Deepwater Infrastructure Forum Sets Off For The Cold Regions

This year’s topic of COPRI's HoustonDeepwater Infrastructure Forum (DIF) is "Challenges of the Cold Regions."  The first meeting was held on February 8, 2005, and focused on geotechnical issues that affect design and construction of facilities in cold regions. These include permafrost, earthquake analysis and design of arctic platforms, and field operations.

Three invited speakers made presentations and then opened it up for an interactive forum. The presenters included Dr. Been, Team Leader for Golder Associates, Frank Puskar, President and Senor Consultant, Energo Engineering, and Jack Templeton, President of SAGE USA, Inc. Dr. Been played a key role in the investigation, design, and construction in support of offshore exploration in the Canadian and Alaskan Beaufort sea in the 1980s, including pipelines, sand and gravel islands, hybrid structures and spray ice islands.  Mr. Puskar has over 23 years of experience in the offshore industry and has been involved in the analysis and design of platforms in many offshore earthquake areas including California, Sakhalin Island, Venezuela, Trinidad and Southeast Asia. Mr. Templeton has over 40 years of experience including over a decade with Exxon Production Research Company (EPR) and an equal period in executive and consulting positions with affiliates of SAGE USA, where he concentrates primarily on finite element analysis of offshore foundation and soil mechanics problems. Speakers covered the new challenges facing Arctic structures, including approaches for gravity based structures, ISO best practices for earthquake design and ice-entrapped platforms.

The next two DIF meetings are scheduled in Houston, TX, for June 7th and October 4th. The June meeting will focus on Technical Design and Winterization Issues - ice loading, material issues and other design concerns.  The October meeting will focus on Logistics and Project Management Issues - HSE (enclosed spaces, whales, etc.), transportation and execution, and local infrastructure for tie-in or execution support. The objective of DIF is to transfer knowledge, generate discussion, and create an environment for networking, relationship building and professional development.

If you are interested in attending a DIF meeting, or wish to be added to the DIF e-mail list, please contact COPRI at copri@asce.org.