Client:
BP Expro
Location:
North Sea - UK Sector
Scope:
Design; Procurement; Fabrication; Hook-up and Commissioning;
Project Management
Status:
Completed 1996
Andrew
Platform
How an Innovative Risk-and-Reward Sharing Approach to Contracting Delivered
an Oil Rig £160m Under Budget and Seven Months Ahead of Schedule
Details:
•Oil and gas prices were historically low and stable in the early-1990s. For the
notoriously difficult exploitation of North Sea oil and gas reserves, it had become imperative to achieve drastic reductions in development costs for oil and
gas companies to remain globally competitive. The Andew oilfield had been
discovered in 1974, and although it was one of the first oilfields discovered in
the region, the relatively mid-to-small sized reserves and complicated geology
meant that the conventional development of the site was much too expensive
for the client to be commercially viable. The result: despite numerous plans,
quotes and business models, Andrew went untapped for 20 years. KBR recognized a fundamental shift in the oil industry’s contracting relationships was
essential to break through the cost barrier.
•After two decades on the drawing board, the Aliance approach of cooperation
and working toward the same financial goals saw the project complete within
two years of it being sanctioned.
•The platform foundation (“the jacket”) was a 6,500 tonne structure built at
KBR’s Nigg fabrication yard in Scotland. The topside was a 12,500 tonne module, with a 530 tonne, 72-person accommodation unit.
Continued on following page
North Sea - UK Sector
Client:
BP Expro
Location:
North Sea - UK Sector
Scope:
Design; Procurement; Fabrication; Hook-up and Commissioning;
Project Management
Status:
Completed 1996
Andrew
Platform
Page 2
Details (Continued):
•Processed oil was exported through the Forties pipeline system to Cruden Bay in
Aberdeenshire, and then on to the Grangemouth refinery in Falkirk. Natural gas was
exported to Teesside, via the Central Area Transmission System pipeline.
•Production capacity: 70,000 bpd of oil and 32 mmscfd of gas
Highlights:
•First Field Development Alliance between client and major contractors to share the
risks and rewards of the project. The reflected benefits of cooperation would be realized in terms of resource sharing, less documentation and inspections, and integrated
working.
•The Alliance approach spread rapidly throughout the industry in the mid-1990s.
•First time Package Management Concept is used; Submitted data was reduced by
70%.
•The project won “Major Development of the Year” in a construction industry Quality
Award ceremony.
•Keeping the Alliance coordinated was facilitated by video conferencing, which significantly reduced face-to-face meetings and cost.
•The construction of the entire rig was completed onshore, dramatically reducing costs.
Only two weeks were required offshore in the final stages of completion and handover
to operating teams (hook-up and commissioning).
Continued on following page
North Sea - UK Sector
Client:
BP Expro
Location:
North Sea - UK Sector
Scope:
Design; Procurement; Fabrication; Hook-up and Commissioning;
Project Management
Status:
Completed 1996
Andrew
Platform
Page 3
Highlights (Continued)::
•First gas was achieved six weeks after the deck was installed. •First oil was achieved
six months ahead of the target date.
•Andrew was completed seven months ahead of schedule, at a cost of £290 million
- almost 20% below the budgeted £373 million (and saving a third - £160m - on the
previous “non-alliance” estimates).
•Triton, the new 3D Cad system for structural steel design, saved 40,000 hours against
traditional fabrication norms. Drawings were directly uploaded into the plate cutting
machines, allowing for automated production and saving an additional 10,000 manhours in drafting time.
•Piping spooling “Alert” system saved $6 million.
•Site queries were cut to one tenth of earlier jobs
North Sea - UK Sector