The offshore industry must continue to find ways to more efficiently develop deepwater reserves. Dry tree floating production units (DTUs) have now evolved to a point where they are being very cost effectively constructed in 22 months based on standardized detailed designs. Drillmar’s coupled tender mooring solution [1] enables both drilling and production operations to be conducted from these standardized units. This passive mooring system synchronizes the low frequency movements of a semisubmersible vessel to a DTU, maintaining their relative positions to provide an efficient and safe tender operation. This tender strategy decreases the topside payload of the DTU by approximately 6,000 short tons compared to a unit designed for a platform drilling rig. This payload reduction allows standardized production designs to be used at a cost savings of at least 20%, while potentially delivering a project schedule acceleration of 8 to 10 months.

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