Oslo-based BW Offshore said on 9 November that the hull of one of the largest floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels ever built departed a South Korea shipyard under tow bound for an integration shipyard in Singapore.
The newbuild hull for the BW Opal FPSO, based on the company’s RapidFramework concept, has an overall length of 358 m and a width of 64 m. The hull has been under construction for the past 22 months, with the first steel for the hull cut in November 2021. It comprises six giga blocks built and joined together, according to BW Offshore.
It was launched in June 2023, with living quarters, engine casing, and topside process pipe racks installed afterward. The process modules, the electrical house, and turret modules will be lifted onto the hull to start integration activities after arriving in a Seatrium yard in Singapore.
“The sailaway from the Korean construction yard marks an important milestone in the project, made possible by the excellent collaboration and openness between SKOP, Santos, and BW Offshore. We have dedicated and hard-working teams spanning different functions and companies, working closely together,” said Marco Beenen, chief executive of BW Offshore.
“Delivering a complex hull like the BW Opal within 22 months is a great achievement. This milestone is a testament to BW Offshore’s ability to deliver complex projects in challenging times with high quality, compliance, and on schedule.”
Santos awarded BW Offshore in March 2021 the contract for the construction, connection, and operation of the FPSO for its multibillion-dollar Barossa gas and condensate development offshore Australia.
The Barossa gas field is located 300 km offshore Darwin in northern Australia. It will be developed via the BW Opal with six subsea production wells, in-field facilities, and a gas export pipeline tied into the Bayu-Undan-to-Darwin pipeline system that supplies gas to Darwin LNG.
The FPSO will have a processing capacity for up to 800 MMscf/D of gas and a design capacity of 11,000 B/D of stabilized condensate. BW Offshore is responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and operation of the FPSO.
