A challenge for giants

In an unprecedented operation, the Rio Grande Shipyard (Estaleiro Rio Grande) successfully accomplishes the world’s largest coupling of offshore platform modules

The Brazilian shipbuilding industry has just overcome a historic challenge. It has successfully completed the deck mating operation (a process in which the modules or deckbox of the platform is coupled with the hull) for the P-55 semi-submersible platform, one of the largest of its kind ever executed in the world, at the Estaleiro Rio Grande (ERG - Rio Grande Shipyard) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The operation involved lifting the platform’s deckbox - a structure weighing 17 thousand tons - to a height of 45 meters and coupling it with the hull (the lower part of the platform).

For the completion of the deck-box/hull module coupling process, the shipyard’s dry dock was completely flooded for the first time so that the hull could be moved from the port’s access canal into the dry dock’s structure, in the last step prior to the integration of the parts. For around 36 hours, the dry dock structure, which measures 350 meters in length, 130 meters in width, and has a depth of 13.8 meters below sea level, was completely filled with water.

After the filling process, the dock’s floating gate was opened allowing the hull to enter, guided by tugboats.

To avoid contact with the water, the deckbox was raised to a height of over 10 meters for the removal of the construction supports (concrete keel blocks) ? and assembly of protective structures (fenders) ?. Following that, the structure was lifted another 32 meters, for a total height of 45 meters. The next step was the coupling of the modules with the hull, with the dock already emptied.

In the coming months, the modules will be installed and the platform’s systems will be integrated. After this stage has been completed, the P-55 will be transported to the Roncador oilfield in the Campos Basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and is expected to start operating in September 2013. At full capacity, the P-55 will be capable of producing up to 180,000 barrels of oil and six million cubic meters of natural gas per day.

Once it is ready, the P-55 - with over 8.8 thousand m2 of area - will be the largest semi-submersible platform in Brazil.  After it is in place and operating at the Roncador oilfield in the Bacia de Campos (Campos Basin)-RJ, it will be capable of producing 180,000 barrels of oil per day. Petrobrás expects the platform to go into operation in the first half of 2013.

The ERG was inaugurated in October 2010 and has 430,000 square meters of infrastructure for the construction and repair of vessels serving the petroleum industry, such as floating offshore rigs for drilling, production and support. At the ERG alone, four thousand direct jobs are being created.

Besides the P-55, another eight hulls for replicant FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) platforms are being constructed. These platforms are being built for the development of pre-salt layer projects in exploration blocks BM-S-9 and BM-S-11, located in the Bacia de Santos (Santos Basin).

Replicant FPSOs are a new generation of platforms designed according to parameters that aim to simplify projects and standardize equipment. The serial production of eight identical hulls will provide greater speed in construction, economies of scale and, consequently, optimization of costs. Each FPSO will have the capacity to process up to 150 thousand barrels of oil and six million cubic meters of gas daily.

In the area adjacent to the ERG, a second shipyard is being established - the Estaleiro Rio Grande 2 (ERG-2) that belongs to the Ecovix company. This shipyard will manufacture a few of the parts of the replicant FPSO’s hulls, supplementing the present installed production capacity of the ERG. The ERG-2 will also build three drilling rigs which are part of the program of 28 rigs to be built at several shipyards in Brazil.

Petrobrás has exclusivity of use of the ERG for a period of 10 years, as established in the rental agreement.

Quip’s Honório Bicalho Shipyard 
At the Quip company’s shipyard (Estaleiro Honório Bicalho), at the southern end of the Rio Grande Port, work is underway on the P-58 platform which is also an FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) unit. The ship that is being converted into a platform arrived in Brazil in October 2011 coming from Singapore where the hull was adapted for suitability. Work on the P-58 creates around two thousand direct jobs.

Following its completion, the P-58 will be installed in the Campo de Baleia Azul (Baleia Azul Oilfield) in the state of Espírito Santo, about 78 kilometers from the coast, at a water depth of 1,400 meters. The platform will have the capacity to produce 180 thousand barrels of oil per day and to compress six million cubic meters of gas daily.

In addition, the Quip company’s shjpyard will also perform the construction, assembly and integration of the modules with the hull of the P-63 platform, which is being converted at the Cosco Shipyard in China. The unit will be deployed at the Papa-Terra oilfield and has the capacity to produce 140 thousand barrels of oil per day and compress one million cubic meters of gas daily.