Trans RINA, Vol 153, Part A1, Intl J Maritime Eng, Jan-Mar 2011
Technical features Length: Beam:
Draught: Capacity:
94 m 64.5 m
Operation: 23 m; Survival: 18 m; Transist: 13.4 m; (
incl.Thrusters)
440 bed accommodation, all single bed cabins, or 512 using double bed occupancy
Class: DNV 1A1 Column Stabilized Accommodation Unit (N), HELDK, E0, DYNPOS AUTRO, POSMOOR V ATA , BIS
Cost: 7. 7.1 US$316 million
JACK-UP ACCOMMODATION BARGES INTRODUCTION
Jack-ups also include specialized barges that are similar to an oil and gas jack-up platform but are used as a base for servicing other structures such as offshore wind turbines, long bridges, and of course drilling platforms. One of those services is providing accommodation facilities as a flotel. There are not many units of this type, but one of them is described below.
7.1 (a) Safe Esbjerg
Safe Esbjerg, owned by Prosafe AS, is a triangular jack-up accommodation vessel capable of working in harsh environments in depths of up to 50m.
It was
converted from a drilling jack-up rig built in 1975 to an accommodation/service jack-up in 2005.
→Seismic Survey → E&D drilling → Pre-engineering / concept studies → Hook-up / commissioning → Operation & maintenance → Decommissioning
Their use, in general, is a follows:
70% of its time providing assistance for the repair and maintenance of existing platforms. 20% for
floating production units. 10% for decommissioning.
Flotels can also be used in other areas such as disaster recovery re-commissioning (from hurricane damage for example) and in subsea construction.
Before the financial crisis in 2008, it was expected a continuous demand for flotels as a direct consequence of growth in offshore developments. Reasons:
High oil prices increasing demand to bring in new fields, develop marginal fields and extend the life of existing fields.
The lack of online production capacity which was forcing oil and gas companies to find and produce new fields.
Increasing repair and maintenance work on a growing number of installations in operation. Older fleet (average of 20 years).
New HSE and regulatory requirements. Figure 22: Safe Esberg jack-up
Technical features Length: Beam:
Draught: Cost:
62 m 51 m
4,25 m (operation)
Capacity: 139 Persons Class: DNV 1A1, SESU, MODU Code 2001
- USDm
8. THE MARKET OF OFFSHORE FLOTELS
Offshore Flotels are broadly used in the latter part of an oilfield’s lifecycle, in bold in following scheme:
©2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
After a slowdown in all the offshore sector during the period from late 2008 to 2009, the accommodation market seems to be recovered and has steadily improved since January 2010. There was a general freeze on projects by major oil companies and subcontractors throughout 2008 and 2009 due to (i) low oil prices which
resulted in new projects being
uneconomical; and (ii) the inability to secure debt financing which forced companies to delay (or delay and then cancel) installation, hook up, commissioning, repair and maintenance programs, which is the work where the flotels are ideally intended for. In addition, during the economic crisis, the number and type of vessels bidding for accommodation projects increased as the amount of offshore construction projects waned. This had the effect of temporarily increasing the competition in the industry.
The market is segmented as follows (Ref, 10):
Semisubs: 20 units in total, with average age of 25 years.
Barges. ~100 units in total and ~45 with accommodation capacity exceeding 250 PAX.
A-51
hook-up of new platforms and
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