Giant Jacket Leaves Vlissingen
Heerema Fabrication Group is delivering the largest offshore jacket ever designed and built in the Netherlands to the Statoil Valemon platform in the North Sea. The 160m jacket, weighing 9,640 t, will leave the Port of Vlissingen in the Netherlands on 26 May. It is also the heaviest jacket to be installed by the world’s largest crane vessel the Thialf.
Valemon field is one of the largest North Sea fields yet to be developed. The gas and condensate field is 160km west of Bergen, Norway. The jacket project began in 2009 when operator Statoil contracted Heerema company HFG Engineering Europe to develop the front-end engineering design. HFG Engineering Europe specialises in jacket design and has a long history of jacket projects. According to Cees Spaans, VP Technology: “Weight is the key challenge in designing this jacket. We are right at the limits of crane capacity.”
The installation at 133m depth will be completed in June by the world’s largest crane vessel the Thialf. Operated by Heerema Marine Contractors, the vessel has 2 x 7,000 t capacity cranes. Pre-drilling is expected to take two years. In May 2011 Samsung Heavy Industries in Korea began constructing the 15,000t topside, due for delivery in 2014 or 2015 with the field beginning production a year later.
Photo: Vincent Vinkoert, Yellow & Finch