FoundOcean Projects BLOG

The first objective of the project was mobilising 2 personnel to Rotterdam to take on cement into 4 FoundOcean Silo’s that were located on the S44 cargo barge in Verolme Botlek Yard. This was done quickly with no problems experienced. The S7000 was not due in for 2-3days so we took advantage to carry out some maintenance to the equipment.

On arrival onboard S7000 we were to be on standby for a day or so as our equipment was not yet onboard. The cargo barge arrived at midnight and we were on deck to get the equipment lifted onboard and into position. The following morning we started to set up the grouting equipment on deck. That afternoon the remaining 2 personnel arrived onboard the S7000 and were put through inductions etc. Maintenance and set up was carried out for another 2 days before we started the 10 day navigation from Rotterdam to Castor Field in Spain. During transit we continued to set up the equipment and continued with any maintenance so we were set up and ready to go as soon as we arrived in the field.

The Castor WHP jacket was waiting for us and it didn’t take long for the barge to start work on the installation. Once the jacket was alongside the S7000 it was quickly lifted off the cargo barge and then upended to almost the vertical position before FoundOcean were called to pump seawater using our BJ pump to burst all of the rupture discs that were on the primary and secondary grout lines. This allowed Saipem to use the skirt pile sleeves to be used as ballast by flooding them with water to ballast the jacket and set it in its final position.

The next day the jacket was in position and it was time to bring the barge alongside to transfer the piles. The piles were transferred to the S7000 deck for upending before being lifted into the pile sleeves. When this was done it was time to start driving the piles which would take around 24 hours. After pile driving the jacket was checked for level tolerance, which it proved to be in and the grippers were set so that grouting could commence.

When on deck our first job was to deploy the grout hose to the jacket and check all fittings were correct on the jacket. The packer seals in the bottom of the sleeves were then inflated to working pressure of 250 psi and all were holding well, which was a good sign that no leakage should occur.

All focus was then back onboard and we commenced flushing all grout lines. During flushing leg B1 primary line was found to be blocked so we would need to grout via the secondary line including 50% overage as requested by the client. Operations were going really well although we were receiving high pumping pressures which meant we needed to flush out after each pile. This cleared the hoses of any remaining grout: the high pressures were probably down to the bursting discs that were in the grout line. Once all sleeves were finished it was then time to wash out and clean all equipment, and recover the grout hose from the jacket before heading to bed for some rest.

The next morning was spent out on deck preparing the sample cubes for testing and stripping down the grouting equipment ready for demob. That afternoon, when the minimum grout strength was achieved, the topside was lifted into place.

All in all, the whole project and not just the grouting operations went extremely well which always makes for a happy client.