Forgemasters wins £5.5m oil platform contract with industrial giant

Sheffield Forgemasters is getting involved in the first major offshore oil development in two years, having secured a £5.5m contract with Samsung Heavy Industries.

Its oil and gas specialist division Vulcan SFM will supply 73 steel casings for a semi-submersible oil platform.

The castings, ranging from 0.5 to 19.5 tonnes will be part of the project, as will a hull being built in Korea by Samsung for operation in a Gulf of Mexico oil field.

It is the first major offshore development to be sanctioned since 2015 and will see a second oil platform installed at an undisclosed, established oilfield, to increase overall production capacity.

The new floating production platform will have the capacity to produce up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from up to 14 production wells. Oil production is expected to begin in late 2021.

Paul Mockford, design director at Vulcan SFM, Forgemasters’ offshore division, said: “It is a testament to Sheffield Forgemasters’ standing in the offshore oil and gas sector that we should win this contract for the first major offshore development since 2015.

“We have a long-standing relationship with SHI and our track record in delivering robust cast engineering solutions for use in offshore oil and gas developments is unparalleled.

“The contract is for a range of components, 20 of which are module support castings which allow the topside modules to sit on the hull of semi-submersible platform – the remaining castings are structural components within the hull.

“These hull castings are complex shapes and will reproduce the intersection of multiple plates of steel which would otherwise be welded together. Castings provide a more fatigue resistant solution in these highly loaded locations.

“One of the key benefits of using a cast solution for complex joints is that they can be designed to reduce the effect of fatigue loading. Thicker sections can be used in areas of high stress and smooth radii introduced to give reduced stress-concentration factors.”

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