Case study
Trion Project: Topsides pre-FEED, FEED and detailed design
Highlights
23,000
tonnes weight of topsides
250
people on engineering team
120
metres water depth
Since 2012, Wood has supported the engineering and design of the West White Rose platform, an offshore asset originally under Husky and now owned by Cenovus.
Located approximately 350 km off the coast of Newfoundland & Labrador in the Jeanne d’Arc Basin, the West White Rose platform is designed to withstand harsh North Atlantic conditions, including iceberg risk and sea ice.
Scope
The project involves the installation of a new wellhead and drilling platform. The platform is a bottom-founded Concrete Gravity Structure (CGS) built for durability against icebergs, while its 23,000-tonne topsides supports drilling of new production and injection wells. West White Rose will have minimum processing facilities and reservoir fluids produced will be transported to the SeaRose Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) for processing, storage and subsequent offloading to tankers.
Solution
From inception to detailed design
Involved in the early planning and design of the project, Wood’s role extended into detailed design for the topsides program, ensuring structural integrity and performance in extreme weather conditions. The work involved coordinated efforts from the local team in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador; offshore execution center in Houston, Texas; and design teams in Bogotá, Colombia.
The team faced significant challenges, including the logistical complexity of supporting a remote offshore platform. All design decisions accounted for harsh environmental conditions, incorporating measures for iceberg impact resistance and structural performance in extreme weather.
Preparing for operations
In 2017, Wood carried out an initial scoping and definition study to fully define the detailed Operational Readiness and Assurance (ORA) activities which would ensure the safe and effective start-up and handover of the West White Rose platform facilities from the Project to the Asset Operations Team.
Navigating changing tides
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, construction activities on the project were suspended, and shortly after this pause took effect, Cenovus and Husky merged. Wood continued to work with the customer on assessing and advancing the project safely during this time, and in 2022, Cenovus announced the restart of the West White Rose project.
Wood supported the West White Rose project through the work suspension with a small engineering support team in the fabrication yard. This team then remained on the project, supporting the fabrication until the topsides was safely loaded aboard the COSCO Xin Yao Hua, a semi-submersible heavy load carrier, in May 2025.
Result
The topsides was then moved via the sea from Texas to Newfoundland, where it was installed and will eventually be commissioned. More than a logistical milestone, this was the culmination of over 13 years of dedication and resilience.
According to Cenovus, first oil from the platform is anticipated in the first half of 2026, with peak production anticipated to reach approximately 80,000 barrels per day (bbls/d), 45,000 bbls/d net to Cenovus, by year-end 2029.
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