PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Caribbean): Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, recently launched one of the world’s highest gas rated unmanned platforms at the La Brea Industrial Development Company (LABIDCO) construction yard.
The fully automated US$54.5 million platform was built using over 80 per cent local content for fabrication and 34 per cent for engineering and design. The platform was constructed by two joint venture companies, Trinidad Offshore Fabricators Unlimited (TOFCO), and Fluor /Summit Design.
Prime Minister Manning said the entry into fabrication of offshore platforms signalled the beginning of a new industry in Trinidad and Tobago. He said the country was now covering the range of upstream and downstream dimensions of energy sector.
The platform, ‘Cannonball’ named after a local tree that produces a fruit that looks like a cannonball, was the second built at LABDICO, the first being the ‘Kairi One’ in April 2004.
Cannonball’s design allows for a “cookie cutter” approach making future constructions easier and more cost effective. It can produce a maximum of one billion cubic feet of natural gas a day and will be located in 235 feet of water 40 miles off Trinidad’s east coast.
In keeping with government’s vision for Trinidad and Tobago to become a developed country by the year 2020 (Vision 2020), the Prime Minister said “Let us therefore … engage the related opportunities to develop the industrial and energy sectors”.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of bpTT, Robert Riley, said his company, which commissioned the platform, intends to order 10-12 more over the next 20 years depending on the rate of gas reservoir development. This, he said, “will keep the design engineers and fabricators busy and ensure the sustainability of these locally provided services.”
He said the engineering and fabricating companies could also be the future supplier of offshore structures to Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.
