World's Tallest Offshore Platform Stands in 1025 Ft of Water

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World's Tallest Offshore Platform Stands in 1025 Ft of Water

Serial Information: Civil Engineering—ASCE, 1979, Vol. 49, Issue 4, Pg. 53-56

Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

During the summer and fall of 1977 and 1978, Shell Oil installed the world's deepest drilling and production platform in water. Located in 1025-ft of water at the Cognac tract 12-miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the platform is also the world's heaviest steel platform (59,000 tons) and has more well slots (62) than any other. The platform is also the first to be fabricated in three sections and joined under water. Shell first installed a base section on the ocean floor, inserted steel piles through pile sleeves in the base section, drove the piles, and then installed the middle section, top section and deck. Steel pipe pins grouted inside the platform legs join the sections together. The article describes the first use of an underwater pile driver for offshore construction, telemetry and computer system used to maneuver and mate platform sections, and painstaking measurement of fabricated sections to ensure proper alignment.

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