GBS of Berkut platform installed at Arkutun-Dagi field
The gravity-based structure of oil platform "Berkut", after voyage from Port Vostochny to Sakhalin Island, was installed this morning at Arkutun-Dagi field (Lat. 52-28ºN, Long.143-39ºE), Vostochny Port’s Harbormaster Andrei Gorodishtyan told PortNews.
A week ago, the GBS was towed from the port of Nakhodka to the Sakhalin shelf. During the two weeks five tugs were escorting the 160-ton Berkut GBS on the Japan and Okhotsk seas and delivered the facility to the target location, which was finally anchored onto the seabed. Towing and installation of the platform was carried out by SCF and its partner - the Dutch company Van Ord.
The oil platform topsides, now under construction at a Korean shipyard, will be installed on the GBS in 2012. Drilling of the first wells is scheduled for late 2013 - early 2014. So, Exxon Neftegas may produce first oil at Arkutun-Dagi in 2014. The facility is designed to extract up to 4.5 million tons of hydrocarbons per year.
The GBS of offshore ice-resistant Berkut platform was built at the Vostochny port’s dock. The structure is able to withstand 9-point earthquakes, low temperatures - down to minus 44 Cº, sea swells up to 18 m and ice thickness of about two meters. Platform breadth - 100 m, length - 133 m, height - 55 m, weight - 150 tons, the number of valves – 27,000 tons, the total volume concrete – 52,000 tons. Once the topsides is installed on the GBS, the offshore drilling rig will become one of the largest in the world.