Varandey project: features and solutions

Fixed Offshore Ice-resistant Offloading Terminal (FOIROT) of the Varandey Oil Terminal intended to transfer production from the Timan-Pechora province to tankers will be installed in the Barents Sea in autumn 2007.

OOO LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft is the General Contractor for the construction of FOIROT, which was started at its Steel Fabrication Yard in March 2006.

Fixed Offshore Ice-resistant Offloading Terminal of the Varandey Oil Terminal is a unique project. The uniqueness is primary owing to natural environment. The Barents Sea is covered with ice almost all the year round. In winter arctic temperatures drop up to 60 degrees of frost. Onshore construction of FOIROT is not feasible due to shallow coastal zone and persistent onset currents. This shall be set 20 km off the shore to allow for large-capacity tankers of 70,000t dwt to safely approach the terminal for loading.

FOIROT rated for 12 million tons per year will be installed in 17 m of water and linked with onshore tanks by subsea pipeline. The structure of the terminal itself and its octagonal shape are designed such as to withstand maximum ice load. Crude will come to the terminal in heated condition. The system is looped with the shore - when oil is not loaded to tanker it will circulate “from shore to shore” to maintain required temperature in the pipeline. No special cargo pumps are provided at FOIROT – desired pressure will be created at the onshore terminal.

The Base Structure piled to the seafloor supports Topsides consisting of Turret, Helideck, and Offloading Boom. Living quarters are designed to accommodate 12 people. Weight of the Base Structure is over 11,000 mt, the Topsides – 1,000 mt.

Kaliningrad team has an enormous scope of work to complete by the end of 2007. Thus to meet the deadline the Yard placed orders with subcontractors.  Main sections of FOIROT are fabricated by OOO LUKOIL-Kaliningradmorneft, but part of the structures is manufactured in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region. Also local companies contribute to the project, namely Baltsudoservice, Korabel, Tsentr Molulnogo Stroitelstva, Spetsraboty, etc.

Sections of the to-be-constructed terminal are transported to the Steel Fabrication Yard by sea where they will be further assembled. Initially the Designer planned on sectional assembly, but having considered all the factors it was decided to use enlarged structures of 300 t for assembly. For this purpose heavy-duty crane of maximum capacity of 800 t and boom of 81 m was leased.

All welds are full penetration. This welding technique differs greatly from the traditionally applied in shipbuilding and requires specific skills and high qualifications of welders. 

Another innovation is Hydra-Lok® pile swaging system by Oil States. Unlike the D6 Project where piles were connected with the Jacket by cementing, here connection is formed by hydraulic tool. This technology has not been applied in Russia before.