After 23 months of dedicated construction of the largest deck ever built in the Arabian Gulf, project staff at J Ray McDermott's Jebel Ali fabrication facility bid farewell to the 12,125-tonne Amenam Kpono AMP1 production platform as it embarked on a 28-day, 7,360-mile journey to Nigeria recently.

The integrated deck was constructed for Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd under a contract to a consortium led by Saibos CML, for the Amenam/Kpono field, located approximately 19 miles off the coast of Nigeria - in waters 131 feet deep.

"Amenam was a turnkey EPCI (Engineer, Procure, Construct, Install) undertaking by the project consortium and J Ray McDermott's involvement was fabrication of the AMP1 jacket and deck," said Kurt Nelson, vice president and general manager of J Ray McDermott, SA, Eastern Hemisphere operations.

"The construction of the AMP1 production platform was fast-track, and there are few yards in the world capable of fabricating a deck of such magnitude, within such a time frame," explained Nelson.

"We designed the project execution plan to comply with the client's schedule and to deliver with uncompromised commitment to safety and quality, so that the deck could be pre-commissioned before it left our yard."

Throughout the entire project several million man-hours were spent constructing the deck, with only one minor lost time incident - a considerable success - given the nature and complexity of the project, the company said.

"The completion of this size facility for export to West Africa is certainly an achievement. Our skilled workforce and specialists have produced first class, quality work and I am extremely proud of their contribution to the project's success," said Nelson The AMP1 deck, constructed as a single piece, comprises three decks - a weather deck, mezzanine deck and main deck - with an additional, smaller cellar deck and an integrated four-level building. Built as separate deck levels this led to a series of impressive lifts when the levels - ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes each - were stacked one on top of the other, a procedure adopted to maximize productivity by enabling simultaneous work on all three decks.

The associated jacket with appurtenances of 3,700 tonnes was also fabricated at J. Ray's Jebel Ali yard - and was recently completed in December 2002.

The design production and processing capacity of the overall facility is 130,000 barrels of oil per day, with gas and water injection per day of 15 million m3 and 12,500 m3 respectively.

J Ray McDermott, Inc. is a subsidiary of McDermott International, Inc. A leading worldwide company specialising in offshore field developments, its turnkey and project management services include design, fabrication and installation of spar platforms; design and installation of subsea facilities; design, fabrication, transportation and installation of new and refurbished bottom-founded offshore platforms; and, installation of offshore pipelines for the oil and gas industry.

McDermott International, Inc, is a leading worldwide energy services company. The company's subsidiaries provide engineering, fabrication, installation, procurement, research, manufacturing, environmental systems, project management and facility management services to a variety of customers in the energy industries, including the US Department of Energy.

J Ray McDermott's regional headquarters for the Middle East, India, Caspian and South East Asia is based at Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. The company announced recently that Robert A "Bob" Deason had been named president and chief operating officer effective March1, 2003. Deason has more than 30 years' engineering and construction management experience and will report to Bruce W. Wilkinson, chairman and chief executive officer of McDermott.

Deason comes to J Ray after spending the most recent 18 years of his career at Fluor, a diversified industrial company, where he held various positions including vice president of operations for the Oil and Gas and Chemical Strategic Business Unit, vice president, Project Management for Production, Pipelines and Marine Services, and vice president, Project Management for the Petroleum and Petrochemical Operating Company. Prior to joining Fluor, Deason was executive vice president of Gulf Interstate Engineering Company, where he was responsible for the management of pipeline projects worldwide, and senior vice president for operations at PLT Engineering, where his responsibilities included management of all activities relating to the US government's strategic petroleum reserves in Louisiana and Texas. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.

"Bob brings to J Ray a proven track record that includes profit and loss responsibility for worldwide operations generating revenues of over $1.0 billion annually. His experience in successfully managing large-scale international engineering and construction projects and his knowledge of our customers and their specific needs makes him the ideal choice to bring a new strategic focus to our marine construction operations," said Wilkinson.