Boskalis installs huge topside at Qatar’s largest offshore oil field (Photo)

Dutch offshore services giant Boskalis has completed the installation of the central processing platform (CPP) topside at what is said to be Qatar’s largest offshore oil field. 

Semi-submersible heavy transport vessel Forte installed the Gallaf GE CPP topside at its final destination, the Al-Shaheen field, which with a weight of 17,818 tons represents the heaviest cargo ever loaded on the vessel using the skid-on method.

According to Boskalis, the skid-on method involves sliding the CPP topside sideways from the quayside onto the vessel’s deck via a rail. This took place at the HOC yard in South Korea.

The topside installation was carried out using the DP float-over operation in which Forte positioned the CCP topside between the legs of the pre-installed jacket. By ballasting the vessel, the CCP topside was then mated on the jacket.

This project is said to mark Forte’s second DP float-over installation this year as the vessel installed the Jerun A topside in Malaysia earlier this year in the same way.

With 40 existing platforms and up to 430 operational wells, the Al-Shaheen oil field is one of the world’s largest offshore oil fields, located approximately 80 kilometers northeast off the coast of Qatar.

QatarEnergy confirmed plans to boost oil production from the field by about 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) in January 2024 when it disclosed four multibillion-dollar engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract packages, which are part of Project Ru’ya.

While commercial production at the Al-Shaheen field started in 1994, the field underwent significant development to reach an oil production rate of 300,000 bpd in 2007. QatarEnergy has hired McDermott, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Larsen & Toubro Limited, and China Offshore Oil Engineering Co (COOEC) to handle the third phase of Al-Shaheen’s development since North Oil Company took over the field’s operation in July 2017.

The Persian Gulf state’s energy giant aims to develop more than 550 million barrels of oil over five years, encompassing the drilling of more than 200 wells and the installation of a new centralized process complex, nine remote wellhead platforms, and associated pipelines. The first oil is anticipated in 2027.