Balltec Ltd, the UK based supplier of the MoorLOK™, the world’s most advanced ball and taper mooring connector, has successfully completed the supply and installation of 41 MoorLOK™ subsea mooring connectors (SMCs) for the Total USAN ‘FPSO’ and System ‘O’ projects. The MoorLOKs™ are moored in 3000ft of water off the South East Nigerian coast.
Balltec, who were contracted by Saipem, started the installation of the SMCs in four distinct areas of the USAN project, the FPSO, SPM Buoy, Offloading Lines (OOL) and Back up Lines (BUL) in the first quarter of 2011. This is the single biggest MoorLOK™ project to date and the highest Minimum Breaking Load (MBL) Balltec has worked to since being established in 2004.
The mooring of the FPSO vessel, using 16 off 18,033kN MoorLOK™ connectors started in the first quarter of 2011 and was completed in time for System ‘O’ to be moored in the second quarter. The System ‘O’ contract included the supply of 8 off 10,000kN MoorLOKs™ for the assembly tendons and 4 off 12,000kN MoorLOKs for the top tethers. 4 off 6,000kN MoorLOKs were supplied for back-up lines and the SPM buoy required 9 off 8,000kN MoorLOK connectors.
Extensive testing was carried out on the project, following the requirements from Total, the USAN project operators.
Russell Benson, Managing Director, Balltec Ltd said: “Balltec is proud to have played a significant part in the development of the USAN field. The selection of the MoorLOK™connector for the USAN project has afforded Balltec the opportunity to take the pre-installation testing of the product to a whole new level. With the help of both TOTAL and Saipem we have categorically proven that our connectors are built for the most extreme cases and I truly believe that we have reaffirmed the Balltec MoorLOK™ as the most advanced and cost effective subsea mooring connector on the market.”
[mappress] Press Release, September 14, 2012