Santa Fe's Mobile Arctic Drilling Barge

by G. L. Johnson, SF/Braun, Orange, CA, USA,
A. J. Field, SF/Braun, Orange, CA, USA,
D. G. Whyte, SF/Braun, Orange, CA, USA,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Civil Engineering in the Arctic Offshore

Abstract:

There is a need for mobile units that can operate year-round in shallow Alaskan waters south of the Bering Strait for exploratory drilling and/or early production. Santa Fe has completed a preliminary design for the Mobile Arctic Drilling Barge (MADB). The configuration of the MADB, which is a mobile, steel monopod operating in a bottom-founded mode, is described and the lightship weight, total variable load, and total in-place weight are given. The utility and operation of the unique feature of the MADB, its stability hull, are explained fully. This hull moves vertically and provides stability during the critical operations of ballasting down to, and disengaging from, the seabed. The design criteria, including the maximum operating water depth of 100 feet, ice conditions, ice forces, soil conditions, and wind, wave, and current data, as well as the performance criteria, which include endurance, variable deckload, and soil bearing loads, are also discussed.

Subject Headings: Offshore platforms | Offshore drilling | Barges | Offshore structures | Ice loads | Drilling | Wind waves | Arctic | Bering Sea

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