Maersk Oil's Culzean Wellhead Jacket Sets Sail for North Sea

Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) has completed the project for the Culzean Wellhead jacket and Access Deck for client Maersk Oil. Today at Heerema Vlissingen (the Netherlands) the Wellhead jacket and two days ago at Heerema Hartlepool (the United Kingdom) the Wellhead Access Deck set sail to their final destination: the Ultra High Pressure High Temperature Culzean development field in the UK sector of the North Sea, where Heerema Marine Contractors will perform the installation.

On 21 October 2014, Maersk Oil awarded HFG the Procurement & Construction contract for the Culzean Wellhead jacket, the Wellhead Access Deck and the Access ways. Heerema Vlissingen constructed the jacket, while the Wellhead Access Deck with the Access ways was constructed by Heerema Hartlepool. Two of the four pile sleeve clusters were fabricated by Heerema Zwijndrecht. HFG Polska built the conductor guides and the grillage. The jacket has a height of 114 meters, a footprint of 31 x 31 meters and a top of 22 x 22 meters. The Wellhead jacket, the Wellhead Access Deck and the Access ways together weigh 7,100 tons.

Remco van Gilst, Yard Director Heerema Vlissingen: “It has been a challenging project. Thanks to the shared philosophy of our client and HFG that a successful execution of the job requires close collaboration, we managed to deliver a product that meets the highest quality standards. HFG’s Project Manager Culzean, Patrick Put: “This is the first jacket for the Culzean field. It is a twisted base jacket, which means that the bottom of the jacket, with the pile sleeve clusters, is twisted 45 degrees with respect to the tower, to provide better access to the drill rig. We can be proud of the jacket which is the result of well-oiled cooperation between the HFG yards in Hartlepool, Zwijndrecht, Opole and Vlissingen.” The Heerema approach of this Culzean project was one of the reasons why in September 2015 Maersk Oil awarded HFG a second contract for Culzean: the Engineering, Procurement & Construction for the jackets for both the Central Processing Facilities platform and the Utility & Living Quarter platform. Construction of the project has started early this year at Heerema Hartlepool and Heerema Vlissingen. “We are pleased to see the first of three jackets leave on schedule. This first one was challenging because of its complicated shape. Maersk Oil has pushed us as a company to deliver the highest possible quality and we are very proud to have achieved this”, says Koos-Jan van Brouwershaven, CEO of Heerema Fabrication Group.

The Culzean field - discovered in 2008 - is situated in the UK sector of the Central North Sea approximately 250 kilometers east of Aberdeen in license block 22/25a. The water depth is approximately 88 meters and the reservoir is located around 4,300 meters below sea level. The overall Culzean development concept consists of a wellhead platform, a central processing facility platform and a separate utilities and living quarter platform with capacity for over 100 people. The platforms will be linked via two bridges approximately 100 metres in length. First gas is currently expected in 2019. The Culzean project has the potential to meet around 5% of the UK gas consumption in 2020/21.