Spar (platform)
type of oil platform
A spar is a marine structure, used for floating oil/gas platforms. Named after navigation channel Spar buoys, spar platforms were developed as an extreme deepwater alternative to conventional platforms. The deep draft design of spars makes them less affected by wind, wave, and currents and allows for both dry tree and subsea production.
A spar platform consists of a large-diameter, vertical buoyant cylinder(s) supporting a deck. Spars are permanently anchored to the seabed by a spread mooring system composed of either a chain-wire-chain or chain-polyester-chain configuration. The cylinder comprises a number of tanks; the lowest contains ballast, mid-water and/or extracted oil, the upper, air for buoyancy. Helical strakes are fitted to larger & more recent designs to mitigate the effects of vortex-induced motion.
There are three primary types of spars; classic, truss, and cell:
A classic spar consists of a tall-height, cylindrical hull, with tanks for heavy ballast located at the bottom of the cylinder.
A truss spar comprises three parts, a short-height, large-diameter cylindrical hull, atop a truss structure, atop tanks for heavy ballast.
A cell spar consists of a cluster of small-diameter cylinders and relatively speaking, cheap to manufacture.
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