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ABS GUIDES
MARCO POLO INTO NEW WATERS
Platform sets record for deepest
TLP in the world
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hile Italian merchant Marco Polo helped transform
the world by forging new links between East and West, Anadarko’s
new tension leg platform (TLP) Marco Polo demonstrates
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critical importance of effective communications in the delivery of
new oil recovery records in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Installed in
4,300 feet of water on Green Canyon Block 608 in the Gulf of Mexico
early this year, Marco Polo has set a world record for the
deepest TLP.
Unique third-party approach
ABS has played a significant role in helping Anadarko
breach this new frontier, says ABS Project Manager Luiz Feijo. Importantly,
ABS has helped facilitate classification and regulatory issues for
a third-party project, a rare configuration for owning and operating
a facility, while coordinating submissions and approvals from multiple
contractors involved in the global development of Marco Polo.
Anadarko is 100% operator of the Marco Polo Field and
the TLP, and a joint partnership of GulfTerra and marine contractor
Cal Dive International owns the platform. Of the 39 platforms operating
or under construction in the Gulf, only two are owned and financed
by third parties.
Collaborative communications prevail
Feijo observes that ABS provided leadership in communications
guidance and direction among all the Marco Polo project
partners and contractors, including extensive interface with the
following contractors:
- MODEC, hull design
- Samsung Heavy Industries, hull fabrication
- Alliance Engineering, production topsides design
- Delta Fabrication, living quarters design and fabrication
- Kiewit Offshore Services, topsides fabrication; piles and tendons
fabrication; and assembly of all components prior to load out
- Heerema, piles, tendons and platform installation
“Our project management and surveyors onsite worldwide supported
Marco Polo with suggestions of pragmatic, safe solutions
throughout all project phases,” said Feijo.
Scope of work
Before awarding Marco Polo the class notation
XA1 Floating
Production Installation, ABS coordinated design reviews of the safety
and fire protection systems, piping systems, electrical systems
and overall structural integrity. ABS surveyed the fabrication of
the hull at Samsung Heavy Industries in Koje Island, South Korea,
and the topsides, tendons and foundation piles at the Kiewit Offshore
Services’ yard in Ingleside, Texas.
ABS also is working as the Certified Verification Agency for the
U.S. Minerals Management Service and is surveying and approving
the TLP on behalf of the United States Coast Guard.
Heerema’s heavy-lift barge Hermod installed the
hull and topsides in January 2004 in a single lift. Supporting this
effort, ABS surveyed the installation and will survey the commissioning.
First oil is scheduled for March 2004.
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