Master Mag Templet - Frank's International, Inc.

The production risers were fabricated at Frank’s
new state of-the-art riser fabrication facility in
New Iberia, Louisiana. Kumar Mallenahalli,
Business Unit Manager, Deepwater Fabrication
at Frank’s, explains, “Our 80 acres of property
borders on the commercial canal that enters from
the Gulf of Mexico. This location is ideal for providing
savings to our customers because we have
the ability to unload pipe from a barge or workboat,
perform the necessary fabrication, and then
reload the final product without any trucking costs!”
The pipe and connector material for the production
risers were made out of AISI 4130 material,
making welding more of a challenge. Frank’s was
the only company with previous welding experience
with this type of material for production riser
applications. This was one of the reasons for
awarding the riser fabrication contract to Frank’s.
Frank’s scope of work on this project included
qualifying a welding procedure to meet stringent
CTOD requirements in the weld metal and HAZ,
fatigue testing to meet DnV Class C and Class F2
requirements for Level I and Level II joints, fabrication
of connectors to pipe as well as pipe to
pipe, video-probe inspection of root bead, automated
OD/ID grinding for Level I welds, postweld
heat treating (PWHT), and nondestructive testing
such as radiographic and
MPI inspection in addition
to AUT inspection
for Level I riser joints.
“Our riser fit-up and
welding are performed
using automated internal
alignment line-up clamps
and computerized welding
machines. In addition,
precise and realtime
control of pipe
rotational speed is maintained
during welding,”
says Mallenahalli. This
automated riser-fabrication
system significantly
reduces operator error
and assures consistency
from one weld to the
next, resulting in high
productivity. Because of
this, we’re able to meet
a very tight production
deadline while still meet-
ing all the stringent quality requirements, such as
those for Kizomba A.”
Frank’s has fabricated top tensioned production
risers since 1992, including Shell’s production risers
for all five TLPs in the GOM (Auger, Mars, Ram-
Powell, Ursa, and Brutus). In addition, Frank’s has
fabricated production riser joints for El Paso’s Prince,
Anadarko’s Marco Polo, and BP’s Holstein projects.
Mallenahalli also states, “Recently, the Deepwater
Fabrication Division at Frank’s was awarded their
single largest fabrication contract to date, i.e.
fabrication of very technically challenging Steel
Catenary Welds (SCR) for the BP Atlantis project
in the GOM. This will be the first time quad (160
feet) joints will be fabricated at Frank’s as part of
Frank’s work scope.”
Looking to the Future
Frank’s successful contributions for Kizomba A are
being employed on Kizomba B, the second and
identical TLP in the development plan for Angola’s
Block 15. The only difference between the two is
that B will have subsea production coming in on
the first day of service in early 2006, while this
capability will be added to Kizomba A later. ■
▼ Dual completion with Frank’s Control Line Pusher Arm and Frank’s RS350
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