Houston’s Ardent completed the removal of the Troll Solution jackup in the Bay of Campeche, off Mexico, that the company is calling the largest wreck removal in 2016.
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Ardent deployed assets from several countries, including the crane barge Conquest MB-1, and a 1000 ton hydraulic wreck grab from the Netherlands. Images from Ardent. |
Weighing approximately 7000 tons, the Troll Solution jackup experienced a debilitating accident while carrying out maintenance work on the wellhead platform CAAN-A in 2015. In May, two Typhoon Offshore Services workers died and one was injured at the Troll Solution jackup platform, after one of its legs failed, while working on a Pemex project.
Prior to Ardent’s involvement, efforts were made to refloat and salvage the jackup. The Troll Solution collapsed and sank into the seabed in about 30m water depth. After sinking, the Troll Solution came to rest within 2m from the active CAAN-A platform.
Ardent deployed assets from several countries, including the Conquest MB-1 crane barge, and a 1000 ton hydraulic wreck grab from the Netherlands. Further support vessels were deployed from the US and Mexico.
The Conquest MB-1 vessel with a maximum of 1400 tons lifting capacity has been previously deployed under Titan, Ardent’s pre-merger company, in support of the Costa Concordia cruise ship removal in Italy.
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De Marco walks in front of the bow piece of the Troll Solution after the salvage team cut and lifted it from the seabed. |
The operation used Ardent’s newly designed Guided Guillotine technology to dismember the jackup, instead of cutting with more conventional methods.
“Traditional methods require either a push or pull-cut with chains or diamond wire. Pull-cuts require tunnels to be bored into the seabed, whereas push-cuts require a large framework to be built around,” said Ardent Naval Architect Roland De Marco.
“The main hurdles to overcome were, how to best cut the jackup into sections without fabricating an elaborate structure, and boring holes underneath the jackup through the seabed was improbable due to obstructions,” said Shelby Harris, Ardent Americas operations director.
“We had to apply ingenuity to use our chain cutting techniques on the deck house in a less than conventional method, and the Ardent Guided Guillotine sectioned the hull. The method worked very well,” said Harris.
Conventional guillotine cutters are restricted to operations above the surface. The Ardent Guided Guillotine can function underwater with the precision to cut the Troll Solution jackup into the required lift pieces.
The Ardent salvage team cut the deck house into six pieces with Ardent chain pullers, and the vessel’s hull into 31 pieces with the Ardent Guided Guillotine and subsequently lifted these from the seabed with the Conquest MB-1 crane barge.
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