After two months at sea and travelling over 30,000 kilometres, the hull for the Appomattox platform arrived safely in Ingleside, Texas on October 5, 2017. This important milestone marks the end of the hull construction phase of Appomattox and the beginning of the topsides integration phase, which will be carried out at the facility in Ingleside.
The arrival of the hull marks the end of more than two years of work constructing the massive unit that began in July 2015 at the Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje Shipyard in South Korea. The hull is the largest four column structure that Shell, the operator of Appomattox project, has built to date. It measures 368 ft (112.1 meters) from the edge of each column, is 175 ft (53.4 m) high, weighs 42,700 metric tons and has a total displacement of 125,000 metric tons.
The four primary Appomattox topsides modules (which include the process, utilities, power and living quarters modules), the riser pull-in bridge, and production, water injection and export risers will all be supported by the hull. The platform is anticipated to produce 240,000 bbls/d over its 30 year design life. The work on the hull was completed on schedule, below budget and with an excellent safety record.
Once the topsides and the hull are fully integrated, the platform will be transported to the production site in the Gulf of Mexico, where it will be moored up and connected to the subsea pipelines and equipment. First oil from Appomattox is expected in 2019.
