An Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the production and storage of hydrocarbons.It is designed to receive oil or gas produced from nearby platforms or templates, process it, and store it until the oil or gas can be offloaded onto a tanker or transported through a pipeline.
FPSO's can be derived from conversion of oil tankers vessels, or can be built specially for the application.
Vessels that are for storage purposes only are designated as FSU's for 'Floating Storage Unit'.
History
Oil has been produced from offshore locations since the 1950s. Originally, all oil platforms sat on the seabed, but as exploration moved to deeper waters and more distant locations in the 1970s, floating production systems came to be used.
The first oil FPSO was the Shell Castellon , built in Spain in 1977. There are so far no LNG FPSOs; in the opposite (discharge and regasification) end of the LNG chain the first-ever conversion of a LNG carrier (Golar LNG owned Moss type LNG carrier) into an LNG floating storage and regasification unit was carried out in 2007 by Keppel shipyard in Singapore.
An LNG FPSO works under the same principles as an oil FPSO, taking the well stream and separating out the natural gas (primarily methane and ethane) and producing LNG, which is then stored and offloaded. On July 29th 2009, Shell and Samsung announced an agreement to build up to 10 LNG-FPSOs : Likely size and capacity: 456 meters in length and 74 meters in width, with a capacity of 450,000 cubic meters Estimated cost $5b. Already Flex LNG has four contracts for smaller units at the same yard.
The Sanha LPG FPSO operates offshore Angola, and is the first such vessel with complete onboard liquefied petroleum gas processing and export facilities. It can store up to 135,000 cubic meters of LPG while awaiting export tankers for offloading.
Working principles
Oil produced from offshore production platforms can be transported to the mainland either by pipeline or by tanker. When a tanker solution is chosen, it is necessary to accumulate oil in some form of tank such that an oil tanker is not continuously occupied while sufficient oil is being produced to fill the tanker.
Often the solution is a decommissioned oil tanker which has been stripped down and equipped with facilities to be connected to a mooring buoy. Oil is accumulated in the FPSO until there is sufficient amount to fill a transport tanker, at which point the transport tanker connects to the stern of the floating storage unit and offloads the oil.
There are two main types of FPSOs, the converted oil tanker option or the purpose built option. These might be disconnectable or permanently moored. The FPSO design will depend on the area of operation. In benign waters the FPSO may have a simple shape or it may be a converted tanker. Often an external Turret is applied in such areas e.g. West-Africa. For more harsh environments like the North Sea an internal turret is the likely option and the vessel should have a refined shape. This in order to position itself towards the wind and reduce environmental forces on the moorings. All ship-shaped FPSOs in the North Sea are purpose built and most are permanently moored. FPSOs may also be Semi-Submersible type platforms with storage or cylindrically shaped. These are moored in fixed orientation.
An FPSO has the capability to carry out some form of oil separation process obviating the need for such facilities to be located on an oil platform. If the unit does not have such facilities it is an FSO, Floating Storage and Offloading unit and would be operated in association with a production unit such as a platform.
Advantages
Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels are particularly effective in remote or deepwater locations where seabed pipelines are not cost effective. FPSOs eliminate the need to lay expensive long-distance pipelines from the oil well to an onshore terminal. They can also be used economically in smaller oil fields which can be exhausted in a few years and do not justify the expense of installing a fixed oil platform. Once the field is depleted, the FPSO can be moved to a new location. In areas of the world subject to cyclones (NW Australia) or icebergs (Canada), some FPSOs are able to release their mooring/riser turret and steam away to safety in an emergency. The turret sinks beneath the waves and can be reconnected later.
Specific types
A Floating Storage and Offloading unit (FSO) is a floating storage device, which is simplified FPSO without the possibility for oil or gas processing. Most FSOs are old single hull supertankers that have been converted. An example of this is the Knock Nevis , the world's largest ship, which has been converted to an FSO to be used offshore Qatar.
At the other end of the LNG logistics chain, where the natural gas is brought back to ambient temperature and pressure, ships may also be used as FSRUs. A LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) is a floating storage and regasification system, which receives liquefied natural gas (LNG) from offloading LNG carriers, and the onboard regasification system provides natural gas send-out through flexible risers and pipeline to shore.
Vessels
Records
The deepest waterdepth, operating FPSO is the Espirito Santo FPSO from Shell America and its operated by SBM Offshore. The FPSO is moored in a waterdepth of 1800 m in the Campos Basin-Brazil and is rated for 100,000 bpd. The EPCI contract was awarded in Nov 2006 and is scheduled for first oil in Dec 2008. The FPSO conversions and internal turret were done at Keppel Shipyard Tuas in Singapore and the topsides were fabricated in modules at Dynamac and BTE in Singapore
The world's largest FPSO is the Kizomba A , with a storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels (350,000 m 3 ). Built at a cost of over US$800 million by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, Korea, it is operated by Esso Exploration Angola (ExxonMobil). Located in 1200 meters (3,940 ft) of water at Deepwater block 200 statute miles (320 km) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean from Angola, Central Africa, it weighs 81,000 tonnes and is 285 meters long, 63 meters wide, and 32 meters high (935 ft by 207 ft (63 m) by 105 ft).
The worlds smallest FPSO is the Crystal Ocean operating in 137m of water in the Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania on the Basker Manta Field. It is owned by Roc Oil (Sydney-based international petroleum exploration and production company) and is Operated on their behalf by AGR Asia Pacific ; it is currently producing 10,000 bpd.
The FPSO in the shallowest water depth of just 13 m is the Armada Perkasa in the Okoro field in Nigeria West Africa for Afren Energy. This spread moored (fixed orientation) vessel uses 100 mm, 150 mm and 200 mm bore DeepFlex non-steel flexible risers in a double lazy wave formation (with weights and distributed buoyancy) to accommodate the large motion offsets in an environment of extreme waves and currents.
The Skarv FPSO developed and engineered by Aker Solutions for BP Norge will be the most advanced and largest FPSO deployed in the Norwegian Sea, offshore Mid Norway. Skarv is a gas condensate and oil field development. The development will tie in five sub-sea templates, and the FPSO has capacity to include several smaller wells nearby in the future. The process plant on the vessel can handle about 19 MSm3/d (670 scft/d) of gas and 13,500 Sm3/d of oil (85,000 bbl/d). An 80 km gas export pipe will tie in to Åsgard transport system. Aker Solutions (formerly Aker Kvaerner) developed the front-end design for the new floating production facility as well as the overall system design for the field and preparation for procurement and project management of the total field development. The hull is an Aker Solutions proprietary "Tentech tm 975" design. BP also selected Aker Solutions to perform the detail engineering, procurement and construction management assistance (EPcma) for the Skarv field development. The EPcma contract covers detail engineering and procurement work for the FPSO topsides as well as construction management assistance to BP including hull and topside facilities. The production start for the field is scheduled for August 2011. BP awarded the contract for fabrication of the Skarv FPSO hull to Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea and the Turret contract to SBM. The FPSO has a length of 292m, breadth of 50.6m and is 29m deep and accommodate 100 people in single cabins. The hull will be delivered in January 2010.
Current FPSOs
Designers & Builders
- Acergy
- Aibel
- Aker Solutions
- Bluewater
- BW Offshore
- Chicago Bridge & Iron
- Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME)
- Hyundai Heavy Industries
- KBR
- Keppel Shipyard
- Larsen & Toubro
- London Floating Production Ltd
- London Marine Consultants Ltd
- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (ME
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