Chinese shipbuilder China Merchant Heavy Industries (CMHI) has contracted TMC Compressors (TMC) to deliver the completed marine compressed air system to a newbuild FPSO the Chinese yard is constructing for the Dutch FPSO leasing firm SBM Offshore.
Under the contract, TMC will provide a large-capacity marine compressed air system, including compressors for control and service air on board the FPSO.
TMC will manufacture and assemble the equipment in Europe and deliver it to CMHI in China. TMC has not disclosed the value of the contract.
"Several of the FPSOs in SBM Offshore’s current fleet are equipped with a marine compressed air system from TMC. They know our technology well and we are familiar with both CMHI and SBM Offshore’s expectations and demands to us as a supplier,” says Hans Petter Tanum, TMC's director of sales and business development.
TMC’s marine compressed air system is designed specifically for offshore and marine use, and has been developed to allow the vessel crew to conduct equipment maintenance themselves.
“SBM typically operates with a FPSO fleet uptime of close to 100 percent. That automatically becomes the benchmark for TMC’s equipment. As FPSOs are generally located far from shore, you need the most reliable equipment. That is why winning FPSO contracts is considered a seal of approval in terms of product quality and reliability,” adds Tanum.
In other news, SBM Offshore said last Friday it had won contracts to perform front-end engineering and design (FEED) for a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) for the ExxonMobil-led Whiptail development project in Guyana. Subject to the final EPCI contract award, this would be the fifth FPSO ordered from SBM Offshore for deployment in Guyana.