Self-Erection of Offshore Platform Workover Rigs

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for the 42nd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Oct. 1–4, 1967. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. The heavy-duty offshore platform workover rig must be capable of working efficiently with tubing and drill pipe. It must be capable of jarring with substantial hook loads and performing drilling as well as drilling operations of all sorts in high angle directional holes. To evaluate rig mobilization using the light lift, self-erection (platform crane) technique, Walker-Huthnance offshore Workover Company's Rig # 1 was used. This heavy-duty platform workover rig has been in operation in the Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Louisiana, since January, 1967 and has made three locational moves to date. Erection procedure, using the rig's crane, was analyzed on a recent locational move. Cost studies reflect that considerable savings can be effected using the self-erection technique as compared with derrick barge handling. On many platforms rig layout flexibility of the multi-component, self-erected workover rig offers a decided advantage over the large component, derrick barge handled rig. Using the self-erection technique, a rig comprised of light lift packages can be geared for a rougher sea mobilization operation than can a heavier lift rig. Although the light packaged rig has more lifts, these lifts can be handled and positioned faster than can the lifts which comprise the heavier packaged rig. The light lift, self-erection method is an extremely versatile, safe and economical method of platform workover rig mobilization. Introduction Basically, there are four types of offshore well servicing units: The heavy duty platform workover rig; concentric tubing (sand wash) platform workover rig; vessel equipped with a heavy duty workover rig for small jacket type well structures; vessel equipped for concentric tubing (sand wash) work on small jacket type well structures. Although a single offshore servicing unit may be capable of functioning in more than one of these categories, economics is the limiting factor.