Offshore floating platforms used for oil and gas production are fixed to the seabed with mooring systems including anchor chain, mooring lines and connectors.
The integrity of the system is critical to prevent failure and a major pollution incident. Regular inspection and reporting are essential to ensure mooring system reliability.
Franklin Offshore Australia provides non-destructive testing (NDT) and anchor chain inspection services, in house or on-site, in accordance with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) requirements.
DNV’s Certification of Offshore Mooring Chain surveys require magnetic particle inspection, and non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for detecting surface and near surface cracks, as well as visual inspection to detect corrosion, mooring and anchor chain breaks and distortion.
Detect Cracks, Prevent Breaks
A typical floating platform such as a floating production, storage and off-shore loading vessel (FPSO) may have as many as 14 anchor or mooring chains, which might amount to nearly 10km of anchor chain.
Anchor and mooring chains are subject to cyclic loads and, therefore, fatigue. Fatigue may result in crack propagation, which can cause a break well below the ultimate strength of the material. Multiple failures would cause a platform to drift, possibly causing loss of control of well-heads and causing risers to rupture.
Mooring Solutions Specialists
A mooring system can be made up of synthetic fibre rope, wire and chain or a combination of all three. Environmental factors such as wind, waves and currents help determine which materials make up the system.
Chain is the most common choice for permanent moorings in shallow water, while steel wire rope is used in water depths greater than 300 m. Synthetic fibre rope is the lightest weight of all three materials. Chain, wire rope and synthetic fibre rope combinations are used in ultra-deepwater (greater than 2,000 m).
Franklin Offshore Australia is a specialist in mooring solutions and a leader in servicing offshore oil and gas industry requirements.
We offer a complete range of services encompassing design and engineering, through to manufacture, supply and installation of moorings and project related rigging equipment.
Arrange an Inspection
Contact us today to arrange an anchor chain inspection or talk to our team about your industry requirements. We operate around-the-clock and deliver projects on time and to budget. Call +61 (08) 9410 6000 today or submit an online enquiry to find out more.
