Structural Evaluation of a Marine Facility in Iraq

The Government of Iraq intends to improve efficiency of gas production through construction of facilities which will capture, treat and monetize associated gas currently being flared from southern fields. To limit in-country construction risk, it was decided that new facilities would be constructed using a modular construction philosophy, with a view that modules would be imported from fabrication facilities located overseas. For this project, a new module offloading facility (MOF) in Iraq was considered to be unviable and hence, evaluation and assessment of existing marine facilities to handle the proposed modules, was critical for overall project success. After a scoping study, an existing facility located south of Basrah was identified as the site with greatest potential to function as a MOF. This paper discusses the methodology used to assess the structural capacity of the existing marine facility, using a combination of reference information supported by strategic desktop and field surveys.