Cellular Tendon design has been developed to resolve the limitations of conventional tendons in ultra-deepwater, thereby allowing the use of TLP floaters in water depths beyond 1500m. TLPs are typically the floater of choice when field development calls for dry-trees, drilling/workover use for enhanced reservoir recovery and/or challenging riser designs for sour service in deepwater oil and gas fields. However, as water depths continue to increase, the TLP solution tends to get eliminated, largely due to the limitations of the conventional tendon mooring system. This paper will briefly discuss the composition of Cellular Tendon, followed by review of various phases of project execution, including fabrication, assembly, tow-out, and installation of tendons. Improvements to execution strategy due to use of this technology will be discussed. Finally project risk and economic metrics will be reviewed and discussed. The intellectual property of this design concept is protected under a pending global patent.
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