Archived page. Restored from a capture of bennettoffshore.com/mindoc.html made in February 2019. Independent archive, not the company's website. About this archive

MinDOC™ Titan for ATP Oil & Gas

Of our many engineering accomplishments, Bennett Offshore is especially proud to have been involved in the ATP Oil and Gas Titan project.

Bennett was selected to be the primary naval architecture firm for the project and worked closely with the owners of the MinDOC concept to develop what was to become the ABS-classed MinDOC ATP Titan deepwater drilling and production unit. Our design and engineering team took Mr. William "Bill" Bennett's and Mr. Alden "Doc" Laborde's concept of a multi-column deepwater spar alternative and made it reality.

The scope of the Bennett team's work included the following:

Basic Design

  • Subdivision (compartmentalization) & stability
  • Motions (include checking vortex induced motions)
  • Mooring analysis
  • Structural analysis (global, local, fatigue)
  • Hull electrical & piping design
  • Hull machinery layout
  • Model testing

    Project Administration

  • Interfacing with class (ABS) for approval certification
  • Overall weight control and records
  • Interface with topside designer (and construction)
  • Interface with drilling & operations

    Construction Supervision

  • Interface between owners & yard
  • Quality & safety control.

    Pre-commissioning & Launch

  • Hull deadweight surveys
  • Launch (float-out) analysis
  • Tow analysis

    On-Site Installation

  • Upending (hull was contstructed horizontally & required upending during installation)
  • Trimming & ballast operations during installation
  • Supervision installation of permanent heavy ballast
  • Troubleshooting hull systems

    •  
    Added in 2026

    The Titan in context

    Alden "Doc" Laborde and William Bennett conceived MinDOC as a multi-column alternative to the deepwater spar. ATP Oil and Gas, a Houston company that developed proven but undeveloped reserves in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, approached Bennett & Associates in 2006 and gave it the design contract. The Wikipedia article on Bennett Offshore calls the resulting ATP Titan the first US-built deepwater dry tree drilling and production platform. ATP itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on 18 August 2012.

    What does "dry tree" mean?
    The wellheads sit on the platform deck instead of on the seabed, which makes later work on the wells easier. Spars and tension-leg platforms are the other floating types that allow it.
    Why did the hull need upending?
    The list above notes that the hull was built horizontally and had to be turned upright during installation, so the Bennett scope included upending, trimming and ballast operations on site.

    Sources: Wikipedia articles "Bennett Offshore", "ATP Oil and Gas", "Spar (platform)" and "Tension-leg platform". More on floating platform types in Semi-submersible platforms explained.