McDermott Completes Medusa Spar

J. Ray McDermott has loaded out the completed Medusa spar hull from its Jebel Ali fabrication yard onto a transportation vessel bound for the Gulf of Mexico. It is the first spar hull to be fabricated by a J. Ray McDermott company worldwide, and the first structure that the Jebel Ali facility has ever exported to the Gulf of Mexico offshore market, according to a report by MENA.

Last week's loadout was the culmination of just over 18 months work fabricating the 11,300-ton, 179-meter, truss spar hull for Murphy Oil's Medusa project. Taller than the Dubai World Trade Center, the structure will be transported over 17,400 kilometers in just over a month to the Mississippi Canyon Block 582 and installed in 678 meters of water.

Project staff at the Jebel Ali facility are already busy constructing a second, similar truss spar hull for Murphy Oil's Front Runner deepwater development - again in the Gulf of Mexico.