OTC 19110

Execution of a Major Gas Development in the Landlocked Caspian Sea

P.A. Thomas and P. Kergustanc, Technip

Copyright 2007, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference held in
Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 30 April3 May 2007.
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Abstract
The Shah Deniz high-pressure gas platform development in
the Azerbaijan sector of the landlocked Caspian Sea required a
unique execution plan, the key components being:
Selection of a production jack-up for a continuous
operational life of up to 30 years
Fabrication of major components outside of the
Caspian
Transport of major components as self floating strips
towed through a canal network into the Caspian Sea
Assembly in Azerbaijan
Reactivation of a largely abandoned construction yard
The use of the worlds largest skirted spud cans with
their
associated
challenges
of
fabrication,
transportation and connection using a unique assisted
pendulum methodology
Installation of foundation utilizing a novel controlled
punch-through technique
This paper describes the overall execution plan and the key
technical challenges that the project team successfully
overcame.
Introduction
At the start of the development planning for the Shah Deniz
gas production platform, all available installation facilities
(crane vessels and transport barges) in the Caspian, along with
construction yards in Azerbaijan, were fully committed to a
series of offshore oil production platforms. Consequently, the
design brief for the Shah Deniz platform included the
requirement that it should not have any impact on those
facilities. The result was the selection of a self-installing jackup production facility with an execution plan based on
maximizing the out-of-country construction coupled with
transportation of large self-floating strips into the landlocked
Caspian via a canal network for final assembly in-country. It

also included re-activating a largely abandoned in-country

construction yard (Zykh).
The selected platform concept is a TPG 500 which totalled
32,500 tonne (t) (36,000 short tons) dry weight in its final
configuration during the sail-away to site and was successfully
installed in April 2006 (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Shah Deniz platform installed April 2006

This paper presents the projects unique execution plan and
outlines the major technical challenges associated with it. Key
steps in the project execution were:
1

Out-of-country (Singapore) fabrication of the hull

strips incorporating topside process, utility and
ancillary facilities including the living quarters
Transportation from Singapore to Baku (Fig. 2):
Loading of the initial 4 strips onto the Mighty
Servant 3 (MS3)
Offloading of strips at Kerch
Tow of the strips through the canal network to
the Caspian and on to Baku
Separate shipping of the last strip (strip 0 wellbay & manifolds)
In-country (Baku) assembly and completion:
Hull strips mating in a floating dry dock
Skidding of the drilling equipment set (DES)
onto the platform and its integration
Mating of the last strip sections (strip 0)
Spud cans the largest ever in-country fabrication
and transportation to the connection site

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Innovative platform installation

Foundations connected to the platform utilizing a
novel assisted pendulum concept.
Final positioning, penetration of the spud cans
skirts and elevation to final air gap

Tow across Sea of

Azov to Rostov
Float-off
operation

Canal tow from

Rostov to Astrakhan
Tow across
Caspian Sea from
Astrakhan to Baku

Strip transport
on semi-sub
vessel

Strip load out

in Singapore

Fig. 2: Strip transportation route from Singapore to Baku

Concept selection and associated technical
challenges
For the development of the Shah Deniz gas field operated by
BP in Azerbaijan, the difficulties of access to the landlocked
Caspian Sea and the saturation of the in-country construction
yard and naval facilities was critical in arriving at the concept
selection, a Technips TPG 500 self-installing jack-up drilling,
production and quarters platform. The in-country facilities
were fully stretched by the development of the Azeri, Chirag
and Gunashli (ACG) oil fields which are also operated by BP.
The lack of construction capacity in-country led to a concept
selection based the delocalization of a major part of
fabrication (approximately half of the total construction hours)
outside the Caspian Sea. This was coupled with re-activating
an effectively abandoned construction yard for the in-country
work (Zykh, which is owned by Azerbaijans state oil
company SOCAR and operated by Technip Marine Offshore
Limited). The lack of the availability of marine equipment set
another criterion: self-installation.
The compatibility of the TPG 500 concept with a high
degree of modularization, construction in a series of self
floating strips and its capacity for self-installation made it
possible to answer the field partners requirement for a
development plan that would not impact on ACG, yet would
deliver a fast development of the field.
The initial studies evaluating the possibility of employing
the TPG 500 concept were undertaken by the operator in 2001.
The outcome of the concept selection process and follow-on
definition engineering resulted in a contract award to Technip
in April 2003 and the platform was installed on site in April
2006, only 18 days after the sailing from the Zykh yard in
Baku.

The TPG 500 platform concept is based on the principle of

a jack-up, a technology which is widely used in the oil and gas
industry for shallow water drilling rigs. Like a conventional
jack-up, it uses three legs of a lattice structure supporting a
hull on which the production, drilling and quarters (PDQ)
units are installed. The platform floats on its buoyant hull for
transport to site and then lowers its legs to the seabed and lifts
the hull out of the water using its own jacking systems. This
not only results in self-installation, but also permits equipment
integration and pre-commissioning at the construction site
which minimizes offshore hook-up and commissioning.
However, unlike a jack-up drilling rig, a production platform
has to remain on site for the full production life of the field, up
to 30 years in the case of Shah Deniz. Hence, a production
jack-up must fully comply with fixed platform design codes
and all of the other requirements of a major production
facility, particularly safety aspects. It is compliance with these
requirements that sets the TPG 500 concept apart from other
jack-up designs used for drilling rigs.
The TPG 500 platform concept had already proved its
reliability in the North Sea, on the Harding field (also operated
by BP) and on the Elgin-Franklin development operated by
Total.
The Harding platform has a deck dry weight of 17,000 t
supported on legs totalling 5,500 t, was built in South Korea
and was installed in January 1996 on a concrete oil storage
base which allows the temporary storage of 500,000 bbl of oil.
The Elgin process, quarters and utility (PUQ) platform is
the largest jack-up platform ever installed having a dry deck
weight of 28,000 t and legs of 6,000 t. It was built in Scotland
and was installed in July 2000. It rests directly on the seabed,
each leg ending in a spud can that is piled into the seabed with
a total spud cans plus piles weight of 5,500 t.
The first unique technical challenge for the Shah Deniz
project was to adapt the hull design into several elements,
called strips (Fig. 3) that could be towed individually
through the canal network to the Caspian Sea. They also had
be designed for assembly in a safe and economic way in
Azerbaijan within the schedule and without degrading the
characteristics and performance of the final platform. A key
aspect of the strip fabrication was the schedule as the canal is
closed for about 6 months each year from mid-October to end
of March due to freezing.
The second, more technical, set of challenges related to the
foundations. Soil conditions are poor and it is a seismic area.
Skirted spud cans were selected, but they are huge resulting in
issues with fabrication, transportation, connection to the
platform legs and, finally, installation in soils with a weak
layer requiring a controlled punch-through.

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Strip 0 north

Strip 0 south
Strip 1
Strip 2

Strip 3

Strip 4

Fig. 3: Strip sections and topside assembly

Project outline
Produced gas from Shah Deniz is delivered to an onshore
processing plant, the Sangachal terminal near Baku in
Azerbaijan, through a new 93 km 660 mm gas pipeline with
separated condensate flowing to the plant via a parallel 300
mm pipeline. From there, the treated gas is exported via the
new 686 km long South Caucasus Pipeline to the Turkish
border with off-takes in Azerbaijan and Georgia. The
associated condensate, after stabilisation, is exported via the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline to the Mediterranean
Sea.
The Shah Deniz platform in its towing configuration
weighed approximately 32,500 t including the three-skirted
foundations. It fulfils the functions of drilling, production of
gas (900 MMscfd), production of condensate (up to 65,000
bpd) and providing living quarter for 120 people. The platform
is designed for 15 very high-pressure (758 barg) well
completions.
The platforms hull is trapezoidal in shape and measures
88 x 75 x 8 m. The legs, of triangular section of 17 m, are 136
m long and uses forged node technology (a proprietary item)
as well as high strength steel (700 MPa) for the toothed racks.
The components of the legs were manufactured in France and
assembled in Azerbaijan. Their strength and fatigue
characteristics ensure the platform complies with fixed jacket
design codes (as opposed to jack-up design codes).
The water depth is 101 meters and the area is highly
seismic, which had major consequences on the foundations
sizing. Each foundation (spud can) is 30 m in diameter by
12.3 m high and weighs 1,350 t. The elevated weight was
23,700 t and was lifted using 72 jacking units which are
proprietary items manufactured in France. Once at the desired
air gap, the hull was locked to the legs using 9 proprietary
design locking units. The total weight of the platform in
operation is 39,200 t.
An integrated team, BP and Technip, was in charge of the
management and the realization of the contract. Management
and supervision represented approximately 600 people
mobilized on the project.

Construction strategy and associated logistics

The foundations were fabricated in Azerbaijan. The leg
components were manufactured in France and the legs
constructed in Azerbaijan at Zykh. The DES was built in
Norway and integrated in Zykh.
The hull and topsides were constructed in five principle
strips in Singapore (Fig. 4) and were transported to the Sea of
Azrov by a semi-submersible vessel. The heaviest strip
weighed 3,800 t and its dimensions were 87 x 16 x 16 m.
Then, in floating mode, they were towed (Fig. 5) through the
canals network connecting the Sea of Azov to the Caspian
Sea. After arrival in Baku, the initial four elements, strips 1 to
4, were assembled in a floating dry dock (Fig. 6). After the
completion of mating, the platform was positioned against the
quay in Zykh to commence the integration activities. The last
two major hull components, strip 0 north and south, were
transported through the canal network the following year after
it was re-opened following the winter closure.

Fig. 4: Strips 1 - 4 during fabrication in Singapore dry

dock

Fig. 5: Towing of a strip for canal transportation

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Fig. 6: Strip mating in floating dry dock

The use of the Zykh site required the rebirth a construction
yard that was only being used for supporting marine
operations, not major construction activities. The yard, owned
by SOCAR, was being used by Technip Marine Offshore
Limited (TMOL) as a supply base and TMOL took on the task
of reactivating it as a construction yard.
The legs were assembled at Zykh from components
manufactured in France. This was performed by Azeris who
were trained in the construction techniques and welding
procedures, a total of 200 being trained for these activities. Of
these, approximately a dozen were sent to France to be trained
in the most demanding welding processes to ensure a rapid
startup of the critical activities.
To carry out the assembly of the legs, and to finalize the
integration of the units, two giant Mammoet cranes of 2000
and 3000 t capacity were mobilized in Azerbaijan.
At the peak of the activities in Zykh, there were over 3,500
people working in the yard on the project, over 80% of whom
were Azerbaijani nationals. Additionally, some 257 local
companies were utilised to provide equipment, materials and
services to the yard. The yard also achieved an exemplary
safety performance - over 13 million manhours were worked
in Zykh without a lost time accident (Ref. 1).
The difficulties of the logistics and material supply into the
landlocked Caspian required detailed analysis and careful
schedule management of the various means used to convey the
total of 50,000 t of material and equipment necessary to the
realization of this major project, the overall work culminating
in the installation of the largest platform in Caspian Sea.
Foundation design, logistics and installation
The use of a spud can foundation design and the particular
geology of the site required very large foundations; each has a
diameter of 30 meters (to give a surface area of 700 m2), is
12.3 m high (including a skirt section of 8.7 5m) and weighs
1350 t. This represents a world record in terms of size for this
type of platform foundation.

The foundations were fabricated at the Caspian Shipyard

Company and completed at Zykh prior to being transported
into deep enough water to perform the connection of them to
the platforms legs.
Their size and the soil conditions introduced three major
challenges for the installation operations: the transportation of
the foundation to the connection site, the connection of the
foundations to the legs and penetration of the soil during the
platform installation (Ref. 2 and 3).
Transportation of foundations to the connection site: The
water depth at the quayside of the spud can fabrication yard
and Zykh restricted the maximum draft to less than the depth
required for the spud cans to be stable. Hence, floating at the
quay they would be unstable, rather like tying to float a cup
upside-down in water. This was overcome by building a
cradle into which they were lifted and towed into deeper
water (Fig. 7) where they could be suitably flooded to be
stable.

Fig. 7: Cradle and spud can

OTC 19110

The analysis of the behaviour of the spud can and cradle

during the tow and, particularly, the separation phase required
an extensive campaign of model basin tests (Fig. 8).

from the surface. This operation, performed three times, was a

first-of-a-kind.

Fig. 8: Basin test cradle/skirt

Spud can/leg connection: The connection of the
foundations to each leg was performed in a water depth of
approximately 70 m. The completed platform was towed from
Zykh (Fig. 9) to the foundation connection site where the
foundations had already been positioned and were free
floating.

Fig. 9: Platform being towed from Zykh

Each floating foundation in turn was connected to the
platform by suspension cables running under the platform and
up the leg and were also connected to a hold-back tug that
asserted a constant bollard pull on it. The foundation was then
submerged by ballasting and allowed to swing in an arc to
come in position under the legs. The leg was then lowered
onto the spud cans and an automatic latching device connected
them together. Figure 10 illustrates the overall operation
Analysis of the operation required extensive technical
development; hydrodynamic analyses (including use of
Computational Fluid Dynamics tools), basin tests, the use of a
damping system to reduce the shock impact on the foundations
and legs, and the use of connection mechanisms activated

Fig. 10: Leg/foundation connection by assisted pendulum

method
Once equipped with its three foundations, the platform was
towed to the production location. Once on site, four tug boats
were used to position the platform above the pre-installed well
template through which a number of pre-drilled wells had
been drilled. The required accuracy of the platform positioning
was of the order of half a meter in any direction and less than
one degree in heading. This operation was carried out with the
assistance of an underwater acoustic positioning system
achieving placement well within the specified tolerances.
The soil penetration: The soil included a particularly weak
layer at approx 4 m. Because of this, it was necessary to
achieve a controlled punch-through of this layer by
controlling the egress of water from each spud can by a system
of valves.
However, because of the general non-homogeneity of the
soils, throughout the whole spud can penetration operation
rigorous control of the penetration rate of each spud can was
required to avoid differential settlement. Consequently, a
system of valves operated from the platform was used to
independently control the water pressure within each spud can
and hence control the penetration rate.
The final hold point was reached with a penetration of 2 m
and the non-return decision was made. From then on,
adjustment of the water vent valves and the jacking
rate/platform elevation and ballasting were used to control the
spud can penetration rate and depth. The lack of precision in
the soil data (lower and higher bounds) necessitated real time
determination of the soils resistance based on measured
parameters (pressures, penetration, horizontality, etc) to assist
in the decision making regarding increasing the bearing load
on the foundations and adjusting pressure levels within each
spud can. This penetration operation was another first for the
Shah Deniz project.
After achieving the target depth, grout was injected to
displace the remaining water above the soil and thereby fill
any void space.

The process of developing new technology

The complex execution plan for the Shah Deniz platform
made it an atypical project requiring innovation and technical
innovation.
The logistics of transportation into the landlocked Caspian
Sea via a canal network with major schedule constraints, plus
performing significant fabrication works out of the region,
required not only a unique approach to the construction
methodology (i.e. self floating strips), but also careful
management of logistics.
The soil conditions made the foundation design a challenge
for all possible design options. Consequently, several
alternatives were evaluated in parallel, the two primary ones
being a large skirted spud can or a pre-installed piled structure.
Having selected the spud can option, alternative leg to
foundation mating methods were considered. The initially
preferred option was placement on the seabed but once
geotechnical data was obtained, it indicated an excessive mud
mat requirement (1,000 2,000 m2) and a number of other
alternatives were evaluated in parallel to arrive at the
pendulum method.
To ensure a suitable pendulum motion, the maximum
apparent weight was restricted to 50 t, but even relatively
small shifts in this value and, more particularly, the centre of
gravity (CoG) would increase the dynamic effects in the
suspension lines. Therefore, to adjust the CoG to within +/150 mm, approximately 120 t of concrete was added.
Extensive analysis was required to arrive at the design of the
suspension lines and to ensure suitable load sharing, by
considering all potential off-design behaviour.
As site specific geotechnical data was refined, the size of
the spud cans had to be increased leading to the loadout
becoming a challenge. After considerable evaluation of the
alternatives, all of which had to be fully reversible in the event
of a problem with the connection operation, a custom designed
cradle was selected.
The various selections required the organisation of
technical and risk review workshops drawing on the expertise
of not only engineering specialists but also construction and
operational personnel (including sub-contractors) drawn from
a wide range of organisations; the operator (BP), the design
contractor (Technip), the marine warranty surveyor,
certification organisations, local authorities, suppliers, etc.
Both peer review and risk analysis were an important part of
the selection process.
To develop the concepts into executable designs, various
first-of-a-kind developments had to be progressed. For this,
technical support was used from a number of entities within
the Technip Group and external organisations, some of whom
had not previously worked together.
Combining the specialist expertise of such entities with the
project design team incorporating naval architects and
structural, geotechnical and mechanical engineers, etc to
develop innovative alternatives was achieved using multidiscipline brainstorming sessions and, as ideas were developed
and detailed designs progressed, risk identification and
evaluation to assist the design selection and development
process.

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The project lessons learned are:

Do not eliminate possible solutions too early. Even
though this requires alternatives to be developed in
parallel and additional engineering resources, the benefit
of a trouble free first-of-a-kind operation far outweighs
the engineering cost.
When drawing on the expertise of multi-discipline and
multi-company personnel, they need to be involved early
and to understand their contribution within the overall
project execution if they are to contribute fully. This was
achieved via technical workshops.
Identification of risks and opportunities via formal risk
review workshops with the various participants and
independent peers is a very useful methodology for option
selection and technical decision making
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank our Client BP and the
management of Technip for granting the permission to publish
this paper. The authors express their special appreciation to
their colleagues of the Shah Deniz project team for their
support and advice.

References
1. T Bayatli, BP Developments, Azerbaijan International,
Summer 2006 (14.2) from the web site:
www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai142_folder/1
42_articles/142_bp_developments.html
2. P.A. Thomas, J.M. Cholley, N. Tcherniguin, C. Hough,
Technip: Large Production Jack-up Foundation:
Experience and new solution Jack-Up Asia conference,
held in Singapore, December 2006.
3. V. Alessandrini, G. Lebois, Technip: A case of using
very large skirt can for self-installing platform, paper
OTC 18688, presented at the Offshore Technology
Conference, held in Houston Texas, 30th April 3rd May
2007.