Deepwater Technology: Engineering the Benguela-Belize compliant piled tower

The Benguela-Belize project is an oil and gas production development located in Block 14 offshore Angola, West Africa. It represents the first application of compliant piled tower (CPT) technology outside of the US Gulf of Mexico, where two such structures have previously been installed. In its finished configuration, the CPT is the fifth-tallest, free-standing structure in the world, more than 30% higher than New York’s Empire State Building. The fast-track project created a bottom-founded production hub facility for six oil pools in 1,280 ft (390 m) water depth. The Benguela-Belize structure was designed to support 40 wells, 16 risers and an operating payload exceeding 40,000 metric tons. This article focuses on the process for selecting the CPT concept, and the considerations and challenges overcome, while designing and engineering the supporting tower for the drilling and production platform.