Drydocks World Completes World’s Largest Turret

Drydocks World the leading provider of maritime and offshore services to the shipping, oil, gas and energy sectors marked a major milestone in successfully completing the world’s largest turret mooring system with His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group attending the sail-away and completion ceremony to celebrate the occasion.

 At almost 100 meters high, weighing over 11,000 tons and with a diameter of 26 meters, the turret will ensure the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility can operate safely in the most extreme weather conditions. This innovative FLNG storage and production facility will be stationed by Shell at its Prelude gas field off the northwest coast of Australia, unlocking new essential energy resources offshore to meet growing demand.

Drydocks World has constructed the world’s largest turret for SBM Offshore, Technip and Shell; the excellent teamwork and dedicated personnel involved ensured the highest possible standards in safety, quality and operational excellence. With over 5 million LTI-free manhours completed on the turret project, this is a testament to the impeccable safety record the organization maintains. This project confirms Drydocks World’s position as a leader in turret fabrication, strengthening the company’s position as one of the few worldwide specialists capable of delivering such large-scale projects.

Drydocks World has delivered 5 modules for the Shell FLNG turret mooring system and delivery of module 5 represents the completion of the crown jewel of this project, with the turret being the heart of the Prelude FLNG. Dubai is well known for their record-breaking construction projects, and completion of the world’s largest turret is Drydocks World’s contribution towards the continuation of recording breaking projects in Dubai.

This project exemplifies the global nature of the offshore industry, with designs completed in Monaco, construction in Dubai, the modules shipped to South Korea, and for use off Australia, together our companies have come together to create innovative technology for the global energy sector.

Drydocks World has worked with SBM Offshore on several key industry-leading projects, in addition to a strategic alliance agreement with Shell on the repair and maintenance side, and we have had the privilege of working with Technip on numerous occasions. The opportunity to again work jointly on this pioneering project has been very successful, and Drydocks World looks forward to working together on many more projects in the future.