Domestically Built FPSO Launched in Shanghai

China's first-ever homemade 300,000 tonnage FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) vessel was successfully launched on Dec. 8 in Shanghai. The vessel, produced by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., involves a contract value of US$240 million, said to be approximately equivalent to the cost of a giant Airbus A380 airliner. Capable of processing 190,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 2 million tons of oil, the vessel will be used by American oil company ConocoPhillips' phase II oil development in Penglai 19-3, a heavy- crude field in the Bohai Sea. Penglai 19-3 is a joint development project between ConocoPhillips and Chinese offshore oil producer CNOOC. The FPSO vessel is a part of the cooperation project. Source: Xinhua