Oil Processing Capacity News

Classification society ABS announced it has granted approval in principle (AIP) for a the Sterling Streamline, a next generation concept design for large floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) newbuild hulls from India's Shapoorji Pallonji Energy (SPE).The design features flexible mooring configurations, 60 risers and an umbilical slots riser balcony, with an oil processing capacity of up to 250,000 barrels per day and storage capacity of minimum 2.2 million barrels of crude oil.

Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Pvt Ltd (SP Energy) said Monday it had obtained a Class Approval-in-Principle for the Concept and Design Basis of its FPSO Newbuild Hull from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). SP Energy has been working on the concept design of ‘STERLING STREAMLINE’, described as a new generation of its standardized newbuild hull concept design for large FPSOs, since July this year. According to SP Energy, the new FPSO hull will be designed for a circa 33-year lifespan with a topside capacity of up to 65,000 MT of wet weight.

Shapoorji Pallonji Energy Pvt Ltd (SPE), on Friday unveiled a new generation of its standardized newbuild Hull concept design for large FPSOs called Sterling Streamline."SP Energy, India’s sole specialist in designing, building, owning and operating Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) units, is developing this new hull design that it believes would be an appropriate off-the-shelf solution for the offshore industry," the company said.“The new FPSO hull design signifies SPE’s commitment to drive efficiency across all aspects of the project.

FPSO leasing firm BW Offshore has secured a one-year contract extension for the lease and operation of the FPSO Espoir Ivoirien. The firm period has been extended until the end of Q1 2023.The FPSO is operating on the Espoir field offshore the Ivory Coast for CNR International (Cote D'Ivoire) SARL. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.The vessel's firm contract with CNR had been scheduled to expire in 2022, and BW Offshore and CNRI had signed a short-term extension for Espoir Ivoirien from April 4 to May 15, 2022 time to finalize terms for a further contract extension.

After it last month said it would recycle its FPSO BW Cidade de São Vicente, FPSO owner BW Offshore has now agreed to sell another FPSO for scrap, this time the FPSO Umuroa.The company said Monday it had signed an agreement to recycle the FPSO Umuroa in compliance with the Hong Kong International Convention at Baijnath Melaram (‘the Yard’) in India. "The sale will generate USD 13.5 million in net liquidity. The yard is certified to ISO standards and has been issued with a Statement…

According to Rystad Energy research, the market for floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) units almost brushed off the pandemic's effect in 2021, driven mostly by Brazil demand, and is predicted to continue apace in 2022, with 10 new awards expected.Two lease contracts were awarded in the fourth quarter of 2021, bringing the total for the year to 10 – up from just three in 2020 – a strong rebound for the FPSO market.Per Rystad, demand for FPSO units in Brazil was a significant contributing factor that drove 2021 growth…

Norwegian floating oil and gas production systems owner BW Offshore has secured a one-year contract extension in Nigeria for one of its FPSOs.The contract, with Addax Petroleum Exploration (Nigeria) Ltd, is for the lease and operation of the FPSO Sendje Berge. The firm period has been extended to Q4 2022, BW Offshore, which owns a fleet of 14 floaters, said.According to WorldEnergyReports FPSO Database, the Sendje Berge is a spread-moored FPSO used for production at the Okwori field in Nigeria on a contract with Addax/Sinopec.The vessel caught media attention in July last year after pirates attacked it and kidnapped nine Nigerian crew members. A month after the incident, BW Offshore said that the workers had been safely released.

More FPSO contracts were awarded in the second quarter of 2021 than during the whole of 2020, with Rystad Energy expecting FPSO awards to reach a total of 10 units in 2021. Rystad has also noted muted interest from suppliers for some recent FPSO tenders, citing a nearly full capacity with several suppliers unable to take on new projects.Further, Rystad sees another 10 FPSO orders in 2022, which will, according to the Norwegian energy intelligence group, create "a very healthy project line-up for contractors…

FPSO operator BW Offshore has reached a settlement with the New Zealand government over the FPSO Umuroa, which has been stuck at the Tui field, around 50 kilometers off the coast of Taranaki, for months.BW Offshore has been unable to remove its FPSO from the Tui field following the contract termination, client liquidation, and the country's court and environment regulator intervention.Client Tamarind Taranaki in October 2019 said it wouldn't extend the FPSO contract after December 31…

As oil and gas companies began shutting offshore production before the first tropical storm of the season in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, experts said restarting wells and refineries will take longer and prove more costly this year because of COVID-19.Well shut-ins typically last a few days or weeks at most, but oil companies have adopted stringent virus precautions for refinery and offshore staff, including frequent health checks, travel restrictions, onsite protective gear, and…

Keppel Offshore & Marine subsidiary Keppel Shipyard Ltd is on track to deliver a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to Yinson Production (West Africa) Pte Ltd (Yinson), a subsidiary of Yinson Holdings Berhad, marking the first FPSO delivery of 2017. The spread-moored FPSO unit was named John Agyekum Kufuor during a naming ceremony held at Keppel Shipyard this morning. It will be chartered by ENI Ghana Exploration & Production Limited (ENI Ghana) to process oil and gas from the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block located in Offshore Ghana. Michael Chia, Managing Director (Marine & Technology) of Keppel O&M, said…

Keppel Offshore & Marine's (Keppel O&M) wholly-owned subsidiary Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard) is on track to deliver a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to Yinson Production (West Africa) Pte Ltd (Yinson), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yinson Holdings Berhad, safely, on time and on budget. The spread-moored FPSO unit was named John Agyekum Kufuor during a naming ceremony held at Keppel Shipyard this morning. It will be chartered by ENI Ghana Exploration & Production Limited (ENI Ghana) to process oil and gas from the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block located in Offshore Ghana. Mr Michael Chia, Managing Director (Marine & Technology) of Keppel O&M…

In February, a second floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO)* unit deployed by NYK for the BM-S-11 consortium through a joint venture company started oil production in a pre-salt area off Brazil. This FPSO unit, FPSO Cidade de Marica, is owned by a shareholder consortium comprising SBM Offshore N.V. (Netherlands), Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás S.A. (Brazil), and a joint venture company between NYK (48.72 percent; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president: Tadaaki Naito) and the Mitsubishi Corporation (51.28 percent; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president & CEO: Ken Kobayashi). The joint venture has a 20-year time charter contract with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to operate the FSPO.

MODEC, Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., and Marubeni Corporation have agreed that Mitsui, MOL and Marubeni will invest in a long-term charter business (“the Project”) currently promoted by MODEC for the purpose of providing a floating production, storage, and offloading system (“the FPSO”) for use in the Tartaruga Verde and Tartaruga Mestiça oil fields off the coast of Brazil. The above four companies have entered into related agreements today. Based on these agreements, Mitsui, MOL and Marubeni will invest in Tartaruga MV29 B.V. (“MV29”), a Dutch company established by MODEC, and the Companies will proceed with the Project jointly. MV29 has entered into a long-term charter agreement for the deployment of the FPSO with Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.

Asia's largest refiner - China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation announced Friday night, according to international accounting standards, the first half net profit of 32.543 billion yuan, an increase of 7.5%. Semi-annual report and display, from January to June the company achieved operating income of 52.268 billion yuan, an increase of 11.8%; basic earnings per share of 0.279 yuan, up by 6.5%, mainly due to the refining and marketing segment operating income grew. The same period, Sinopec achieved 237.01 million barrels of oil equivalent production, an increase of 8%, of which crude oil production was 177.88 million barrels, an increase of 7.52%, the production of 3,548 one hundred million cubic feet of natural gas, an increase of 9.46%.

Petrobras announced that production platform P-62, one of the strategic projects of its 2014-2018 Business and Management Plan, started-up on this Monday, May 12, in Roncador field, Campos Basin. P-62, installed at a water depth of 1,600 meters, is an integral part of the Module 4 project of Roncador field. Twenty-two wells, 14 of them oil and gas production and eight water injection will be interconnected to the platform. The FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) unit has the capacity to process up to 180 thousand barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. The platform will export oil via shuttle tankers and natural gas will be transferred via a gas pipeline connecting the platform to the gas distribution network of Campos Basin.

MODEC, Inc., Mitsui & Co., Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Marubeni Corporation have agreed that Mitsui, MOL and Marubeni will invest in a long-term charter business currently promoted by MODEC for the purpose of providing a floating production, storage and offloading system (FPSO) for use in the Carioca area of a pre-salt oil field off the coast of Brazil. The four companies have entered into definitive agreements today. Based on these agreements, Mitsui, MOL and Marubeni will invest in Carioca MV27 B.V., a Dutch company established by MODEC, and the Companies will proceed with the Project jointly. MV27 has signed a long-term chartering agreement for the deployment of the vessel by the BM-S-9 Consortium – Petrobras (45%), BG Group (30%) and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. (25%).

IMA/EMA recently completed an in-depth analysis of the floating production sector. Highlighted below are some key findings in Floating Production Systems: assessment of the outlook for FPSOs, Semis, TLPs, Spars, FLNGs, FSRUs and FSOs. FPSOs account for 61% of the existing systems. The balance is comprised of production semis, tension leg platforms, production spars, production barges and floating regasification/storage units. Thirteen units (twelveFPSOs and one Semi) are off field and available for reuse – resulting in an overall utilization rate of 95.2%.

Enterprise Oil said on Friday it had awarded a $270 million contract to FMC/Modec to provide an offshore facility and subsea equipment for the Bijupira-Salema oilfields off Brazil's coast. The planned floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility will have oil-processing capacity of 70,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of one million barrels. Sub-sea development at the fields, in the Campos Basin, will include 15 wells tied back via manifolds, Enterprise said in a statement. Operator of the Bijupira-Salema fields, with a 55 percent interest, Enterprise said the contract was subject to approval by its partners - Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht and the country's state oil giant Petrobras - with 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

What About Cuba? Political allegiance notwithstanding, continuing unrest and war in the energy critical Middle East continues to wreak havoc with world oil prices, with consumers around the world struggling to keep up with fast escalating gasoline prices. While (at press time) the benchmark prices for a barrel of crude have settled just under $40, the situation has spurred new exploration and production ventures, one such speculation in the Gulf of Mexico off of Cuba. According to a recent report in The Economist (June 5, 2004 edition, page 48), Spain's Repsol has moved into position a Deep Water drilling rig off of the country's northwest coast with the intention of drilling two wildcat wells in what could amount to a successful attempt to energize a failing economy.

In working on what is claimed to be the largest and most complex offshore conversion project undertaken to date in Brazil, the conversion of the FPSO P-48 (formerly the VLCC Stena Concordia), FELS Setal SA, the Brazilian subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine, has achieved five million work hours without a Lost time Incident. US-based Kellogg Brown & Root’s subsidiary Halliburton Produtos Ltda awarded FELS Setal the contract for the marine conversion of the FPSO in February 2001. When completed P-48 will have an oil processing capacity of 150,000 bbl per day, and will be deployed with Petrobras in the Caratinga filed in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil.

Ken Applegate, VP, Transportation Services, Valero shares with readers of MarineLink.com his insights on key market drivers for the coming year. What do you count as the biggest Technical challenge to your company/organization in the coming years? KA:      Valero is very concerned about the deteriorating infrastructure for both waterway and surface transportation in the and we do not see the necessary legislative focus today to address this issue. It will be a tremendous challenge…