In a North Sea storm during February 2011, the Gryphon Alpha floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit broke four of its 10 mooring lines and moved partially off station, resulting in damage to subsea assets. Following the incident, the FPSO was taken to dry dock for replacement of the damaged subsea infrastructure and moorings. This paper describes the measures put in place so that the mooring system could be replaced and the FPSO reconnected on an efficient schedule.
The FPSO
In September of 1993, the Gryphon Alpha became the first purpose-built long-term-moored FPSO to be installed in the North Sea. The unit is located 175 miles northeast of Aberdeen in a water depth of 112 m.
×
Continue Reading with SPE Membership
SPE Members: Please sign in at the top of the page for access to this member-exclusive content. If you are not a member and you find JPT content valuable, we encourage you to become a part of the SPE member community to gain full access.