North Sea FPSO Power Contract for Wärtsilä

MarineLink.com January 28, 2014

Topside power modules: Schematic courtesy of Wärtsilä

Wärtsilä say they are to supply a 62 MW topside power module solution for a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to be deployed at the Kraken oilfield located in the U.K. sector of the North Sea.

This EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) award comes from Armada Kraken Pte.Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Malaysia based international offshore oilfield services provider, Bumi Armada.

Bumi Armada will be using a recently built Suezmax tanker for the FPSO conversion, which will have a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels. The Wärtsilä equipment will be delivered in mid 2015, and the FPSO is scheduled to start the production at the Kraken field in 2016.

The project will comprise the EPC delivery of two identical power generation modules, each housing two 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF multi-fuel engines with generators, waste heat recovery units and all related fuel, oil and air and other utility systems. The modules are designed by Wärtsilä Ship Design. The engines are capable of being operated on a variety of fuel types, including treated well gas, heavy crude oil, and marine diesel oil (MDO).

The ability to utilise produced gas and crude means that little or no MDO will need to be shipped to the FPSO. This will notably reduce operating costs. Furthermore, the efficient gas-fired power solution will have significantly lower levels of CO2 emissions compared to conventional technologies.

"Wärtsilä is the marine and oil & gas industries' leading solutions and services provider of power solutions. Our vast experience with multi-fuel technology and our ability to integrate complex projects provide the level of reliability that global operators expect. This engagement with Bumi Armada endorses the fact that our integrated power module solutions offer the critical fuel flexibility and the high levels of efficiency and availability that successful offshore operations demand," says Magnus Miemois, Vice President Solutions, Wärtsilä Ship Power.

The Kraken oilfield development is one of the largest new oilfields in the U.K. sector of the North Sea, and among the largest investments announced for this sector in 2013. Approximately 140 million barrels of heavy oil are expected to be extracted from the Kraken field over the coming 25 years.