FPSO BW Catcher Sails for the North Sea

BW Offshore’s Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) BW Catcher has left deep water anchorage off the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore and is currently in transit on a 45-day journey to the Catcher field in the central North Sea where it will go to work for Premier Oil.

 

The FPSO is expected to reach U.K. waters early in the fourth quarter, depending on prevailing weather conditions. Upon its arrival, BW Catcher will commence a seven-year fixed term contract, with extension options of up to 18 years, with Premier Oil.

 

Carl K. Arnet, CEO of BW Offshore, said, “The BW Catcher has been completed on time and within budget, and we are especially pleased with the good HSE performance during the construction project. We have worked over 11 million man hours without a lost time injury and in total around 19 million man hours. The FPSO is now underway to the North Sea for hook-up at the Catcher field, and with first oil scheduled later this year.”

 

BW Catcher has an oil storage capacity of 650,000 barrels and a processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. The FPSO has a design life of 20 years of uninterrupted operations, and will be moored using a Submerged Turret Production system. 

 

Based on a field life of 10 years, BW Offshore’s contract value is $2.3 billion including FPSO charter rate and opex.