Hector Igbikiowubo
20 September 2005
One of the world's largest offshore oil and gas production vessels will soon depart Singapore bound for Nigeria's rich offshore petroleum fields following completion of the final portion of the project by SembCorp Industries subsidiaries, SMOE and Sembawang Shipyard.
The Erha FPSO was delivered to ExxonMobil affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria which is a joint venture with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, for use on Nigeria's deepwater Erha field.
Operating in 1,200 metres of water the FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading) vessel with two trains of oil, gas and water processing facilities, will produce 150,000 barrels of oil per day.
With a storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels, its cargo will be transferred to tankers via the largest single point mooring buoy in the world, at 23 metres in diameter and 10 metres high.
The vessel, with a 25-year lifespan, will begin operations in the first half 2006 after spending 10-weeks being towed to the Nigerian coast.
SembCorp's offshore engineering specialist SMOE in partnership with Sembawang Shipyard was sub-contracted by the project's main contractor, French offshore engineering specialist Saipem, in the third quarter 2002.
The SembCorp units were tasked to fabricate, integrate and commission 14 modules of topside facilities amounting to 17,000 metric tonnes, along with the integration of nine modules fabricated in Nigeria and Malaysia. The vessel's hull was purpose-built in Korea.
Both SembCorp and ExxonMobil declined to disclose the value of the contract, but FPSO projects can range anywhere from $200 million to $800 million depending on the number and type of production modules as well as hull specification.
A global phase-out of single-hulled oil tankers has provided the offshore industry with a guaranteed supply of decommissioned VLCCs (very large crude carriers) that are well suited for conversion into FPSOs. Depending on the requirements newbuilds may be chosen over the recycled tankers, as was the case in the Erha project.
Singapore yards account for more than 70 per cent of offshore FPSO/FSO (floating, storage, offloading) conversions.
SembCorp Marine currently has five FPSO conversions in varying stages of completion and SMOE has recently started its fourth FPSO project, a fabrication and integration contract for 32,000 metric tonnes of FPSO topside facilities for ConocoPhillips China.
The Erha FPSO project also chalked up Sembawang Shipyard's best safety record to date, with more than 10 million man-hours without a lost time injury.
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