THE first floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) for the US Gulf of Mexico is almost ready to leave its builders in Singapore.
The BW Pioneer is scheduled to go on production in the first quarter of 2010. The vessel will be turret-moored at a water depth of about 2,600m (8,200ft) – by far the deepest for a production ship up to this time.
The vessel has been leased by the Petrobras for operation on the Cascade and Chinook fields, located in Walker Ridge blocks 425 and 469 and in Walker Ridge blocks 205, 206, 249 and 250, respectively.
Designed to handle the sometimes violent operating conditions in the Gulf of Mexico because of hurricanes, the BW Pioneer is equipped with an internal disconnectable submerged turret production (STP) mooring system and outfitted with advanced safety features to withstand environmental loads from currents, waves and wind. In the event of an approaching hurricane, this safety feature will allow the FPSO to disengage from site and move under its own power to dodge the worst of the weather or seek shelter.
BW Pioneer has a storage capacity of about 600,000 barrels of oil, a process capacity of 80,000 barrels per day and gas export facilities of 16million cu ft per day.