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Shell’s latest offshore platform arrives in Texas
Fuel Fix ^ | January 28, 2013 | Emily Pickrell

Posted on 01/28/2013 10:34:47 AM PST by thackney

The hull of Royal Dutch Shell’s latest offshore platform, which traveled from South Korea, arrived Saturday from at a Texas port where it will be assembled before it sails to its final location in the Gulf of Mexico.

The new offshore platform, the Olympus, traveled more than 18,000 miles in two months to Ingleside, Texas, where its topside will be assembled over the next two months.

Shell designed the Olympus as a tension leg platform, which provides a large enough deck to process oil on deck. The Olympus will be Shell’s sixth tension leg platform and its largest to date. It will operate in the Mars Field at a water depth of about 3,000 feet. Shell owns 72.5 percent of the development and is the operator, and BP is a 28.5 percent owner.

Shell plans to use the Olympus to add a six-well subsea development West Boreas/South Deimos in the Mars field. The federal government approved Shell’s Olympus exploration plan at the end of 2011. The project extends the life of the Mars Field to at least 2050, Shell said.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: energy; offshore; oil

(Picture from leaving South Korea)
1 posted on 01/28/2013 10:34:54 AM PST by thackney
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To: thackney

I would not like to be in heavy seas on that thing


2 posted on 01/28/2013 10:45:15 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: al baby
The Blue Marlin was also used to bring the USS Cole home after the damage.

Just think about this load in heavy seas.


3 posted on 01/28/2013 10:48:30 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: al baby

I’ll make a wild-eyed guess that they planned their voyage VERY carefully. I’ll make another wild-eyed guess that it doesn’t fit through the Panama Canal ...


4 posted on 01/28/2013 10:50:08 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

With a two month long journey, it is difficult to be assured you won’t see heavy seas.


5 posted on 01/28/2013 10:52:33 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: ArrogantBustard
I worked with the predecessor of that company 20 years ago. As I remember, their in-house weather team kept up on things very well back then. I would suspect they have real time forecasts for all voyages.

Then there was the time in my own ship driving days when I realized that the only weather forecasts my ship was getting were a repeat of what we had just passed to the Fleet Weather Center. That'll make you feel kinda lonely....

6 posted on 01/28/2013 11:02:29 AM PST by Pecos (If more sane people carried guns, fewer crazies would get off a second shot.)
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To: thackney

I just went and looked at Dockwise website amazing fleet of vessels


7 posted on 01/28/2013 11:04:01 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: ArrogantBustard

Cape horn must of been fun


8 posted on 01/28/2013 11:04:17 AM PST by al baby (Hi Mom)
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To: Pecos
I realized that the only weather forecasts my ship was getting were a repeat of what we had just passed to the Fleet Weather Center.

LOL!!!

So ... guys ... tell me something I don't know!!!

Nothing quite like being the test pilot.

What sort of weather/waves do you think that beast could handle?

9 posted on 01/28/2013 11:05:09 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

I don’t know if it helps or hurts, but this type of ship can lower itself deeper into the water lowering the center of gravity.


10 posted on 01/28/2013 11:09:26 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

Tell me again why the underemployed US taxpayer is paying for 30,000 troops to defend a country that now has the industrial ability to make and deliver something such as this?


11 posted on 01/28/2013 11:14:19 AM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: Last Dakotan

Because we have security interest in that part of the world.

Do you think if they were not in Korea we would or should get rid of all those military personnel and their equipment?


12 posted on 01/28/2013 11:24:36 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

I’ll bet that vessel is very stable in heavy seas. Looks like a HUGE catamaran to me.


13 posted on 01/28/2013 11:24:36 AM PST by jpsb
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To: thackney; All


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14 posted on 01/28/2013 11:27:48 AM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: jpsb

It may be fat but I don’t think it is a cat.

http://www.dockwise.com/page/fleet/fleetdata.html


15 posted on 01/28/2013 11:30:03 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Last Dakotan
I have a friend who is an engineer in Ulsan, Korea. Check it out on google. These are only small area pictures, the harbor goes on for miles. (and it's not the only one!)

They go around the clock in an industry and an attitude that will never be seen in this country in this country again.


16 posted on 01/28/2013 11:36:02 AM PST by Baynative (I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down.)
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To: thackney

It’s nice to know such things are still made. Sometimes I feel like you need a permission slip to get up in the morning.


17 posted on 01/28/2013 11:41:07 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Tijeras_Slim
Although the hull was made in Korea, the topside facility is being built in Texas.

Olympus includes the fabrication and integration of a 5,000-ton, 192 person-on-board (POB) living quarters for the Shell Olympus Topsides located in the Gulf of Mexico. The structure includes four levels plus an elevated helideck. This 50,000-square-foot facility will sail away June 2013 following integration.

The project is also known as Mars B as it is an expansion of the Mars field. The platform will be known as Olympus.

Construction of Shell's Mars B TLP moves ahead
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Construction+of+Shell's+Mars+B+TLP+moves+ahead.-a0287867709

There will also be significant subsea infrastructure.


18 posted on 01/28/2013 1:49:33 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

We are borrowing from China to defend Korea from what? China?


19 posted on 01/28/2013 1:55:49 PM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: Last Dakotan

I do not believe their only mission is to defend Korea.

If we would keep the military folks even if we pulled out of Korea, then it is not an issue of cost, but of the mission and location.

Do yo believe we should get rid of those folks or simply move them?


20 posted on 01/28/2013 1:58:48 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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