MAMMOET WORLD Issue 14 | 201546

Issue 14 | 2015 MAMMOET WORLD 47

The river Volga is the longest river in Europe. The majority of its flow comes from melting snow. This leads

to a big fluctuation in the river level throughout the year. Reservoirs along the river’s course now help to

alleviate spring flooding but the water levels have varied historically from three meters to fifteen meters

on the lower Volga. That can make a huge difference when you need to transport a 10,000 ton processing

platform along the river.

GOING WITH THE FLOWRUSSIA’S HEAVIEST EVER LOAD-OUT

This was the heaviest platformload-out operation of this type inRussia. In addition, this delicateand intricate load-out could onlytake place during an expectedtime window of just four dayswhen the Volga’s depth and flowwould allow the enormous CPP tobe transported down the river onits barge.

Adapting to realityIn 2014 the Volga river levels hitthe optimum point for theplatform’s transport earlier in theyear than expected, before theCPP’s construction was complete.This meant Mammoet had toperform the load-out with themassive platform in an unfinishedstate. It resulted in a differencebetween the planned weight andactual weight of the platform atthe moment of transport, whichalso had an impact on the CPP’scenter of gravity.

This last minute change ofcircumstances requiredMammoet’s team on the groundto act and deliver. They needed to

The Vladimir FilanovskyOffshore Oil Field is a new

operation in the northern part ofthe Caspian Sea, about 50 kilome-ters offshore, with anticipatedreserves of over 150 million tons ofoil and 30 billion cubic meters ofgas. The infrastructure for thisoffshore facility, commissioned byLukoil, consists of an ice-resistantfixed platform, a living quarter’smodule platform (LQM-1), a centralprocessing platform (CPP) and ariser’s block (RB) platform, all to belinked by connection bridges.

Construction of these platformstook place at various yards inAstrakhan, in southern EuropeanRussia. Mammoet suppliedLukoil’s contractor, Globalstroy,with two heavy duty crawlercranes for the CPP’s construction.Following the construction phase,the platforms needed to be movedby barge along the river Volga totheir final destination in theCaspian Sea. Mammoet carriedout the jack-up, skid and load-outof the CPP onto its transportbarge.

This delicate and intricateload-out could only take placeduring an expected timewindow of just four days.

The CPP, loaded out and on its way to the Caspian Sea.

quickly mobilize resources fromthe global pool of staff andequipment to meet the newschedule and ensure theoperation adapted to these newconditions. All the engineeringcalculations for skidding the CPPand ballasting the transport bargeduring the load-out were basedon a platform weighing 11,264tons but when the time came, theplatform was actually only 9,738tons. The team immediately setabout re-calculating the load andballasting requirements to ensurethe skidding operation couldcontinue smoothly.

Once the CPP was jacked up andweighed, the team made all thenecessary last minute adjustments

to prepare for skidding it onto itstransport barge. It was mountedon a load-out frame to providesupport as it skidded towardsthe barge and new ballastingcalculations were made for eachmeter the platform would move.The CPP, resting on its frame,was the heaviest platform load-out we had ever executed usinga skid system. It needed 34 skidshoes to support and move sucha large weight.

The platform was skidded fromthe quay, over a link bridge, ontothe barge. A length of 120meters of skid track was laid onthe quay side and 86 meters onthe barge. However, with somany skid shoes under the

platform there was very littlespace to place the push/pull unitsbetween them. This required moreon the ground ingenuity from theMammoet team, in the form of aspecially designed push/pull unitframe, to get the most propulsionfor the skidding operation withinthe limited space.

The preparations, expertise andadaptability on the ground cametogether when the platformskidded smoothly onto itstransport barge, at the primemoment. It was taken from theconstruction site, along the Volga,to the oil field in the Caspian Seawhere, after installation on itssubstructure, its constructioncould be completed. n

MAMMOET WORLD Issue 14 | 201548

SolutionPush/pull unit pushes the frame,harnessing its optimum power. Theframe drags the skid shoe forward.

CConventional usePush/pull unit exerts lesspower when pulling.

A Intended usePush/pull unit cannot beplaced between the skidshoes due to lack of space.

B

1

4

2

5

A

B

C

3

Skid track

Push/pull unit

Skid shoe

Load

Push/pull unitframe

1

2

3

4

5

Project Engineer Feike Brouwerexplained to us how the team atAstrakhan made the most efficientuse of the push/pull units’ power ina restricted space:“Normally the push/pull units areplaced behind a skid shoe wherethey push it along the skid track.Due to the restricted space, wehad to put some of the push/pullunits in front of the skid shoes,resulting in less power for theskidding operation. To maximizethe power of the push/pull unit, aframe was inserted around thepush/pull unit and attached to theskid shoe. This meant the push/pullunit could push forward on theframe while the frame dragged theskid shoe along the track.

Pushing to the max