How the Kilauea Jacket Was Fabricated Ahead of Schedule
Authors: Sullivan D.J. , Trosclair S.M. , Popp D.E. 
Published: October 2008

Planned as a fast track project, the fabrication work for the Kilauea jacket and piles was completed two months ahead of schedule between May 1988 and May 1989. Contributing to this success was the close coordination and cooperation between the designers, fabricators and Texaco Inc. during the design phase. Numerous construction preferences were developed and incorporated into the final design. This resulted in an optimal design in terms of simplicity of fabrication and met the in-place design criteria.

The inclusion of the fabricator early in the project significantly enhanced the pre-job planning for the fabrication phase. While design was still underway, detailed fabrication schedules were prepared based on preliminary design drawings. An overall schedule network tied design activities to various fabrication activities. This, coupled with accurate and regular progress monitoring. enabled the overall project status to be monitored very closely. Problem areas were quickly resolved. The close coordination and careful planning by all parties resulted in an early completion of the work.

EARLY PLANNING CONCERNS

Turnkey Award

On December 1,1987, Texaco Inc. awarded a contract for the design, fabrication and installation of the Kilauea Jacket and Piles and the transportation and installation of the four leg drilling and production deck. This contract was awarded as a turnkey project with Hudson Engineering Corporation (HEC) executing the design and McDermott Marine Construction (MMC) based in Morgan City responsible for the fabrication and installation of the completed facility. Both companies are wholly own subsidiaries of McDermott Incorporated.

The turnkey award to an experienced Contractor with design, fabrication and installation capabilities was essential to the success of the project. The Contractor formed three project teams to cover each of the above areas and these were organized under a single Project Manager. The Project Manager had the responsibility and the authority to control the activities of each team as it related to the overall project. As this fast-track project required compression of the schedule (Figure 1) at every opportunity, there were many areas where design and fabrication had to overlap. The turnkey award and project specific organization were essential to this end.

Schedule Compression

From the very beginning of the work, the major concern was the tight schedule slated for the project. Installation had to be completed by August 1, 1989, allowing only 20 months for the entire project. The depressed state of the offshore construction market for some years prior to the award, had depleted fabricators steel inventories as companies tried to operate on cash flow. The schedule could not be improved by relying on existing inventory as there was little material available for such a large project. This inventory shortage was coupled with an increased worldwide demand for steel around the time of the award when steel suppliers were extending delivery times and using delivery quotas to meet demand.