The hull column construction of Octabuoy, being built for American ATP OIL & GAS, is nearly complete in the COSCO Qidong Offshore Base. Octabuoy, the octagonal semi-submersible drilling unit, is an FDPSO semi-submersible drilling production storage platform.
Its structural weight is about 23,114 tonnes, including the octagonal pontoons, 4 columns, and a riser platform, among others.
For this project, the hull column section below 46.6 m has already been successfully launched. This time, COSCO Nantong Shipyard has been building the hull column section from 46.6 m to 65.9 m. However, its cylindrical structure bought the yard a great deal of challenges with the construction and scaffolding erection. In order to meet the special requirements of scaffold erection during the fabrication of hull blocks, COSCO Nantong technical center worked out a detailed scheme of scaffolding erection, which laid a solid foundation for the smooth progress of hull column fabrication. When these hull column blocks are completed, they will be erected with the hull columns previously launched.
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Source:Cosco Shipyard, March 1, 2011;