FoundOcean Ltd
Profile
FoundOcean has nearly 50 years’ experience of subsea and offshore foundation grouting for the global energy construction industries. We provide life extension solutions for offshore structures which includes inspection, repair and maintenance services, marine growth control products, freespan correction grout bags, and pipeline/cable support.
Address
Liston Exchange Liston Court
Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 1ER
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 1628 567 000
Fax: +44 1628 564 810
Press Releases
FoundOcean completes the grouting for Narecs NOAH met mast
FoundOcean has completed the grouting contract for Narec’s Offshore Anemometry Hub (NOAH), under contract to SeaRoc. The NOAH contract was a notable project in another very successful year for FoundOcean which included offshore operations in the United Arab Emirates, South East Asia, Australia, India, the Gulf of Mexico, and Europe, reconfirming their position as the world’s leading offshore structural grouting specialist. Due to the makeup of the seabed on the NOAH project, the 60m high foundation design was not a typical tripod: it was designed to be secured using a rock socket grouted connection and a grouted pile sleeve connection at each of its legs. This meant that communication between FoundOcean and SeaRoc was essential to ensure the project was completed successfully within the tight project schedule. The grouting operations took place in two stages. After the jacket was placed and the 10m deep rock socket was drilled through the pile sleeve, FoundOcean mixed and pumped grout into the socket. Immediately following this, a 24m long pile was lowered through the sleeve into the grout-filled rock socket. The rock socket grout contained a special retarder to slow the curing rate, and ensure it did not set before the pile was inserted. The retarder was added via a metred dosing system built into the mixer. The remaining two rock socket connections followed the same procedure. Once the rock socket connections were established, FoundOcean then injected ordinary Portland cement grout into the three annuli between the piles and the tripod sleeves via connectors above sea level. The offshore operations were completed in 4 days. Toby Mead, Operations Director at SeaRoc led the project and commented that, “FoundOcean’s onshore support team and offshore personnel were professional, knowledgeable and clearly experts in their field.” About FoundOcean FoundOcean has nearly 50 years’ experience of subsea and offshore foundation grouting for the global energy construction industries. FoundOcean also provides life extension solutions for offshore structures which includes structural inspection, repair and maintenance services, marine growth control products, freespan correction grout bags, and pipeline/cable support and protection services. This is why, to offshore installation contractors, FoundOcean is the subcontractor of choice for minimising the risks associated with completing projects safely and on time. FoundOcean was founded in 1966 and is a privately held UK-headquartered company. Its specialist grouting equipment is located for rapid deployment in Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, South East Asia, India and the Middle East. FoundOcean is certified to ISO 9001:2008 by DNV, and is also FPAL registered. Press Contacts Rebecca Morgan Marketing Manager, FoundOcean T: +44 1628 567 000 E: pr@foundocean.com Jana Pavelkova Account Executive, The Think Tank T: +44 20 7831 2225 E: janap@thinktank.org.uk
FoundOcean awarded multiple North Sea repair and strengthening contracts
Jim Bell, Managing Director of FoundOcean said, “Maintenance is an essential part of ensuring the longevity of an offshore structure. FoundOcean has a strong track record in providing inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) services. These cost-effective upgrade and reinforcement solutions can be used to remedy damage or extend a structure’s design life.” The company is scheduled to complete five IRM contracts in quarters three and four of this year. Four of these projects are for grouted repair clamps to restore structural integrity, and the fifth will rectify movements in a platform by addressing seabed scour. Because repairs take place in live platform environments, special air-driven batch mixing equipment is used to comply with Hazardous Zone 2 regulations. The first platform processes oil & associated gas from several fields. The platform’s firewater caisson is corroding. It will be repaired by fitting two grouted clamps connected by four new structural members around the caisson. An ordinary Portland cement and seawater mix will be injected into the annulus for structural integrity. The second platform to be repaired is located off the north-east coast of the Shetland Islands. This platform is also suffering from a corroded caisson. The caisson will be fitted with a grouted clamp over the damaged areas. Once the grout plug is set, FoundOcean will continue to fill the rest of the clamp/caisson annulus. The clamp has been designed with bolt-together sections and is equipped with primary and secondary grout inlets. It will then be attached to an adjacent brace member by a stressed mechanical clamp to restrict lateral movement. The third platform receives and processes oil and gas from a number of fields in the North Sea. A four sleeve repair clamp has been installed on the drill cuttings caisson of the jacket. FoundOcean grouted sleeves one, three and four in 2007, leaving sleeve two which could not be completed before the end of the planned maintenance period. A bladder will be inserted into the caisson and inflated, ensuring grout does not enter the caisson when grouting commences. A grout plug will be set at the bottom of the clamp; grout will then be injected into the annulus between the clamp and the caisson using a stinger until good grout returns are seen exiting the outlet. FoundOcean’s fourth platform repair is located 312 km east of Dundee, Scotland. The jacket will be fitted with two stressed clamp configurations. The first is an ‘X-Node’ clamp assembly and the second a ‘K-Node’ clamp assembly. Each configuration is made up of bolt-together sections which are equipped with primary and secondary grout connections. FoundOcean will grout the annuli between the clamps and the members to ensure structural integrity. FoundOcean will use CEM I Type 52.5 Ferrocrete cement to achieve a specific gravity of 1.98. The fifth platform of the season is located in the southern North Sea and stands in 24 metres of water. Localised scour has eroded the seabed from under the platform leg mudmats and is putting excess pressure on the crown shim welded leg-to-pile connections at the top of the legs. This is causing movement in the platform which may eventually lead to a reduced platform life. The movement will be stopped by rectifying the scour and strengthening the leg-to-pile connection with grout. Donut-shaped grout bags will be placed around and under the circumference of each mudmat. The bags will be filled to form a seal between the underside of the mudmat and the seabed. The void under the mudmat will then be filled with grout to form a solid base and plug the bottom of the leg. Finally, a grout inlet will be drilled into each leg and the annulus between the outside of the pile and the inside of the jacket leg will be filled with grout. About FoundOcean FoundOcean has over 45 years' experience of subsea and offshore foundation grouting for the global energy construction industries. FoundOcean also provides life extension solutions for offshore structures which includes structural inspection, repair and maintenance services, marine growth control products, freespan correction grout bags, and pipeline/cable support and protection services. This is why, to offshore installation contractors, FoundOcean is the subcontractor of choice for minimising the risks associated with completing projects safely and on time. FoundOcean was founded in 1966 and is a privately held UK-headquartered company. Its specialist grouting equipment is located for rapid deployment in Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, South East Asia, India and the Middle East. FoundOcean is certified to ISO 9001:2008 by DNV, and is also FPAL registered. Press Contacts Rebecca Morgan Marketing Manager, FoundOcean T: +44 1628 567 000 E: pr@foundocean.com Jana Pavelkova Account Executive, The Think Tank T: +44 20 7831 2225 E: janap@thinktank.org.uk
FoundOcean appointed grouting contractor for 108 monopiles at West of Duddon Sands
FoundOcean has been awarded a major offshore wind farm grouting contract in European waters by Offshore Wind Force, a joint venture of Dutch-based contractors Volker Stevin Offshore and Boskalis Offshore. The West of Duddon Sands Offshore Wind Farm is being constructed by DONG Energy and ScottishPower Renewables in the east Irish Sea, approximately 14km from Walney Island. It is located near an array of projects including Walney I and II as well as Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm, whose 31 jacket foundations were grouted by FoundOcean in 2010. The 108 3.6MW turbines will be housed on monopiles each of which have been designed with rapid grouting in mind; fixed grout lines will be fabricated on the transition piece with flexible hoses extending to the turbine deck. FoundOcean will connect their grout hoses to the flexible hose at the deck level and once grouting is complete, both sets of grout hoses will be detached. FoundOcean will grout the foundations between May and November 2013, using BASF’s Exagrout Masterflow® 9500. Masterflow® 9500 is fast becoming the high strength grout of choice for offshore wind projects thanks to its pioneering properties which support structural integrity. These include: impeccable volume stability due to its zero autogenous shrinkage, longterm durability against fatigue and fracture, and its early strength propagation which allows for a degree of protection against early cyclic loading on a structure. Couple these benefits with the installation advantage of its ability to be mixed and pumped at air temperatures as low as 0ºC and it becomes clear why this new generation of material is making such an impact. Masterflow® 9500 has already been selected by wind farm developer RWE for two of its European wind farms: Nordsee Ost – 49 jacket foundations off the German coast; and Gwynt y Môr – 160 monopile foundations off Liverpool Bay in the Irish Sea. About FoundOcean FoundOcean has nearly 50 years' experience of subsea and offshore foundation grouting for the global energy construction industries. FoundOcean also provides life extension solutions for offshore structures which includes structural inspection, repair and maintenance services, marine growth control products, freespan correction grout bags, and pipeline/cable support and protection services. This is why, to offshore installation contractors, FoundOcean is the subcontractor of choice for minimising the risks associated with completing projects safely and on time. FoundOcean was founded in 1966 and is a privately held UK-headquartered company. Its specialist grouting equipment is located for rapid deployment in Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, South East Asia, India and the Middle East. FoundOcean is certified to ISO 9001:2008 by DNV, and is also FPAL registered. Press Contacts Rebecca Morgan Marketing Manager, FoundOcean T: +44 1628 567 000 E: pr@foundocean.com Jana Pavelkova Account Executive, The Think Tank T: +44 20 7831 2225 E: janap@thinktank.org.uk
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