InterMoor completed the decommissioning of Anadarko Petroleum Corp.’s Red Hawk spar in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Red Hawk spar being towed to reefing site. From InterMoor. |
According to InterMoor, Red Hawk is the deepest floating production platform to date to be decommissioned in the Gulf of Mexico and the first to be decommissioned in the “Rigs-to-Reefs” program, which required the spar to be laid down on its side on the seafloor.
To decommission the large spar, work had to be split between Garden Banks, block 876, in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 5200ft, the original spar site, and the reefing site at Eugene Island, block 384, at a depth of 430ft.
To complete the job, InterMoor says it developed the engineering procedures and performed the work to disconnect the mooring lines from the floating facility. InterMoor also ballasted the hull prior to and during the topsides removal and deballasted it to prepare the hull for towing. The company performed the ballasting and deballasting from a nearby derrick barge and then the spar was towed to the reefing site where it was flooded and laid on the seabed in a controlled manner. InterMoor then recovered the mooring lines and assisted with the as-laid survey of the reefing site.
“Through thorough engineering and efficient offshore operations InterMoor enabled Anadarko to facilitate the safe and efficient removal of the platform,” says Dusan Curic, InterMoor project manager. “InterMoor expanded its services to include ballasting and deballasting to allow for a more comprehensive life-of-field solution for its clients.”
In August, Anadarko awarded McDermott International Inc. a contract to supply its Derrick Barge 50 for decommission support of the Red Hawk. McDermott removed mooring lines and provided accommodation and decommissioning support.
Last week, InterMoor announced the completion of two major offshore projects for China Offshore Oil Engineering Corp. including the full mooring system replacement of the Hai Yang Shi You III FPSO in the Panyu field and the installation of a full single-point mooring system in the Enping 24-2 oilfield, which was completed in August.
In March, InterMoor completed decommissioning operations of the Innovator platform in the Gomez field, Mississippi Canyon Block 711, also is the Gulf of Mexico.
Red Hawk in the early days
Anadarko acquired Red Hawk in 2006. Before that, it was operated by Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. with a 50% interest, with partner Devon Energy Corp. (50%). The Red Spar is known as the world’s first cell spar.
Kerr-McGee announced the Red Hawk field’s first production using the Red Hawk cell spar on 19 July 2005. First production was located in 5300ft of water and began from two subsea wells just 24 months after sanctioning. At that time, Kerr-McGee estimated the resource base at 250 billion cu. ft of natural gas and expected it to peak at 120Mcf/d after the second well was placed on production.
The floating production facility was the third-generation of spar systems, all pioneered by Kerr-McGee.
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