Sembcorp Marine has completed construction of Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel, names Ailsa, for the Culzean field in the UK North Sea.
Image: The Ailsa FSO vessel built by Sembcorp Marine. Photo: courtesy of Sembcorp Marine Ltd.
The FSO vessel features a 40-year hull lifespan which is twice as long as the normal hull lifespan of other newbuild FSOs, making it world’s first of its kind.
Planned to set sail next month for deployment at the Culzean gas field, the FSO Ailsa has capacity to store 430,000 barrels of condensate at a time. It can operate continually without drydocking for 25 years.
The vessel has been constructed at the Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard for Modec, a provider of offshore oil and gas floating production systems, and Total.
Modec Offshore Production Systems (Singapore) president and CEO Sateesh Dev said: “FSO Ailsa, 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.”
Total, BP, and JX Nippon are the joint owners of FSO Ailsa, which has been built in full compliance with strict UK safety regulations for harsh-environment operations in the Culzean field.
Sembcorp said that a longer hull fatigue life allows ships to withstand harsher and more extreme environmental conditions, such as rogue waves, corrosion, large ambient temperature variation and thunderstorms.
Located in Block 22/25a (License P111) of the UK continental shelf (UKCS), around 145 miles east of Aberdeen at a water depth of approximately 90m, the Culzean gas field is expected to have a peak production rate of 400 to 500 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).
The field is expected to provide for around 5% of the UK’s total gas consumption by 2020/21.