AN INNOVATIVE DEEP WATER TLP INSTALLATION TECHNOLOGY READY FOR APPLICATION

Since the late 70's companies promoted studies and research, in view of identifying safe and economic solutions for deep water fields exploitation. From the beginning the Tension Leg Platform proved to be a basic building block for deep water technology and the anchoring system was pinpointed as the crucial technical subsystem of the TLP. Unlike the general approach at that time, tendons were proposed to be steel tubulars to be welded on platform at the installation site; to ensure that this was feasible and economic, prototype testing and trials were deemed as fundamental. They key areas for this development were: fast and reliable welding techniques, accurate NDE (Non Destructive Evaluation) techniques, efficient and proven handling of tendons during installation. A large research project was launched in 1982 and successfully concluded during 1991 with positive prototype trials. An innovative TLP installation technology is now available and appears to be attractive for several scenarios of application. The paper recalls the main features of this technology, describes the performances attained during prototype testing and discusses its merits for deep water applications.