2.3.4 Platform Fabrication Yards 



Production platforms are installed offshore to support drilling and 

 production operations and to provide crew housing and supply storage 

 (see Figure 33). The types of platforms currently in use are fixed- 

 pile platforms , usually made of steel, and gravity platforms , made of 

 steel or concrete and held to the bottom by their own weight supplemented 

 with ballast. Platforms are composed of a superstructure called the 

 "jacket", and "deck" for drilling operations which sits on top of the 

 jacket. They are described in Section 2.2.3 -- Production Drilling. 



Fiqure 33. Platform fabrication yard - project implementation schedule. 



INVESTMENT COMMITMENTS: 



Site Purchase 



Site Option(s) Taken 



Start of 

 Construction 



YEARS ••• 



PERMIT ACQUISITIONS: 



Beqin Yard 

 Operations 



Acquisition of Use and 

 Location Permits 



Operating Permits 



Preconstruction Permits 

 (Includes EIS) 



The fabrication of these immense structures and the platform jackets 

 is done in specialized facilities known as platform-fabrication yards. 

 These yards have the highest impact on coastal environments of any 

 onshore facility required by offshore oil and gas development. A fabrica- 

 tion yard requires more land on the waterfront, more heavy industrial 

 materials, and a much larger labor force than any other onshore project. 

 Due to the extensive requirements of a fabrication yard, it will invariably 

 become the nucleus of numerous ancillary service and supply companies — 

 welding supply, marine repair, and heavy equipment sales. 



150 



