Page 23: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2004)

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Stolt Offshore Completes Platform Salvagi

Stolt Offshore reported it has success- fully completed the Eugene Island 275A platform salvage project for Total E&P

USA, INC., in what is described as the first platform salvage using only mechanical cutting devices. The plat- form was located on OCS-G-0988, some 70 miles off the Louisiana coast in 180 ft. of water. "Because of environmental and safety objectives, Total E&P USA asked Stolt to conduct the salvage operation without an arc being struck under water, using remotely operated tools as much as pos- sible," said Allan Palmer, Stolt's region- al manager of regional projects and operations in Houston. "At the request of Total E&P USA. and assisted by

LoneStar Deepwater Consulting, we conducted an extensive testing program to qualify the tools for this job."

Stolt Offshore located heavy duty cut- ting tools that could be modified or redesigned to be used remotely under- water. Before taking the tools offshore, the company tested them at its Port of

Iberia location at New

Iberia, La.. The remotely operated tools had to be able to sever 42 x 0.5-in. jacket legs with 39 x 0.75-in. grouted piles down to 8-in. diameter jacket members. Stolt also tested tools for stripping and cutting casings to get ver- tical access to the wells for further plug- ging. These modified and redesigned cutting tools allowed Stolt Offshore to perform the first platform removal proj- ect done using only remote cutting devices. The Stolt Offshore tool kit included • heavy-duty shears; • high pressure, abrasive cutters; • diamond wire cutters; • guillotine-type saws; and • a variety of remotely operated mechanical cutters.

One of the hydraulic shears used for the job produces 750,000 psi of cutting force. It had originally been designed to cut concrete piles and was modified for this big underwater project. Palmer said.

The abandonment project began in

August 2002. with original plans calling for the removal of the deck for disposal onshore and the transportation of the jacket to a nearby artificial reef site. In parallel, Stolt Offshore had commenced abandonment procedures of pipelines leading from the platform. (Continued on page 52)

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