The Maureen platform was built to an unique design. She was the only large tripod steel gravity base/oil storage structure of her kind.
The base was designed by Tecnomare as the world's first steel platform to combine flotation, ballasting and oil storage. The gravity base structure comprised three large cylindrical tanks and was built at Hunterston on the River Clyde in West Central Scotland. The three tanks, each measuring over 25 metres in diameter and standing 74 metres high were constructed of steel rings welded one on top of the other.
After completion the base was floated and towed to Loch Kishorn also on the west coast of Scotland where the deck was being built at the Howard Doris yard. The Hideck was designed by Brown & Root and was built on piers alongside the construction area at Loch Kishorn. The deck and base were mated by submerging the substructure and floating the deck over on a barge.
The platform was then towed out to the Maureen field in the North Sea and, by using controlled ballasting procedures placed over the drilling template through which some wells had already been drilled using a mobile drilling rig.
The complete platform stood 214 metres high (784 feet) and weighed over 110,000 tonnes.
The Articulated Loading Column (ALC) was a 142 metre (430 foot) high concrete column which consisted of an H-shaped concrete base and a buoyant concrete shaft surmounted by a rotating steel head with a hose boom. A huge universal joint in the base allowed the column which weighed over 10,000 tonnes, to "articulate" or tilt to absorb the stresses of rough water.
The base was designed by Tecnomare as the world's first steel platform to combine flotation, ballasting and oil storage. The gravity base structure comprised three large cylindrical tanks and was built at Hunterston on the River Clyde in West Central Scotland. The three tanks, each measuring over 25 metres in diameter and standing 74 metres high were constructed of steel rings welded one on top of the other.
After completion the base was floated and towed to Loch Kishorn also on the west coast of Scotland where the deck was being built at the Howard Doris yard. The Hideck was designed by Brown & Root and was built on piers alongside the construction area at Loch Kishorn. The deck and base were mated by submerging the substructure and floating the deck over on a barge.
The platform was then towed out to the Maureen field in the North Sea and, by using controlled ballasting procedures placed over the drilling template through which some wells had already been drilled using a mobile drilling rig.
The complete platform stood 214 metres high (784 feet) and weighed over 110,000 tonnes.
The Articulated Loading Column (ALC) was a 142 metre (430 foot) high concrete column which consisted of an H-shaped concrete base and a buoyant concrete shaft surmounted by a rotating steel head with a hose boom. A huge universal joint in the base allowed the column which weighed over 10,000 tonnes, to "articulate" or tilt to absorb the stresses of rough water.
