The Van Gogh development is part of the greater Vincent Field located 53 km north-northwest of Exmouth off the coast of Western Australia.

The development of the Van Gogh oil field involves the installation of subsea well production equipment and connection to a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The FPSO incorporates a Disconnectable Turret Mooring Buoy (DTMB), which allows the vessel to disconnect from the field hardware in adverse weather conditions and relocate to safer waters, returning to reconnect when the storm has passed.

JDR’s scope of works included the supply of subsea production umbilicals for use in 350m water depth for a 20 year design life.

The main umbilical from the FPSO to the Drill Center 1 manifold is 4,174m long and the infield umbilical to Drill Center 2 is 1,850m long. The main umbilical riser was installed in a ‘lazy-S’ configuration using distributed buoyancy modules.  To ensure proper dynamic response of the riser, internal ballast was incorporated into the dynamic section.  All electrical cable quads included special low permeation outer jackets to mitigate the effects of hydrogen gas.

The umbilical riser was installed in the DTMB using a bull nose umbilical termination unit (BUTU) and bend stiffener latch mechanism (BSLM).  The BSLM provided automatic connection of the dynamic bend stiffener and allows disconnection by ROV if necessary. 

A subsea distribution unit (SDU) was fitted to the main umbilical and UTAs were fitted to both ends of the infield umbilical.  The two umbilicals were delivered by JDR on standard 9.2 m x 5.0 m installation drums with the SDU & UTAs attached for offshore installation.