Case Study

High Efficiency Semi Submersible

High Efficiency Semi

State-of-the-art design of this deepwater semi-submersible benchmarks future builds

The Challenge

In 2015, plummeting oil prices made it cost prohibitive to undertake deepwater developments using current designs and methodologies. So our customer decided to challenge the norm and look for an economical way to continue to produce oil in the deepwater.

The project will represent a significant contribution to the continued growth in the Gulf of Mexico

The Solution

In 2018, a final investment decision was announced with forward looking break-even price estimated to be less than USD$35 per barrel for the deepwater development. This is a great achievement from our client and Worley who collaboratively redesigned the project, leading to the reduction of more than 70 per cent from the original concept.

The Results

Heritage Jacobs ECR, now part of Worley, designed a lightweight, expandable topside that is capital efficient. A conventional approach for topsides would typically have been a modular design, requiring multiple lifts during construction and installation. The new design, however, was cheaper to build and install because it only required a single lift.

Heritage WorleyParsons and Intecsea were responsible for the design of the hull, hull system and topside main steel. Our teams worked on simplifying the design and reducing the overall weight of the semi-submersible.