Claxton Engineering, an Acteon company, managed the project with support from sister companies 2H Offshore, Pulse Structural Monitoring and Subsea Riser Products, who manufactured sections of the riser and supplied the riser spider.

The companies jointly delivered a detailed drilling riser solution, bespoke engineering work and a monitoring system to track performance.

This project was in unusually deep water for jackup rigs, as Darren Bowyer, project manager, Claxton, explains: “For jackup operations, deep water is over 80m. Leg length determines the depth that jackup rigs can operate in but average jackup rigs like the West Elara are for 80–100m of water, so 132m was challenging.

The main issue is scaling up to the needs of deeper water. Depth increases the current and wave deflection of the jackup rig and the drilling riser, and increases loading on the whole system.”

Tags: Claxton Engineering Services Ltd