For what is believed to be the first time in the region, a jackup rig is being re-assembled on land. Work is progressing at full steam at the Gulf Piping Company yard in Mussaffah, near Abu Dhabi, on the Qatar Petroleum project.
The rig will become a permanent offshore installation in the waters off Doha once an overhaul of the rig is complete.For this purpose, two sky horse cranes were used on land, and at sea one crane barge was used to lift the barge out of the water. This project is a part of an agreement signed between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Qatar Petroleum Development (QPD), in September 2003 for the development of Al-Karkara and A-North Structure oilfield.
QPD awarded Gulf Piping Company the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, including construction of three steel jackets and three topside modules, two of which are well head platforms and the third a gas injection platform (GIP).
Also included in the contract was the preparation of two independent leg jackup barges, one as a living quarter platform (LQP) to house 70 field operators and the second as the main production platform (PDP). When completed, multi-axle trailers will install the barge back offshore.