Petronius Photos:
I had the honor of working on one of the most amazing offshore construction projects ever during my tenure at J. Ray McDermott - Petronius. This compliant tower standing in over 1750' of water is one of the tallest man-made structures on the planet earth, towering above the more-publicized and similarly named Petronus twin towers of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This was a very challenging project from many aspects. Technologically, this was the first time that a structure like this was EVER built and installed. Simply fabricating this platform lying on its side in the JRM Fabrication Yard in Morgan City proved to be a challenge. Then, the task of transporting the two tower sections out to the Gulf of Mexico through the narrow, winding bayous of south Louisiana had to be planned out. I was heavily involved in planning the tows to location. The project team and myself worked to verify clearances and water depths along the route, as an 1100' long structure had never been transported down Bayou Chene before!
My main role on the project, however was to plan the installation of the two huge topside modules (the North Deck Module and the South Deck Module) atop the completed tower sections. At the onset of the project, few people believed that both modules could be lifted by the DB50 crane alone. It was believed that a dual crane lift would need to be planned for the NDM as the projected weight and center of gravity were at the limits of the DB50's 4400 short ton capacity crane. After much verification of the weights and rigging calculations, both modules were to be lifted by the DB50 alone. The lift of the heavier of the two, the NDM went off without a hitch. Helicopters flew overhead videotaping the lift on a crystal clear day in early December of 1998. The mood aboard the DB50 was relief afterwards. We seemed to be over the hump of the lift that everyone was concerned about. If we could make the heavy lift with such ease, surely the lighter lift would go equally as well. This was not to be. Around ten hours later, after repositioning the DB50 to the other side of the platform, we attempted to lift the SDM. Shortly after lifting the module about 30' off the transport barge, one of cables on the DB50's crane broke and the module fell striking the transport barge and rolling into the stern of the DB50 before sinking to the bottom of the Gulf. Thankfully there were no serious injuries that night.
It was not long afterwards that my career took a vastly different direction, but that's a whole nother story........
Petronius Photos:
TOWER INSTALLATION:
Shearleg Lifting Deep Template
TOPSIDES INSTALLATION:
Mockup of DB50 Main Hoist Hook
