The Mero field is an ultra-deep-water oilfield situated approximately 180 kilometers off the shore of Rio de Janeiro. The overall USD 2 billion Mero 3 project is a moored floating production storage and offloading unit with the capacity to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day. Akers Solutions was awarded detailed engineering design but faced structural challenges designing column-free modules, as well as coordination issues working with multiple disciplines, vendors, and fabricators. To combat these obstacles, they realized that they needed an interoperable offshore structural analysis application to streamline workflows and optimize structural solutions.

They selected SACS, enabling loading from multiple disciplines, material takeoffs directly from the model, and seamless export of the analysis model to in-house and third-party software. Using Bentley’s interoperable application produced accurate structural quantities for fabrication, as well as reduced design time, errors, and resource hours. Subsequently, the model will be used to generate construction drawings for the fabrication yard.