Bureau Veritas has been awarded a contract by Saipem to provide classification and certification services for the two FPSOs destined for the Kaombo development offshore Angola.
The US$4 billion project for the FPSOs was awarded to Saipem by Total for the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of two converted turret-moored FPSOs for the Kaombo field development project, in Block 32, offshore Angola.
Bureau Veritas will oversee the conversion of the vessels and class the floaters in service, while certifying the topsides and turret assemblies.
Two very large crude carriers will be converted into FPSOs at Sembawang shipyard, Singapore. Each will have an oil treating capacity of 115,000bbl/d, a water injection capacity of 200,000bbl/d, a 100MMscf/d gas compression capacity and a storage capacity of 1.7MMbo. Part of the activities related to engineering, procurement, topsides modules fabrication and integration as well as commissioning onshore and offshore works will be carried out in Angola. The topsides fabrication activities will be undertaken in Saipem’s Karimun Island Yard, in Indonesia. The first FPSO unit will be operational by 1Q 2017 and the second unit by 2Q the same year.
Kaombo is in block 32, in 1400-1900m water depth, about 150km off Angola. The project will develop six fields (Gengibre, Gindungo, Caril, Canela, Mostarda and Louro) in the central and southeast part of the block.
The development will comprise 59 subsea wells, connected to the two floating production vessels. It will make use of "hybrid loop" technology for multiphase pumping and transport of fluids.
The project is scheduled for completion in 1H 2018.
Marie-Francoise Renard, offshore sales and marketing director, Bureau Veritas, says: “Saipem sought a third-party company with sufficient FPSO experience to deal with a challenging first conversion project for Total, the third-party had to have sufficient resources in South-East Asia for the follow-up of the conversion of two large FPSOs more or less in parallel, and, crucially, they needed to work with a company that has the capacity to work in Angola for local content issues during the EPC and in service phases for at least 15 years. Bureau Veritas is able to match those needs with major teams already in Asian yards and a strong track record in Angola, especially with local content.”
Bureau Veritas is one of the big three major class societies active in the offshore field and is a leader in FPSOs. In total it has worked on around 140 FPSOs. Today, it classes around 50 in service and is classing or verifying another 10 currently under construction.
Read more: $16 billion Kaombo project gets go-ahead
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