Transcript
Michael Fitzpatrick, Senior Marine Technology Advisor:
Today, we are lifting and setting megablock A/B, which are the top two modules of the Tubular Bells Spar.
It is the culmination of engineering efforts to calculate the exact weight and center of gravity of the lift…for the fabrication yard to weigh it, and then to properly set the rigging to allow the module to go into place.
Today represents a period in time when we are probably three months away from hull sail. It’s a very good feeling, because we can see the end from where we are.
This is one of the major steps to the Tubular Bells development project. We bring the hull out, install it, and then we’ll put the topsides on, hook it up, commission and then first oil.
This is an all-American build in the fact that the hull is a classic hull which means it’s a continual cylinder that is 584 feet long, 85 feet diameter. The topsides as well were built in the US. It’s been a very good success for the project.
Chuck Willis, Senior Facilities Engineering Advisor:
The spar is a unique deepwater structure, which requires it to be fabricated on its side and towed out on its side because there are no ports that have that kind of water depth.
Overnight we’ve upended the spar from the horizontal position, how it was towed out, to what you see behind me now.