The client is a small independent company that just made a $600 million bet on a new deepwater floating platform to develop a Gulf of Mexico field, which bigger companies considered too small to develop themselves. Get it right and the client doubles production next year. Get it wrong… well, do not go there. Mitigating installation risk with dimensional control makes a lot of sense when the stakes are so high. Here is how Bluewater Industries did it for ATP Oil and Gas Corp. (ATP) on the Titan Minimum Deep Offshore (MinDOC 3) floating platform project earlier this year.

The moment of truth for all offshore installations: Will the topsides-to-hull integration be performed successfully on the first attempt and without interferences? Bluewater Industries deployed dimensional control services from Intertek Hi-Cad at relevant stages of fabrication to limit the potential for installation problems, the cost, and conflicting schedules for ATP’s MinDOC 3 project. Installation and integration of the topsides modules was completed offshore in January without incident; no dimensional fitting or clashes were encountered.

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