Doedijns recently received an order to supply the complete Upending Control System (UCS) for the Gina Krog launch jacket currently being fabricated at the Heerema yard in Vlissingen, The Netherlands.
Weighing 17.000 tons with a height of 142 meters, a footprint of 60 x 50 meters and a top of 40 x 30 meter, the Gina Krog jacket is the largest launch jacket ever built at Heerema Fabrication Group’s Vlissingen yard. The jacket will be ready for sail away in April 2015.
With the advent of the very large platforms developed for offshore oil use today it is no longer a matter of simply opening a few valves and lifting the top of the platform with a derrick barge to upend it, Doedijns says.
The sheer weight of these structures (17.000 tonnes in the case of the Gina Krog jacket) is beyond the capacity of the largest offshore crane ships operating today.
Even with a fleet of large lift cranes, the coordination and perfect sea conditions required would make a lift-flood method impractical and very expensive.
Because of the large-size and cost of these platforms which must be set accurately in place under less than ideal sea conditions, much effort is required to design, detail, construct and operate reliable and versatile flooding systems.
Doedijns will supply the complete Upending Control System which includes a Hydraulic Power Unit including control panels to control the flooding and venting valves, an umbilical and reeler, hosing and valves and actuators.
Doedijns has gained in-depth knowledge of UCS’s and has supplied a number of systems over the years. A UCS can also include a Deck Control Centre (DCC) and Umbilical Interface Panel in the form of a pressure capsule.
The Upending Control System will be delivered to Heerema Vlissingen in Q3/2014. The Gina Krog jacket is being built for Norway’s Statoil Petroleum ASA. The jacket is destined for the Gina Krog field development in the Norwegian central part of the North Sea.
Doedijns Business Development Manager EMEA, Martijn Schols , said: “This project is an example of the complex solutions we provide to our clients. Projects like this allow us to demonstrate our innovation and leadership in control automation and process packages whilst consolidating our position in the marketplace.”