Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2002)

Investment in Design • By David Tinsley

Meet the ULFPS

IZAR Investigates Ultra Large Floating

Production Systems as Central to Seagas Project

While seeking to consolidate its existing LNG carrier workload by bidding for new tonnage to serve the Qatari export traffic and other projects,

Spanish shipbuilder IZAR has intensified its research endeavors so as to create a broader busi- ness platform in the energy market.

The group has thrown its weight behind a new initiative aimed at developing floating plant incor- porating gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology to extract and convert gas from remote offshore fields into premium grade liquid products. The joint industry research and development project, known as Sea- gas, draws in IZAR Fene Shipyard (the former

Astano establishment), Bermuda-based engineer- ing corporation Foster Wheeler, and other partners from various disciplines.

Against the backcloth of few examples globally of large-scale, land-based GTL facilities, the con- cept of a floating GTL plant is driven by consider- ations of the scale of 'stranded' offshore gas reserves, the strategic and market value of GTL products, and the environmental arguments against flaring and in favor of GTL liquid fuels.

The Fene yard's extensive know-how in the field of FPSO (floating production, storage and offload- ing) unit construction is especially apposite to the new effort to marinize onshore GTL technologies.

One of IZAR's proposals, the Ultra Large Floating

Production System (ULFPS), centers on a huge hull measuring 1,148 x 328 ft. (350 x 100 m), with a depth of 105 ft. (32-m), providing the requisite deck area for process equipment and tank storage capacity equivalent to 4.5-million barrels.

The ULFPS would provide for transfer of both stabilized oil and GTL products to shuttle tankers by way of a floating hose, offloading buoy or com- bination of both, and would incorporate an external bow turret to minimize load forces and motions in rigorous sea and weather conditions.

An alternative solution is the combined FPSO (CFPSO) concept, to overcome possible drawbacks associated with a single, huge floating plant. The

CFPSO would consist of two FPSO units of more standard size, potentially with split GTL and crude oil functions, and connected by articulated arm. by David Tinsley, technical editor

Station-keeping would be ensured through an external turret installed in just one of the units, both of which would be thruster-fitted.

The application of know-how and resources to the investigation of opportunities for harnessing

GTL technologies in the maritime sector is illustra- tive of IZAR's bid to strengthen its standing in higher added-value sectors of the market. It attests also to a dogged industrial will, at a time when

Europe is giving up more and more of its produc- tion capabilities in the face of ever-broader compe- tition from the Far East.

In the meantime, Spain has led European ship- building back into the LNG carrier sector. Con- struction of the Inigo Tapias, scheduled for delivery next August as the first of five membrane-type

LNG tankers of 138,000-cu. m. capacity, has sig- naled the opening of a new chapter in IZAR pro- duction, in the face of Far Eastern dominance of that higher added-value sector.

The initial tranche of orders entailed three ves- sels, comprising Inigo Tapias for Naviera F Tapias, a second ship to the joint account of Knutsen OAS

Shipping and Marpetrol, and a third vessel for

Elcano - all of which will be run under long-term charter to Repsol. Follow-on business entailed an

LNGC of the same type for Knutsen, to serve a charter to Spanish electricity generator Union

Fenosa, and a fifth such vessel for Naviera F Tapias tied to a Repsol charter agreement.

IZAR added a new dimension to its orderbook during the past summer when it landed a deal with

ULFPS™ Unit in the IZAR Fene Shipyard's

Construction Berth

Two standard hulls connected by the ASL™ system. "Now with leak detection"

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December, 2002 19