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Title: Dunbar platform hookup completed in record time

Journal Article · · Oil and Gas Journal; (United States)
OSTI ID:6595371
;  [1]
  1. Total Oil Marine plc, Aberdeen (United Kingdom)

A strategy of maximum onshore work saved Total Oil Marine pc at least 20 million pounds Sterling ($32 million) on construction and commissioning of its Dunbar platform, a major development on the UK continental shelf. The project team's objective at the beginning of detail engineering in October 1991 was to start producing oil and gas before December 31, 1994, a project duration of only 38 months. The Dunbar installation set a record in the North Sea because of the correct strategy defined by Total at the outset of the project and the ambitious intermediate goals and good project control throughout. The major contributing factors that led Total to succeed on Dunbar included: single-lift topsides, high degree of onshore fabrication, high degree of onshore commissioning, good weather, smooth installation, thorough onshore preparation of the offshore campaign, and motivation of the hookup contractor. Of these, the first three were essential. A single topsides lift reduced the design hookup scope, and up to 80% of the commissioning was done in the year. Onshore commissioning allowed for extensive testing of utility, drilling, and process systems and for correcting design shortcomings before going offshore. From the beginning of the hookup, it was also possible to use most of the permanent platform utilities. The paper describes how it was done.

OSTI ID:
6595371
Journal Information:
Oil and Gas Journal; (United States), Vol. 93:13; ISSN 0030-1388
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English