Wison’s Buoyant Tower solution, adopting the company’s proprietary technology, is a self-installed floater with scalable topsides up to 10,000 tonnes, with 10,000-30,000 tonnes of dry storage for condensate or oil, at a water depth of up to 300 metres.
The configuration of the hull has been designed to accommodate the storage tank in the center while the surrounding ballast tanks remain balanced with hydrostatic pressure.
The buoyant tanks near the water surface coupled with the solid ballast at the bottom provide the Buoyant Tower with permanent stability. The anti-rotation design of the SCF (suction can foundation) can provide further in-place stability. The analysis has shown that the tower demonstrates excellent motion performance at greater water depth, according to Wison.
“The Buoyant Tower is a compliant structure with very long eigen period. Within its application limits, the tower works better in deeper water. This prevents the platform from resonant motions in severe wave conditions,” explained Chen Weimin, senior solutions director of Wison.
“Therefore, a Buoyant Tower can support most E&P operations such as drilling, production (dry tree), gas compression or treatment, crude stabilization, water treatment or injection, power generation and other utility purposes,” he added.
Wison said the Buoyant Tower concept eliminates the costly transportation and installation process needed for conventional jackets. In addition, the greater water depth that the tower can go would reap more savings as its weight, hence the cost, is insensitive to the water depth.
For example, at a water depth of 150 meters, EPC of a buoyant tower might cost as much as 50% less of that for a jacket. With the add-on storage capability, a Buoyant Tower solution presents more economic advantages compared to a traditional ‘jacket + FSO’ or ‘jacket + export oil line’ solution due to the cost elimination of an FSO or an export oil line.
Originally invented by Ed Horton and Lyle Finn, the Buoyant Tower technology was first applied to BPZ CX-15 project offshore Peru when both Ed Horton and Lyle Finn worked for Horton Wison Deepwater Inc (HWD), now renamed Wison Offshore Technology Inc, with more than 130 patents originated by Ed Horton and his fellows transferred from HWD.
Since its delivery from Wison’s Nantong yard in August 2012, the CX-15 platform has been in stable operation.
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