TROLL A PLATFORM

THE TROLL A offshore oil and gas drilling platform, at a total height of 472 m, is the
tallest construction which has ever been transported front one location to another. The
structure is also one of the largest and most complex engineering projects in history.

TROLL A IS TALLER THAN THE EMPIRE STATE

BUILDING AND THE EIFFEL TOWER

It was built over a period of four years, using a workforce of about 2000, and it was first
5 deployed in 1995 to produce natural gas from the enormous Troll oil field off the coast
of Norway.

The total weight of the reinforced concrete structure is 656,000 t, which includes 100,000
of reinforcing steel. The volume of the concrete alone (without the steel) is 245,000 m3.

The platform is located in sea water which is 303 m deep at that point,
10 and its legs are sunk 35 m into the seabed in order to provide sufficient
stability.

The structure has four legs made of reinforced concrete. Each leg has
an elevator that takes over nine minutes to travel from the platform
above the waves to the seabed.

15 The legs are hollow and have walls one metre thick. Their shape is a
combination of cylindrical and conical, but the diameter of each
cylinder is wider at the top and bottom.

The legs were built by pouring concrete continuously, by means of a process called slip-
forming, in order to give them maximum strength and make them able to withstand
20 intense pressure.
 This process was a lengthy one, taking 20 min to add only 5 mm to the height of each
leg. The form (which forms the wet concrete into the correct shape) moved (or slipped)
slowly up the tower, pushed by hydraulic cylinders, while the concrete was being poured.
The continuous pour continued day and night without a break for several months until
25 each leg was completely built.

To move the structure, engineers built Troll A’s hollow legs, set them on the ocean’s
surface, then filled them with water to sink them. Once the
engineers had sunk the legs, they then floated the rig’s
platform over the legs in order to attach them together. After
30 draining the legs, Troll A’s builders then dragged the
platform and legs out to sea using ten tugboats. It took the
tugboats a full week to drag the structure a distance of 200
km from the construction site to its final location on the Troll
gas field, 80 km north-west of Bergen in Norway.

35 The Troll platform is connected to electricity supplies on the mainland by means of a

sub-sea electrical cable.

The Troll oil and gas field is one of the largest offshore fields in the world with
recoverable reserves of approximately 1.3 trillion m3 of gas. Today, the field produces
up to 100 million m3 of natural gas every day.

TASK 1: Responder las siguientes consignas.

1. ¿Por qué es especial esta plataforma?

2. Explicar el proceso de construcción.
3. Describir la estructura de la plataforma.

TASK 2: ¿A qué se refieren las siguientes palabras?

1. WHICH línea 7
2. THEIR línea 15
3. THEY línea 28

TASK 3: Completar la tabla con los números correspondientes.

Peso de la estructura
Altura de la estructura
Personas que participaron en su construcción
Producción diaria de gas
Cantidad de patas
Espesor de las paredes de las patas
Metros bajo el fondo del mar
 Distancia desde el sitio de construcción hasta el
campo de gas
Remolcadores utilizados para su traslado

TASK 4: Traducir las siguientes oraciones extraídas del texto

1) THE TROLL A offshore oil and gas drilling platform, at a total height of 472 m, is the
tallest construction which has ever been transported front one location to another.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
2) The total weight of the reinforced concrete structure is 656,000 t, which includes
100,000 of reinforcing steel.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3) Each leg has an elevator that takes over nine minutes to travel from the platform
above the waves to the seabed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
4) Their shape is a combination of cylindrical and conical, but the diameter of each
cylinder is wider at the top and bottom.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
5) Once the engineers had sunk the legs, they then floated the rig’s platform over the
legs in order to attach them together.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
6) The Troll platform is connected to electricity supplies on the mainland by means of a
sub-sea electrical cable.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….