Qualification of a DP Based FPSO Offloading Vessel

摘要

As the oil and gas industry moves into deeper and deeper waters, the need for an efficient system to offload crude oil fromrnFPSOs to tankers is steadily increasing. Furthermore, oil transportation and trading has becoming more international, wherernoil companies tend to seek solutions that allow for conventional oil tankers to offload directly from FPSOs and transport therncrude oil directly to the market.rnTraditionally, offloading of crude oil from FPSOs to the tankers is carried out either in tandem configuration or via a remoternSingle Point Mooring (SPM) buoy solution. Tandem operations are normally carried out by use of specially builtrnDynamically Positioned (DP) tankers or with conventional tankers along with the use of several tugs in order to keep therntanker at a safe distance from the FPSO. The new DP based offloading vessel is designed to dock onto and keep any of thernexisting 2000 conventional tankers, from Aframax to VLCC size, safe on position during the typical 24 hours of offloadingrnoperations.rnFirst applications of new innovative technologies are often perceived as involving potentially increased risks, with possiblernsignificant adverse consequences and high levels of uncertainties. Hence, the development and deployment of an innovativerntechnology is often hindered by the view of such risks and uncertainties.rnThis paper is prepared and presented by Remora and it addresses the steps and results of a 10-year development andrnqualification process for new DP based FPSO offloading vessel particularly suited for the new deepwater fields in WestrnAfrica, Brazil, GOM, etc.rnThe paper explains the methodology applied for the qualification and describes the entire qualification process. It outlines thernmain challenges and uncertainties identified during the process and the mitigations implemented and describe the resultsrnobtained. As part of the qualification process for the DP based offloading vessel, extensive Sea Trial's with simulatorrnvalidations and following real life operations have been executed off of the west coast of Norway throughout Q1 and Q2rn2011.