Type:
Oil
Facility:
Production
Water Depth:
33
Installed:
1996
meters
Block:
110/8a
Design:
Floating steel
Sub Structure:
0
Topsides Wgt:
0
tonnes
tonnes
Intro
The Douglas CALM buoy is a catenary anchor leg mooring system located in the UK Central North Sea, serving the Douglas oil field export system. Installed in the 1990s, it provides offshore offloading capability for stabilized crude oil from the Douglas FPSO to shuttle tankers. It is an unmanned marine installation with no processing capability.
Field
The Douglas oil field is situated in the Central North Sea and produces oil from Paleocene sandstone reservoirs. Developed using floating production facilities, the field relies on offshore storage and tanker export, necessitating a dedicated CALM buoy for safe crude offloading operations.
Facilities
The CALM buoy provides a single-point mooring for shuttle tankers during offloading operations. Stabilized crude oil is transferred from the Douglas FPSO to the buoy via subsea pipelines and flexible hoses, then onward to the tanker. The buoy is anchored to the seabed by multiple catenary chains and designed to rotate freely, allowing tankers to weather-vane. Facilities include product swivel systems, cargo transfer piping, control and monitoring systems, and emergency release mechanisms. Safety features include remotely operated valves, leak detection, and emergency shutdown interfaces with the FPSO. The installation operates without permanent staffing and is monitored remotely. The Douglas CALM buoy is designed for long-term marine service and reliable tanker export under North Sea environmental conditions.
Similar Platforms
SUBMIT YOUR STORIES AND PHOTOS
RigOil is built on the stories of the people who lived and worked offshore. If you have photos or memories from life on a North Sea platform, we’d love to include them in the archive.
Upload your photos and help preserve this shared history.*
*By submitting content, you confirm you have the right to share it and grant RigOil a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use the material for editorial, promotional, and commercial purposes. Copyright remains with the contributor.