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FEATURE Floating Production he national oil companies (NOC) are back. In the World Energy Reports Forecast of Float- ing Production Systems, an industry authority,

The life-extended SBM Offshore FPSO, Liza Destiny.

China’s and Brazil’s ? oaters ? gure prominently.

The new year dawned with pronouncements

T in Rio (and in Beijing and other capitals). “Petrobras announced a plan for 13 new FPSOs to enter service over the next ? ve years, and said 13 aging ? oating production units will be retired over the same period,” says the WER forecast’s author, Jim McCaul. Long an indus- try consultant, he con? rms that a Chinese group has also brought ? oating production ? nance to El Salvador in De- cember and to Cyprus for 2020.

CNOOC, in fact, is placing three of its own ? oaters – the

Hai Yang Shi You FPSO, a ? oating storage and of? oading unit (FSO) of the same name and the Ligshui 17/2 semi- submersible – between 2020 and 2021. Lingshui 17-2 rep- resents a NOC bringing technology to the fore, and letting it inspire a new business model for the South China Sea. Its newly procured riser pull-in system from Cargotech denotes the use of a semi-sub in typhoon-prone deepwater (up to 1,560 meters). “The Lingshui 17-2 gas ? eld is CNOOC’s reportedly considering a ? oating gas hub “to collect and ? rst own R&D deepwater project,” MacGregor VP of export (associate) gas to shore”, much like Lingshui. In

Offshore Solutions, Hoeye Hoeyesen af? rms. The pull- all, Petrobras says it is spending $84 billion to 2023, in- in systems will clear the way for CNOOC (and partners cluding $68.8 billion on exploration and production. The

Shell and Husky) to tap the northern part of Qiongdong- Mero FPSOs are part of it.

nan Basin on the western continental shelf of the northern McCaul says that 2020 will see a lot of FPSO activity, but

South China Sea. South America – including Guayana, where ExxonMobil’s

CNOOC wasn’t the only “BRIC” champion letting procurement kickoff for a fourth big FPSO is due – will technology inspire a business model. Petrobras, the forecast see the lion’s share of contracting activity. “Most activity con? rms, will use its own new Hi-Sep technology to lower will be in Brazil where Petrobras is likely to initiate ? ve the gas-to-oil ratio in the production riser of the Mero 3 large FPSO procurements over the next 12 to 18 months.

FPSO. The who’s who of FPSO contractors – Bluewater, Equinor will also likely initiate its Carcara project.”

MISC, Modec, SBM, Teekay and Yinson – were made While Australia saw 2019’s most complex ? oater aware that Petrobras wanted to use its own new technol- launch (FLNG Prelude), McCaul says the Carcara ogy on the project in a ? rst for NOCs. FPSO seems to have the biggest complexity of contracts expected to be seen in 2020, at least in terms of near- term planning stages. “There’s nothing coming up that’s

NOCs’ tech

As with CNOOC at Lingshui, the Petrobras plan is also like the Prelude FLNG contract,” he adds.

Equinor paid $379 million for 10% more of Car- to separate-out liquids from gas: Mero 3 is a former very large crude carrier (VLCC) that’ll produce up to 180,000 cara’s BM-S-8 block in Brazil’s Santos basin, a plot it had barrels of oil per day of oil (bpd); 420 million cubic feet owned as operator in mid-2018. Equinor and partners

ExxonMobil and Galp need as much as of the Carcara per day of gas (MMscfd) and 250,000 bpd of water for in- jection. As WER reports, Petrobras intends to install four area’s Block BM-S-8 and Carcará North as possible for the FPSO project to begin reining in the 2 billion boe large FPSOs on Mero this decade.

CNOOC is also partner at Mero and now Petrobras is said to be in-place. First oil is slotted for 2023/2024. 34 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM