To meet the fast-track schedule, Fluor engaged a sophisticated multi-office execution to perform the detailed design of 36 large ocean-going modules, each weighing up to 1,700 metric tons. Additionally, Fluor worked closely with a number of Russian design institutes on this project. Fluor analyzed the capabilities of several module fabricators around the world, selecting a South Korean company that could meet the delivery schedules.
Fluor used a single shared global-engineering PDMS model, allowing multiple offices to work around the clock. It was called “The Project that Never Slept,” as the complex design and construction process spanned numerous time zones around the world every day, from Moscow to Houston to the Chayvo construction site to Ulsan, South Korea to New Delhi, finally winding up back in Moscow.
A satellite-based communication system and execution platform used on the project was one of the most advanced systems ever designed. It linked all design participants with more than 20 construction contractors on Sakhalin Island.
Fluor, with an on-site workforce more than 80 percent Russian, continued to work through the winter, facing extreme environmental conditions. The site was prepared to receive the final 2006 sealift of modules, which arrived smoothly and were quickly set in place.
Fluor achieved mechanical completion of the onshore processing facility slightly ahead of the October 2006 due date. This project featured some of the greatest challenges that can be faced in design, logistics, and construction. It illustrated Fluor’s ability to work with the client as well as with a multicultural workforce, global offices, and subcontractors in a challenging environment, delivering in the end dependability, expertise, and safety.
As a result of Fluor's successful completion of the Chayvo Onshore Processing Facility (OPF) in 2006, the company was awarded a contract by Exxon Neftegas Limited in August 2009, on behalf of the Sakhalin-1 Consortium, to expand the OPF.