pipes to the onshore processing plant in
Zhuhai. Engineers claim this is economic
as a single platform can process the output
from several nearby oil/gas fields, reducing
the amount of deep-sea piping needed
to transport output to the onshore gas
processing plant.
The construction site, Qingdao, is located
about halfway between Shanghai and
Beijing and is parallel with Seoul – nowhere
near the South China Sea. The massive
topside construction therefore needed
to be transported by CNOOC from
the factory to the middle of the ocean,
thousands of kilometres to the south.
Mega-move
The topside megastructure is larger than
a football field (110m x 77m), 95m tall and
weighs over 30,000 tons. It is the biggest
structure of its kind in Asia and presented
a transportation challenge. Engineers were
scratching their heads to find a way to
transport this megastructure from Qingdao
to the installation site. If too big a barge
was used, it wouldn’t fit at the installation
site. If too small a barge was used, it would
be unable to carry the giant structure.
No suitable barge was available in China
to perform this monumental task. The
mission was essentially moving an entire
factory from land to the water.
Failing to find a suitable barge, engineers
decided to build one themselves. The
reengineering of a new barge to fit with
the megastructure took another six
months of effort.
When it was done, engineers faced
another challenge – a 25mm difference
Sphere
#35
2014
23
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