Jessica Tippee • Houston
MODEC takes delivery of Culzean FSO vessel
Sembcorp Marine has completed the FSOAilsa at its Tuas Boulevard Yard. Ailsa, the world’s first floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel with a 40-year hull lifespan, is expected to set sail this month for the Culzean gas field in the UK central North Sea.
The FSOAilsa will be deployed at the Total-operated ultra-high-pressure/high-temperature Culzean gas field in the UK central North Sea. (Courtesy Sembcorp Marine)
The vessel will enter service with a hull designed to have twice the average hull fatigue lifespan of other newbuild FSOs, as verified by marine assurance company DNV GL. A longer hull fatigue life enables ships to withstand harsher and more extreme environmental conditions, such as rogue waves, corrosion, large ambient temperature variation and thunderstorms.
Equipped with a 430,000-bbl condensate storage capacity, the FSOAilsa will operate 25 years continuously without drydocking.
This is Sembcorp Marine’s first FSO newbuild project. The vessel was constructed over 22 months with a zero Lost Time Incidents record. The group designed this vessel in-house, particularly leveraging a proprietary hull design from its subsidiary LMG Marin.
Sateesh Dev, president and CEO of MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., said: “FSOAilsa, the 46th floating unit MODEC has accomplished for the offshore oil and gas production industry, represents a significant milestone for us as it is the first one we have built for the North Sea oil and gas sector.”
Borr increases jackup fleet
Keppel FELS Ltd. has agreed to sell five jackup rigs to Borr Drilling for about $745 million. All are existing jackups currently under construction to the KFELS B class design. The agreement will become effective following certain conditions, including Borr raising sufficient funds.
The drilling contractor will pay an initial $288 million within 20 business days of the effective date of the agreement, with remaining instalments payable within five years from the respective delivery dates of each individual rig. Deliveries are scheduled progressively, one next year and the other four in 2020.
Chris Ong, CEO of Keppel Offshore & Marine, said: “This is a win-win agreement for all parties and enables Keppel O&M to further improve our cashflow, minimize the holding risks of the projects, and clear several of the deferred orders.”
Borr CEO Svend Anton Maier added: “This is an opportune time for us to grow our fleet of highly capable jackup rigs as the market is showing signs of recovery from the bottom of the business cycle.”
TheBravenes is the contractor’s third subsea rock installation vessel. (Courtesy Van Oord)
Van Oord reveals latest subsea rock installation vessel
Van Oord has christened its latest subsea rock installation (SRI) vesselBravenes at the Wilhelminakade in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The contractor now has three SRI vessels that can stabilize and protect subsea pipelines, cables, and other structures at water depths down to 1,500 m (4,921 ft). However, the Bravenesis said to have a unique ability to install rock in three different ways: via a fallpipe inserted through the moonpool, via a fallpipe over the side, and via a tremie pipe over the side, the latter enabling subsea rock installation close to offshore platforms.
Starting next month, the vessel will perform stabilization operations for Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline that will stretch through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
Petrofac transferring deepwater vessel project to ZPMC
Petrofac International (UAE) has agreed to sell the JSD6000 project to Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (ZPMC). The transaction comprises all JSD6000-related assets held by Petrofac, including the owner furnished equipment, for $190 million plus a 10% stake in a new special purpose vehicle set up to own the construction vessel once commissioned.
Petrofac will provide technical support for the construction, expected to finish in 2022, but not to the associated costs (commissioning, testing).
Ulstein Design & Solutions designed the dynamically-positioned vessel to perform J-lay, S-lay and heavy-lifts for deepwater and shallow-water EPCI projects.
TheGulliver was designed in-house in cooperation with Vuyk Engineering Rotterdam. (Courtesy Royal IHC)
Scaldis takes delivery of newbuild crane vessel
Royal IHC has delivered the self-propelled DP-2 heavy-lift vesselGulliver to Scaldis, a subsidiary of DEME, Jan de Nul and Herbosch-Kiere.
IHC managed the design, procurement, ship construction in China, and commissioning. When the vessel was mechanically complete she was transferred from China to ROG Rotterdam to finalize the commissioning activities and acceptance tests.
The vessel, with a 4,000-ton lift capacity, is designed for installation and decommissioning of offshore oil and gas structures and for offshore wind farms. •
