As per the contract, the engineering firm will be responsible for the design, fabrication and delivery of the pre-commissioned FPSO to the UK North Sea. The contract value has not been disclosed by the two parties.
The FPSO’s production capacity has been planned to be 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. On the other hand, the vessel will have a storage capacity of up to 400,000 barrels.
Further, the FPSO will be designed to deliver operations continuously for 20 years without dry docking. Fluor said that the FPSO will help extend the life of the Penguins oil and gas fields.
Fluor Energy & Chemicals business president Jim Brittain said: “We are pleased to partner with Shell in the UK as they make this significant investment in their North Sea operations.
“We leveraged Fluor’s full range of integrated solutions to drive down the project’s costs and our fabrication capabilities were a clear differentiator. This award demonstrates Fluor’s ability to design, fabricate and deliver high-quality, capital-efficient offshore facilities globally.”
Fluor’s office in Manila, Philippines, which had recently delivered the Malampaya Phase 3 project in the country, will lead the FPSO project for Shell.
The Penguins oil and gas field, which is located about 241kms north east of the Shetland Islands, is owned 50-50 by Shell and ExxonMobil. It was first developed in 2002 and this week, Shell had made final investment decision on its redevelopment.
The Penguins field will be redeveloped using the new FPSO. Currently, oil and gas production at the field is being done from four existing drill centers that are tied back to the Brent Charlie platform.
After the Brent Charlie platform is decommissioned, Shell plans to drill an additional eight wells that will be tied back to the new FPSO.
