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History
The award of the platform for Shell´s Amposta Field in the Spanish sector of the Mediterranean means the beginning of offshore activity for Dragados. This first project which consisted of fabrication of a Production Platform of 950 tonnes weight was the start of the creation of a 30 years experienced company, able to overcome the crisis of the sector.
A yard in Almeria is established for the construction of modules and other components for oil & gas platforms. This yard has, amongst others, a factory designed to fabricate structural tubulars to satisfy the own and third party needs for welded structural tubulars.
The activity in the Puerto Real yard begins. This yard was built over ground gained to sea, as a result of land fill from the dredging carried out to construct the new dry dock of Astilleros Españoles S.A. in Puerto Real by Dragados y Construcciones.
During this period the company is making an effort to make way in this specific business area. It carries out a large number of projects such as living quarters, jackets and modules. Specifici attention has to be given to the deck Brae “A” with 5.000 tonnes weight for Marathon Oil. Furthermore, a Brazilian yard was established, where seven offshore construction projects were carried out. The yard of Almeria was moved in 1983 in order to centralize the activities of the company at the yard of Puerto Real ,permitting a greater potential with its larger dimension.
One of the most emblematic projects of Dragados Offshore began in this year and concluded two years later. This project involved the modular fabrication of the Norwegian Mongstad refinery expansion. More than 150 different modules were constructed with 16.000 tonnes weight within this project.
Fabrication of the services modules Scott for Amerada Hess were started, a project that concluded two years later. This project was the biggest structure constructed in one piece at the Puerto Real Yard. Its sizes were 45m x 35m x 25 m and a total weight of 9.100 tonnes.
The Dragados Offshore yard starts a new activity in the Oil and Gas sector with the construction of the process modules for Texaco of the FPSO with destination the Captain field, opening a new era to what is considered to be one of the most active branches in the offshore sector.
Fabrication of the Britannia Jacket is started, to be installed in the British sector of the North Sea. This is so far the largest jacket built in the Dragados Offshore yard. Its dimensions of 78m x 70m x 165m and a total weight of 21.000 tonnes, the Britannia jacket is a project of great relevance in our history.
In the course of this year, Dragados Offshore initiates its participation in one of the most prestigious projects in Europe, consisting of the construction of the Öresund bridge, linking the cities of Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmö (Sweden). Dragados Offshore’s participation in this project consists of the fabrication of 49 bridge spans of 140m long and 25m wide each, to form the nearly 7 km long bridge. The supply rate of the bridge spans was performed at the extreme rate of 2 spans every 21 days, with a weight of some 5.000 tonnes each.
This year is marked by two main events. On the one hand, Dragdos Offshore decides to enter in the Mexican market, acting as a partner in an EPCIH contract for the detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication, loading, mooring, transport, offshore installation, interconnection, commissioning, testing and hook-up of the AKAL GC complex for process and gas compression. The project consisted of support frames, living quarters, compression module, jackets, tripods, interconnecting bridges and flares. This has been, without any doubt, one of the most strategic moves of our company, both by the added value of entering in EPCIH contracts and by the important increase in activities in foreign countries.
On the other hand, fabrication of the semi-submergible hull Snorre B for Kogas is started. This project represented another challenge due to the complexity, mainly caused by having to work mostly in confined spaces and due to the large amount of stainless steel and titanium materials to be fabricated and installed.
This year, Dragados Offshore’s strategy is rewarded with the award of three new EPC contracts by the Mexican oil and gas company PEMEX. The first project, EPC-39, consists of the construction of a utilities platform and living quarters together with auxiliary structures. The second project, EPC-60, consists of the construction of a utilities platform for servicing the adjacent platforms in the AKAL GC field. The third and largest project consists of the construction of a compression and gas production complex including auxiliary structures, the EPC-78, with a total weight of approximately 20.000 tonnes. The scope of work of the EPC-78 includes finalizing of the detailed engineering, partial procurement, fabrication, load-out, mooring, transport, offshore installation, interconnection, commissioning, testing and hook-up of the complex. Due to the increase and relevance of the Mexican projects, Dragados Offshore decides near the end of the year to create a subsidiary company in this country, creating Dragados Offshore Mexico, S.A.
Again a year of great importance for Dragados Offshore. On the one hand, the award of two large projects. The first one, fabrication and erection of the topsides for Statoil’s Snøhvit project, with a total weight of 24.000 tonnes. A complex which again establishes a record for the company as the heaviest installation built in our yard. The second one, fabrication and erection of a 10.500 tonnes process deck for the Canadian petroleum company EnCana, with destination the Buzzard field in the British sector of the North Sea .
On the other hand, a magnificent event takes place this year, being the opening of the structural fabrication yard in Tampico, Mexico. Again, this strategic decision is based on the increased presence of Dragados Offshore in Mexico with the intention to serve mainly PEMEX, the most important client in the Gulf of Mexico.
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