Woodside Energy continues to set records
Case study: offshore installation Woodside Energy, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, produces some 900 000 barrels of oil equivalent each day and has been operating its landmark Australian project, the North West Shelf (NWS), for almost three decades. It remains one of the world’s premier liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.
The North Rankin Redevelopment Project (NRB), an essential extension of the NWS business, is an example of Woodside’s project development capabilities. A major undertaking on a global scale and one of the most complex developments Woodside had ever undertaken, the A$5 billion project is aimed at recovering low pressure gas from the North Rankin and Perseus gas fields.
Successful use of the float-over method at NRB enabled Woodside to set a new installation record with 24 000-tonne topsides placed on the jacket in open water. The record related to weight and height of the topsides.
Woodside completed piling of the NRB jacket early in 2012, followed by installation of production and pedestrian bridges connecting North Rankin A and North Rankin B platforms. After installation of the topsides, hook-up and commissioning activities commenced.
The 260 metre-long Heerema H-851 barge, the largest oil and gas industry transport barge in the world, was used to transport and install the topsides on the platform’s substructure. The topsides were positioned 100 metres from the North Rankin A production facility and were installed using the float-over method.
Safely delivering this result required the NRB team to overcome some significant challenges, using detailed analysis, disciplined planning, extensive risk analysis, rigorous attention to detail and a commitment to teamwork.