Baldpate is a offshore compliant tower

oil platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

near the coast of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, owned and operated by

Hess Corporation Hess Corporation (formerly Amerada Hess Corporation) is an American global independent energy company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was formed by the merger of Hess Oil and Chemical and Amerada Petrol ...

. It was the first freestanding compliant tower to be built following the Lena platform which was a guyed compliant tower. It is the second tallest structure built in water after the

Petronius (oil platform) Petronius is a deepwater compliant tower oil platform built from 1997 to 2000 and operated by Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico, 210 km southeast of New Orleans, United States. A compliant piled tower design, it is 640 metres (2,100 ft) hi ...

. The Baldpate Platform was designed and built by Hudson Engineering (now J. Ray McDermott Engineering) in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, and installed by

Heerema Marine Contractors Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) is a contractor headquartered in the Netherlands most notable for operation of three of the largest crane vessels in the offshore industry. History Heerema Marine Contractors was formed in 1948 by Pieter Schelte ...

. Compliant towers are designed to be more flexible than traditional fixed truss towers such as the

Bullwinkle (oil platform) Bullwinkle was a tall, pile-supported fixed steel oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Installed in 1988, the total weight of the platform was 77,000 tons, of which the steel jacket comprises 49,375 tones. At the time of its construction it was t ...

. Baldpate in particular is designed to move up to 10 feet laterally during severe storm conditions. The complaint tower section jacket section was fabricated by Aker Gulf Marine, weights a total of 28,900 tons, far below the original estimate of 50,000 tones. The platform was built in multiple sections which were assembled together later when the structure arrived at its final location. The lower 107 m (351 ft) tall base section weights 8,700 tons, this section has a wider base 140 feet squared that reduces to 90 feet squared at its top. The main legs of the structure have a diameter of 12 feet at their widest with a steel thickness of 3.5 inches. At the corner of each side the structure is supported by steel piles which reach a depth of 430 feet. The upper 402 m (1320 ft) tall tower section weights 20,200 tons. This section has a length and width of 90 feet across which remains constant from the bottom to the top of the frame. The main legs in this section have a diameter of 10.67 feet with a steel thickness of 3.3 inches. The total combined height of the jacket/truss tower section of Baldpate is 1,671 feet, 1,647 feet of which is under water. The topside weights an additional 9,800 tons giving the structure a total weight of 38,700 tons.

References

External links

Diagram at Skyscraper.com

HMC World Records
Oil platforms off the United States Petroleum industry in the Gulf of Mexico Energy infrastructure in Louisiana {{Louisiana-struct-stub

See also

References

External links