Oil and Gas Applications

Today, and for the past forty years, the principal user of floating ocean platforms has been the Oil and Gas industry. The majority of these platforms are based on the Semi-Submerged Platform (SSP) technology in which the buoyancy is provided by closed chambers below the sea surface. These chambers support columns that penetrate the water surface and under pin the platform deck(s). The SSP has served the oil and gas industry well, so much so that there is a reluctance to shift to newer technologies.

• The ability of the PSP to handle varying live loads is superior to that of the SSP. Increasing the air pressure supporting the PSP increases the load it can carry.
• The SSP works very well as a small platform, but encounters structural difficulties as its size is increased. The PSP's performance improves as its size increases. This is due to the attenuation of wave action in the cylinders close to its perimeter. There is virtually no limit to its size.
• It is not practical to dock a ship at an SSP since the ship motion and platform motion are very different in most sea states. The wave atenuation properties of the PSP permits ship berthing on the down wave side of the platform.
• The PSP has a low freeboard making ship access comparable to a normal harbor.
• PSPs normally have a substantially shallower draft than SSPs.
• The cost per square foot of a PSP is expected to be a fraction of that for an SSP.
• Most SSPs are constructed of steel. The PSP is constructed of concrete, which means it will have a long life and require relatively little maintenance.
• The PSP, consisting of modules, is easy to assemble. A platform can be configured according to needs and modified relatively easily as needs change.

During discusions with oil and gas producers, Float has suggested the following uses of the PSP which could provide them with capabilities that would substantially reduce costs.

• PSP technology would enable LNG producers to combine processing, treating, storing, and liquification of natural gas, as well as its loading onto LNG tankers, on one floating PSP facility. This should not only reduce the cost of servicing near shore gas fields, but enable the development of gas fields farther from shore or in deeper water.
• Oil producers could build a refinery on a PSP. Refined products could be shipped directly from the platform and the need to ship crude oil would be eliminated.
• In both cases, when a field plays out, the assets are recoverable.

Float is actively seeking working relationships with oil and gas development projects or engineering companies that are interested in these cost savings.