Technip designs, constructs and installs in deep or ultra deepwater, floating platforms for the production and processing of oil or gas. These floating platforms are anchored at the offshore production site and are mainly of two types: those designed for developments with wet trees, and those using dry trees.

Technip holds proprietary technologies for the fabrication of platforms, including the Spar, the type most commonly used in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, Technip has the capabilities to design and construct FPSO units.

 Areas of activity
  • Production facilities
  • Design, fabrication, installation and commissioning of offshore platforms
  • Dry completion units
  • Topsides
  • Semi-submersible platforms
  • FPSO’s
Technip solutions are based on standard technologies and are also supported by a suite of proprietary innovations, results of a sustained R&D effort combined with more than 25 years of operational experience in all regions of the world.

Proprietary technologies:
  • Spar (Truss and Cell Spar)
  • EDP

( « Floaters & Fixed Facilities » - 1.2 Mo –PDF)
 

The SPAR is a deepwater production and/or drilling platform. The structure comprises a hull with a circular cross-section that sits vertically in the water, stabilized by a midsection structure hanging from the hard tanks. If necessary, stability may be supplemented by solid ballast placed in compartments at the keel. The vessel is held in place by a taut catenary mooring system, providing lateral station keeping. The SPAR platform allows ‘dry-tree’ technology, where the wellhead equipment is principally located on the platform rather than on the seabed, reducing the cost and time involved in common maintenance work.

Technip has engineered 12 out of the 15 Spars installed in the Gulf of Mexico, and is currently building its thirtheen Spar.

Furthermore, Technip designed and installed the first-ever Spar platform outside the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Malaysia.

 

Semi-submersible floating platforms were conceived as a response to the oil industry’s interest in seeking potential oil resources in deep water. The main advantages of this type of platform compared to a more conventional floating platform (vessel) are that they are very stable during operations and the deck surfaces are adapted to receive the type of equipment required for drilling and or production operations.

One of the largest semi-submersible production platforms ever built, and the first assembled by Technip, has been installed off the coast of Brazil, for the development of the Roncador field in the Campos basin. The mating of the 17,500-tonne hull with the 25,000-tonne topsides was completed for the first time ever in open but protected seas close to Rio de Janeiro in June 2006. This operation, which was carried out successfully, was one of the most delicate phases of the project. The platform is now installed at a water depth of 1,800 meters and went into production in the second half of 2007.
A contract for a second similar platform (P-51) was awarded to Technip in May 2004. It will be installed offshore Brazil in 1,255 meters of water and should start production during the first half of 2008.

 
 

In addition to the large fixed and semi-submersible platforms described above, Technip is also active in the design and installation of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Systems (FPSO). These systems, in which production and storage facilities are housed in a ship hull, are appropriate for developing large deposits in deep or ultra deepwaters, in order to start early production for operators’ needs, and also adapted to regions where few subsea export infrastructures exist such as in West Africa or offshore Canada, in Newfoundland.