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Title: Designing a year-round production system for offshore Labrador

Journal Article · · Ocean Ind.; (United States)
OSTI ID:6841394

Of the various production schemes under consideration for use in the iceberg-plagued Labrador Sea, two seem technically feasible in the medium term (5-10 years): a quick-disconnect floating platform equipped with an ice-cutting device and a fixed structure mounted on an artificial island or submerged mound. The first alternative would be a seasonal production system relying on a dynamically positioned platform that could be easily disconnected from the riser when threatened by an oncoming iceberg; smaller ice floes would be broken up by the platform's ice cutter. The most feasible fixed-structure plan is to build a conventional platform on an artificial island or, in deeper waters, on a submerged mound. This alternative offers the room needed for the processing and liquefaction facilities required for tanker transport of natural gas. Labrador Sea hydrocarbons will most likely be transported by tankers rather than pipelines until designers devise means of protecting the pipe from iceberg scour and crossing the deep marginal trough.

OSTI ID:
6841394
Journal Information:
Ocean Ind.; (United States), Vol. 15
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English