This situation is changing with BPX’s development focus on the North Star unit, which lies in 40 ft of water northwest of Prudhoe Bay. The area was originally explored by Shell and Amerada Hess who built two drilling islands (Seal and North Star) in the 1980’s. The proposed development scheme includes restoration and expansion of Seal Island and a marine pipeline approximately 7 miles to shore. For this development, INTEC is the pipeline engineering member of an Alliance team which consists of engineers, fabricators and seasoned Alaskan installation contractors. The project has been completed through conceptual engineering and is now in the preliminary engineering phase which includes on-ice field work during February-March.

INTEC’s concept development team, consisting of Craig Fitzgerald and José Gonzalez, relocated to Anchorage for the initial 6 month effort. During this period, various strategies and their associated costs were evaluated by BPX and members of the Alliance group.

Because the field development strategy involves the world’s first subsea Arctic pipeline, several technical issues are being resolved in detail during preliminary design. These include route selection, landfall site, ice gouge protection, permafrost and construction.

An important objective during the conceptual engineering phase was to minimize cost and schedule. This resulted in consideration of innovative construction methods such as through-ice excavation and installation. On-ice construction has been used successfully in artificial island construction and, coupled with spray ice thickening, offer an attractive alternate to conventional marine methods in this area.

In support of preliminary design, a winter borehole and soils testing program has been completed and analysis is underway to determine the characteristics of the soils to be excavated and identify the presence of ice-bonded permafrost, if any. This work is being followed by a winter program to demonstrate the feasibility of excavating the required trench depth of about 10 ft through a slot in the sheet ice. This test will be conducted on the floating landfast section in about 10 ft of water during March using the same techniques planned for the actual construction next year. Two test trenches will be prepared to gather information concerning ice behavior, in order to verify excavation rates and streamline procedures.

For the preliminary engineering phase, Craig and family have moved back to Houston with José remaining in Anchorage to continue coordinating the local Alliance partners, BPX and permitting agencies. The team remains small and focused with Sam Foster managing the effort supported by Glenn Lanan, Gilles Perry and newcomer Brian McShane. INTEC’s Vice President of Engineering, Dave McKeehan, continues to be actively involved with this exciting frontier project.

Aside from the obvious need for careful planning to achieve the technical and financial goals set for the North Star development, this project reflects the progressive trends in alliancing which have permitted dramatic cost reductions in field development. We are also keenly aware of the confidence that BPX (Alaska) has placed in us and look forward to exceeding their expectations.

George Lagers has been appointed as Managing Director of our new office , which opens for business on April 1, and he can be reached at:

INTEC Engineering BV
Poortweg 14
2612 PA Delft, The Netherlands
Tel: 31-10-411-7947 (Temp)
Fax: 31-10-213-1208 (Temp)

We will keep you updated on progress in the lowlands!

t a recent offshore pipeline conference in Amsterdam, a fellow engineer implored a gathering of oil industry representatives to resist the habit of over-emphasizing price when selecting engineering services, and relieve the downward pressure on rates. While I share his concern, I also believe that we as engineers can do more to help those who use our service to judge its value. Development of an engineering solution should be valued based on the contribution it makes to the return on our Client’s investments. When we are asked to bid on a defined engineering task, someone has already decided what the solution is to their problem, and wants an engineer to work out the details. To the buyer of the services, the greatest benefit to his bottom line, at this point, is getting the service at the lowest price. This is the unfortunate situation about which my industry friend was commiserating.

We often find, however, that the problem we are asked to solve is only a symptom, and not the real issue, and that we can achieve a greater return on a Client’s investment if we are given an opportunity to address the broader question. To do this, the engineer must have a good understanding of economic issues,

As engineers, we have to meet this challenge and make the necessary arrangements and associations to be able to understand and solve the broad issues, namely how to meet or exceed the return on investment criteria posed by our Clients. The oil companies, on the other hand, must be willing to define the real questions and the technical and economic acceptance criteria, without pre-conceiving the solution, determining the allowable pricing of parts of this solution, and practicing a detached project management style. This way all parties benefit, and smart ideas can be rewarded for what they are worth in the context of the whole investment.

In this issue we are proud to announce two initiatives that are in line with this thinking. One is the TOPS joint venture, the other is INTEC’s new office in The Netherlands. We will keep you posted on how these ventures fare and whether we are successful in demonstrating (and be rewarded for) our initiatives.

W. J. Timmermans
President