Conversion work

Alan Thorpe recently paid a visit to Singapore’s shipyards. He gives a rundown of some of the current floating production and storage unit conversions underway in Singapore and in Malaysia.

The first of the Euronav VLCCs arrive at Sembawang for conversion into FPSOs for Total’s Kaombo project offshore Angola. Photo by Alan Thorpe.

Keppel Shipyard, part of the Keppel Offshore & Marine Group, is the world’s leading exponent of the FPSO/FSO conversion market.

In this market, Keppel has been involved is some 119 such projects since 1981. This year alone Keppel has delivered four FPSO/FSO conversion projects and had another two due for delivery before the end of 2014 - the 107,000-dwt Armada Sterling 11 for Bumi Armada Berhad, and the 94,225-dwt Ratu Nusantara for M3nergy Offshore.

There are also three further FPSO projects currently underway at Keppel Shipyard – the 128,829-dwt Bertam for Lundin Services, to be stationed offshore Malaysia, the 159,000-dwt Turritella for SBM Offshore, to be stationed in the Stones Field offshore Australia for Shell, and the 166,468-dwt Kraken, for Bumi Armada Berhad, for the Kraken field in the UK sector of the North Sea. Keppel is also involved in the extensive refurbishment of an existing FPSO – Apache Energy’s 101,832-dwt Ningaloo Vision, which will go to the Van Gogh Filed in the Exmouth Basin, offshore Australia.

The long-term FSO conversion project for Mobil Cepu, the Gagak Rimang, was completed during September 2014 and has now left Sembawang Shipyard, part of Sembcorp Marine, for her station offshore Indonesia on the Banyu Urip field in the Cepu oil block in East Java for Exxon/Mobil.

The Navion Norvegia in Semcorp Marine’s new SIY yard. Photo by Alan Thorpe.

Sembawang Shipyard was responsible for the full engineering, procurement and commissioning (EPC) contract involving this project. The vessel is able to contain 1.7 MMbbl and it will be hooked to a mooring tower on the bottom of the sea. If, next year, Banyu Urip field produces 165,000 bbl/hr, the vessel is ready to store the production of 10 days.

The Kraken FPSO will sit offshore the UK in the North Sea. Image from EnQuest.

Meanwhile, the first of the two Euronav very large crude carriers (VLCCs) has arrived at the yard for conversion to FPSOs for Total/Saipem. The two vessels will be in the yard for 32 months total, the FPSO conversion work lasting some 28 months for each vessel, the second vessel due in the yard within the next few weeks. The first vessel, the VLCC Olympia has arrived and her sistership, Antarctica, will arrive before the end of the year.

The two sisterships will be converted into two turret-moored FPSOs for the Kaombo project, approximately 150km offshore Angola. The major work will include refurbishment of the VLCCs, construction engineering, the fabrication of flare, helideck, upper turret and access structure, integration of the topsides modules (which will be fabricated at Saipem’s Indonesian yard) and lower turret components, and pre-commissioning of the FPSOs. The two converted FPSO units, owned by France’s Total and operated by Italy’s Saipem, will each have an oil treating capacity of 115,000 b/d, a water injection capacity of 200,000 b/d, a 100 MMscf/d gas compression capacity and a storage capacity of 1.7 MMbo.

One of the most recently-won projects at Jurong Shipyard, also part of Sembcorp Marine, likely to take two years, involves the conversion of Teekay’s 130,596-dwt shuttle tanker Navion Norvegia into an FPSO to work in ultra-deep waters in Brazil’s Santos Basin. This conversion, although a Jurong contract, is actually being undertaken at Sembcorp Marine’s new Sembmarine Integrated Yard at Tuas (SIY), which opened during 2013 (OE: October 2013). Currently the yard comprises four large graving docks, all of which can accommodate ships up to VLCC/ULCC (ultra large crude carrier) size. The Navion Norwegia will be the first conversion to be carried out this yard.

The Shell Stones project in Keppel. Photo by Alan Thorpe.

The contract, placed by OOGTK Libra GmbH & Co KG, a joint venture between Brazil’s Odebrecht Oil & Gas and Teekay Offshore, is worth US$696 million. Work will include detailed engineering, installation and integration of topside modules, installation of external turret and power generation, accommodation upgrading as well as extensive piping and electrical cabling works.

Scheduled for completion 3Q 2016, the FPSO will have the capacity to produce 50,000 b/d and 4 MMcm/d of natural gas, and is expected to be chartered to Petrobras for work on the Libra field in the ultra-deepwater section of Brazil’s Santos Basin. Operating as an early well-test unit, the FPSO will be on a 12-year charter once it begins its contract in late 2016.

The FPSO unit is expected to be owned and operated by the joint venture company and will service on the Libra pre-salt field in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil, which is expected to start operations in late 2016. The block covers approximately 1550sq km in around 2000m water depth (6500ft). The reservoir depth is around 3500m (11,500ft). Brazil’s ANP has estimated that total gross peak oil production could reach 1.4 MMb/d.

Finland’s Deltamarin has won the contract with Jurong Shipyard for the basic engineering of the Libra FPSO. The contract guarantees the continuation of Deltamarin’s involvement in the Libra project as the company has earlier participated in the outline phase design of the unit. “We are very happy to be a part of this fast track FPSO project and we strongly believe it will be a success for all parties. This contract shows the market’s strong belief in Deltamarin’s ability to perform in technically complex fast track offshore engineering projects,” says Deltamarin’s Offshore Director Oskari Jaakkola.

Shell’s Stones FPSO, an artists’ impression. Image from SBM Offshore.

Meanwhile, the VLCC conversion at Jurong’s Tanjung Kling facility brings Jurong’s tally to 22 conversion projects for MODEC. This project, involving conversion of the 300,955-dwt VLCC Centennial J, is scheduled for completion by 4Q 2015 whereupon the FPSO will be deployed on the TEN project in Ghana. MODEC will operate the unit on behalf of Tullow subsidiary Tullow Ghana.

The unit will have capacity to produce and treat 80,000 b/d crude, 65,000 b/d of produced water and 180 MMscf gas. The unit, which will host several subsea tiebacks from three reservoirs, will also be capable of storing 1.7 MMbo. The fields lie in water depths of 1-2000m and the FPSO will be about 25km from the Jubilee field, operated by Tullow.

Surf Supporter in Batamec Photo by Alan Thorpe.

Malaysia’s Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering (MMHE), Pasir Gudang, part of the MBO Group, has won two contracts for long term conversions, the first involving a tanker to a FSU and the second from a drilling rig to a mobile offshore production unit (MOPU).

The first contract involves EA Technique’s 47,172-dwt, 1996-built tanker Fois Nautica Tembikai, which will be converted by MMHE to a FSU for a charter with Petronas for service offshore Malaysia. This the second similar conversion carried out by MMHE for this owner, the Nautica Maua, having been completed in 2013.

The second new contract involves Coastal Energy’s jackup rig EP 7, formerly Hercules 250, which will be converted to a MOPU over the coming months. This is the third similar conversion carried out by MMHE for this rig owner over the past few years. The yard is also carrying out a similar conversion involving the jackup rig Rubicon.

The final stages of a major subsea construction conversion project will also soon be completed at Batamec, part of Otto Marine, located on the Indonesian Island of Batam. The project involves the 4863-grt offshore subsea construction vessel Surf Supporter, which is being extensively modified for a contract with Fugro in Australia. She is owned by Australia’s RY Offshore, and managed by Australia’s Go Offshore, Perth. She was built in India’s Magazon Dock, Mumbai during 2012 and has been sailing as the Go Surf until this year, when she arrived in Batamec during September.

Work to be carried out by Batamec includes the installation of a deck crane, and accompanying modules, a 15-tonne heli-deck and side sponson tanks and extensive changes to the accommodation. She was due to leave Batam during November.

During 2014, Singapore’s PaxOcean has carried out a number of major conversion projects, one of the most complicated being the conversion from offshore supply vessel to a specialized diving support vessel of the Maridive 603. This project was a fast track project, the vessel redelivered in June. Apart from all the upgrade equipment, the vessel also had her accommodation increased. The yard also carried out a conversion of the Greatship Ragini from platform supply vessel to a survey, derrick and geotechnical vessel. This vessel was redelivered during July.