat on its hull must always be within a raised or removed and
with its legs raised and is 12-h tow of a safe haven stowed on deck
moved to a very limited should weather
distance deteriorate.
 Prediction of weather and
sea conditions is important
Slide 34
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
1 Transportation
 Towing speeds in calm seas are 4 knots using three 9000 hp tugs
 Towed jack-up rigs more vulnerable to accidents than other mobiles.
Legs extended above deck

Centre of gravity is raised

Unstable condition exists.

For moving long distances, it is recommended to remove the legs and tow
them on deck.

Slide 35
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
2 Arriving on Location
Preparations
 Removing any wedges in the leg guides
 Energizing the jacking system
 Remove any leg securing mechanisms installed for the transit
(transferring the weight of the legs to the pinions).

Slide 36
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
3 Soft-Pinning the Legs
 Also called Standing off location.
 If an independent leg jack-up unit is going to be operated next
to a fixed structure, or in a difficult area with bottom
restrictions, the jack-up unit will often be temporarily
positioned just away from its final working location.
 Coordinate with the assisting tugs
 Run anchor lines to be able to ‘winch in’ to final location
 Power up the positioning thrusters on the unit (if fitted),
 Check the weather forecast for the period of preloading and
jacking up.
Slide 37
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
4 Preloading
 Helps assure the suitability of the sea floor as a foundation.
 Reduces the likelihood of a foundation shift or failure during
a storm.
 Possibility of occurrence of a soil failure or leg shift during
preload operations
 To alleviate the potentially catastrophic results of such an
occurrence
 Hull is kept as close to the waterline as possible without
incurring wave impact.

Slide 38
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
4 Positioning the Platform
Legs on bottom

Jacking crews elevate the drilling floor to the height above wave action
anticipated to be safe for the season and the area.

Unit reaches its operational air gap and jacking system is stopped

Brakes set and the leg locking systems engaged.

Unit is now ready to begin operations


Slide 39
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
4 Positioning the Platform

 Jacking speed at maximum load is ~1 ft/min.


 Leg lengths normally permit from ~40–90 ft of air space
between mean water level and the hull.

Slide 40
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
Installation

Slide 41
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
Installation

Slide 42
Bottom-supported Unit: Jack-up Rig Installation
Installation

Final position of
a jack-up.

Slide 43
Floating Units
 Not only float in transit mode but also during any oilfield
operation like drilling or production.
 Sometimes called Floaters.
 May be grouped as Neutrally Buoyant or Positively
Buoyant.

Slide 44
Floating Units
Neutrally Buoyant
 Buoyant force = Gravity force
 Structures like semisubmersibles, ships or ship-shaped
vessels, barges and spars fall under this category
Positively Buoyant

 Upward buoyant force > downward gravity force


 Structures like TLPs or mini-TLPs fall under this category.

Slide 45
Floating Units

Slide 46
Floating Units: Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit
 Conducive for increased water depth
 Concurrent to the change in floating structures
 Changes with respect to process of drilling (new tools and
equipment).
Difference between fixed and mobile structures

FIXED STRUCTURE MOBILE STRUCTURE

Deck load directly transmitted


to the foundation material Deck loads are supported by the
beneath the seabed through its buoyancy forces of the
typically long, slender steel hull supporting the deck
structures
Slide 47
Bottom Supported Unit: Semi-submersible

Slide 48
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Multilegged floating structures with a large deck
COMPONENTS

1 Deck

2 Bracing

3 Stability Column

4 Pontoon

Interconnected legs at the bottom underwater with


horizontal buoyant members called pontoons
Slide 49
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Earlier semisubmersibles
resemble the ship form
with twin pontoons
having a bow and a stern
 Configuration desirable
for relocating the unit
from drilling one well to
another either under its
own power or being
towed by tugs.

Early semisubmersibles also included significant diagonal cross-


bracing to resist the prying and racking loads induced by waves.
Slide 50
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Development of semisubmersible
concept
1. Introduction of heavy transport
vessels that permit dry tow of
MODUs,
2. Need for much larger units to operate
in deep water
3. Need to have permanently stationed
units to produce from an oil and a gas
field

Next generation semisubmersibles typically appear to be


a square with 4 columns and the box- or cylinder-shaped
pontoons connecting the columns.
Slide 51
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Box-shaped pontoons for
eliminating sharp corners for
better station-keeping.
 Diagonal bracing often
eliminated to simplify
construction.

Slide 52
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Various designs of semisubmersibles

Triangular design in
the Sedco series

Four longitudinal pontoons


on the Odeco series

French-designed Pentagone
rig with five pontoons

Slide 53
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 At least two floatation states
 Afloat on the columns
 Afloat on the pontoons (raised at the surface of the water)
 While the structure is raised or not semi-submerged, the pontoons
are the principal elements of floatation and stability.
 Pontoons or hulls are used as ballast compartments to achieve the
necessary drilling draft.

Slide 54
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Deck provides the working surface for most of the drilling
functions along with other auxiliary functions.
 Space frame bracing - Weight transferred to the columns
through the structural connections.
 Bracing systems - expensive to build and are a costly
maintenance item regarding inspections and repairs.
 Permit drilling to be carried out in very deep water beyond 1000
ft of water depth
 Held on location either by a conventional mooring system or by
dynamic positioning.

Slide 55
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
 Motion that causes problems for the semisubmersible is heave or
the vertical motion.
 Because of forces on the drill string when the vessel is heaving,
these semisubmersibles with a low heave response are
considered to be the most suitable.
 Heave is generated in response to exposed waterplane and is
expressed as
𝟐𝛑
𝐓=
𝐠𝐭
𝐝

T = time in seconds; t = tons per foot immersion;


and d = displacement in tons.

Slide 56
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
𝟐𝛑
𝐓=
𝐠𝐭
𝐝
 Smaller the waterplane area, or ‘t’, the lower the heave response.
 Achieved in the semisubmersible by submerging the lower
pontoons and floating at the column or caisson level.
 With the loss of the waterplane area to reduce the heave
response, a reduction in stability follows.

Designer must reach a compromise between acceptable heave


response and adequate stability

Slide 57
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
Propulsion

Large initial expense which can be recovered in a reasonable


period if mobility is required.

1. Self-propelled semisubmersibles have shown a speed of more than 10


knots in calm sea.
2. One of the newest semisubmersibles using tugboats with a nominal
water depth rating of 2000 ft has a towing speed in calm sea of l0
knots.
3. Some of the early semisubmersibles were rated at towing speeds of 3
knots.

Slide 58
MODU: Semisubmersible Platform
Preparatory operations before the drilling rig arrives on location
1. Bottom soil conditions determined
2. Prevailing winds and sea states known
3. Surveys made and buoy markers placed for exact anchor locations
4. Equipment conditioned and supplies inventoried
5. Lines of communication established: operating company, drilling
contractor, anchor handling boat and special crew

 After its arrival, the anchor should be placed using a conventional


mooring method following the spread mooring pattern.
 Dynamically positioned semisubmersibles in deeper water
 After properly stationing, preparation for starting the drilling operation
should be made.
Slide 59
MODU: Drill ships
Shipshape vessel used for drilling purposes

Slide 60
MODU: Drill ships
Shipshape vessel used for drilling purposes

 Most mobile, but least productive.


 Configuration that permits mobility results in very bad drilling capabilities
 Used extensively to bridge the gap between the jack-up and the
semisubmersible.
 Drillship that has drilled in the deepest water, over 1000 ft.
 Heave – major problem when using a floating vessel.
 Develops large heave response compared to the semisubmersible, because
of its surface contact with the sea

Slide 61
MODU: Drill ships
Shipshape vessel used for drilling purposes

 By means of stabilizing tanks and other methods, to reduce roll on drill


ships but heave cannot be reduced.
 Subsequent increase in ‘rig downtime’ or ‘lost’ time occurs
 Bigger demand for the use of compensation devices
 Held on location by conventional mooring system or dynamic positioning
 New system for positioning: Turret System

Slide 62
MODU: Drill ships
Turret System

 Contains a bearing system that allows the vessel to rotate around the fixed
geostatic part of the turret attached to the mooring system.
 Can be combined with a fluid transfer system that enables connection of
subsea pipelines to the vessel

Slide 63
MODU: Drill ships
Advantages

 Proven deepwater capability


 Capacity to transport much larger loadings of drilling supplies
 Faster travel time to remote locations
 Self-propelled (no need for tug)
Disadvantages

 Can only be considered for use in areas of small wave heights and low
wind velocities

Slide 64
Floating Production Unit
 Borrowed the concept for drilling engineers
 Viable option for deepwater exploration
 Different types used for oil and gas production

Slide 65
Floating Production Unit
 Differ from fixed structures with respect to concept of use of buoyancy
 Common elements

1 Hull

2 Top Sides

3 Mooring

4 Risers

Slide 66
Floating Production Unit
1 Hull
 Steel enclosure that provides water displacement
 Shapes: Ship shapes, pontoons and caissons, or spar

2 Top Sides
 Decks:
 All the production equipment used to treat the incoming well streams
 Pumps and compressors needed to transfer O&G to their next destinations
 Drilling & Workover equipment
 Accommodations
 Export lines

Slide 67
Floating Production Unit
3 Mooring
 Combination of steel wire or synthetic rope with chain
 Steel tendons

4 Risers
 Steel tubes that rise from the sea floor to the hull
 Transports the well production from the sea floor up to the deck
 Oxymoron export risers: from the deck down to pipeline on the sea floor

Slide 68
Floating Production Unit: TLP

Slide 69
Floating Production Unit: TLP
 Buoyancy of a TLP comes from a combination of pontoons and columns.
 Vertical tendons from each corner of the platform to the sea floor
foundation piling hold the TLP down in the water.
 Vertical risers connected to the subsea wells heads directly below the TLP
bring oil and gas to dry trees on the deck.
 Dry trees on the deck control the production flow through the conductor
pipes.
 Can receive production from risers connected to remote subsea wet tree
completions.
 Most TLPs have subsea riser baskets, structural frames that can hold the
top end of risers coming from subsea completions.

Slide 70
Floating Production Unit: Monocolumn/Mini TLP

Slide 71
Floating Production Unit: Monocolumn/Mini TLP
 Used in shallower water or for smaller deposits in deepwater, and where
no more drilling is planned.
 Name comes from the underwater configuration of the floatation tanks, a
large central cylinder with three star-like arms extending from the bottom.
 The cylinder measures about 60 ft in diameter and 130 ft in height.
 The arms reach out another 18 ft.
 Tendons secure the substructure to the sea floor, in this case two from each
arm.
 The mooring system, risers and topsides are similar to any other TLP,
except for the modest sizes.
 Absence of drilling equipment on board helps lower the weight of the
topsides and allows for this scaled-down version.

Slide 72
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
Floating Production Storage and Offloading

Slide 73
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
Floating Production Storage and Offloading
 Ship-shaped structure with several different mooring systems
 Do not provide a platform for drilling wells or maintaining them.
 Do not store natural gas, but if gas comes along with the oil, facilities are
onboard and the FPSO separates it.
 If there are substantial volumes, they are sent back down a riser for
reinjection in the producing reservoir or some other nearby consumer.

Slide 74
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
Where is it used??
 At sea where no pipeline infrastructure exists
 Where weather is no friend, such as offshore Newfoundland or the
northern part of the North Sea
 Close to shore locations that have inadequate infrastructure, market
conditions, or local conditions that may occasionally not encourage
intimate personal contact, such as some parts of West Africa

Slide 75
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
Principal requirements that drive the size of a typical FPSO:
 Sufficient oil storage capacity to take care of the shuttle tanker turnaround
time
 Sufficient space on the topsides for the process plant, accommodation,
utilities and so on
 Sufficient ballast capacity to reduce the effects of motions of process plant
and riser systems
 Space for the production turret (bow, stern or internal)

Slide 76
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 As an FPSO sits on a station, wind and sea changes can make the hull want
to weathervane, turn into the wind like ducks on a pond on a breezy day
 As it does, the risers connected to the wellheads, plus the electrical and
hydraulic conduits, could twist into a Gordian knot.

Slide 77
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 Two approaches deal with this problem, that is, the cheaper way and the
better way, depending on the ocean environment.
 In areas of consistent mild weather, the FPSO moors, fore and aft, into the
predominant wind.
 On occasions, the vessel experiences quartering or broadside waves, sometimes
causing the crew to shut down operations.

Slide 78
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 In harsher environments, the more expensive FPSOs have a mooring
system that can accommodate weathervane.
 Mooring lines attach to a revolving turret fitted to the hull of the FPSO.
 As the wind shifts and the wave action follows, the FPSO turns into them.

Slide 79
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 Oil moves from the reservoir to the FPSO via the turret
 Goes through the processing equipment
 Then to the storage compartments.
 Shuttle tankers periodically relieve the FPSO of its growing cargo.
 Some FPSOs can store up to 2 million barrels.

Slide 80
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 Mating an FPSO to the shuttle tanker to transfer crude oil calls for one of
several positions.

Slide 81
Floating Production Unit: FPSO
 Mating an FPSO to the shuttle tanker to transfer crude oil calls for one of
several positions.
 The shuttle tanker can connect to the aft of the FPSO via a mooring hawser and
offloading hose.
The hawser, a few hundred feet of ordinary marine rope, ties the shuttle tanker to
the stern of the FPSO and the two-vessel weathervane together about the turret.
 The shuttle tanker can moor at a buoy a few hundred yards off the FPSO.
Flexible lines connect the FPSO through its turret to the shuttle buoy and then to
the shuttle tanker.
 Some shuttle tankers have dynamic positioning, allowing them to sidle up to the
FPSO and use their thrusters on the fore, aft and sides to stay safely on station,
eliminating the need for an elaborate buoy system.
The shuttle tanker drags flexible loading lines from the FPSO for the transfer.

Slide 82
Floating Production Unit: FDPSO
Floating, Drilling, Production, Storage and Offloading
 Attributes of an FPSO plus a drillship or a semisubmersible to do it all in
deepwater.
 Technologies still in the nascent stage, are motion and weathervane
compensation systems for the drilling rig.

Slide 83
Floating Production Unit: FSO
Floating Storage and Offloading
 This specialty vessel stores crude from a production platform, fixed or
floating, where no viable alternatives for pumping oil via pipeline exist.
 Always had a former life as an oil tanker and generally have little or no
treating facilities onboard.
 As with the FPSO, shuttle tankers visit periodically to haul the produced oil
to market.

Slide 84
Floating Production Unit: FSO
Floating Production System
 FPS can have a ship shape or look like a semisubmersible or TLP, with
pontoons and columns providing buoyancy.
 Either way, the FPS stays moored on station to receive and process oil and
gas from subsea wet trees, often from several fields.
 After processing, the oil and gas can move ashore via export risers, or the
gas can go into reinjection and the oil to an FSO.

Slide 85
Floating Production Unit: SPAR
 Spar ~ nautical term for booms,
masts and other poles on a sailboat,
spars exhibit the most graceless
profile of the floating systems.
 An elongated cylindrical structure,
up to 700 ft in length and 80–150 ft in
diameter,
 Floats like an iceberg – it has just
enough freeboard to allow a dry
deck on top.
 Mooring system uses steel wire or
polyester rope connected to chain on
the bottom.

Slide 86
Floating Production Unit: SPAR
 The polyester has neutral buoyancy in
water and adds no weight to the spar,
eliminating having to build an even
bigger cylinder.
 Because of its large underwater profile,
the huge mass provides a stable
platform with very little vertical motion.
 To ensure that the centre of gravity
remains well below the centre of
buoyancy (the principle that keeps the
spar from flipping), the bottom of the
spar usually has ballast of some
heavier-than-water material like
magnetite iron ore.

Slide 87
Floating Production Unit: SPAR
 Because of the large underwater
profile, spars are vulnerable not
only to currents but also to the
vortex eddies that can cause
vibrations.
 The characteristic strakes (fins that
spiral down the cylinder) shed
eddies from these ocean currents,
although the strakes add even more
profile that calls for additional
mooring capacity.

Slide 88
Floating Production Unit: SPAR
Components of a Production Spar

 Deck
 Hard tank
 Midsection (steel shell or truss
structure)
 Soft tank

Slide 89

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