Hull construction for ConocoPhillips' Belanak FPSO completed
Wednesday, August 13 2003 - 02:03 PM WIB
Halliburton?s subsidiaries PT. Brown & Root Indonesia and Dresser Kellog Energy Services are main contractor for the FPSO. The hull construction was contracted to Dalian New Ship Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. in Dalian, China.
Construction of the hull commenced in March 2002 and was completed in 18 months. The hull will be towed by two ocean-going tugs from Dalian to Batam. The towing time is approximately three weeks.
The Belanak FPSO hull has a storage capacity of one million barrels of oil and large deck space to accommodate more than 13 topside modules. At 285 meters long, 58 meters wide, a depth of 26 meters and maximum displacement of 225,000 tonnes, it is one of the largest FPSO hulls ever constructed. Living quarters have been positioned to the aft of the vessel and can accommodate 120 personnel. The FPSO has been designed and built to remain for 30 years without the need for dry-docking, and all mechanical equipment has been specified to last for this period with only routine offshore maintenance.
On arrival in Batam, the hull will berth at new quayside, built by PT. McDermott Indonesia. Lifting of the 25,000 tonnes of topside modules into the hull and hook-up/commissioning activities will then begin. The completed FPSO will then be towed to Natuna Sea in preparation for first oil in the fourth quarter of 2004.
The Belanak FPSO, which will process gas, oil and condensate produced from multiple fields in the ConocoPhillips-operated South Natuna Sea PSC block, includes plant to extract LPG from the gas.
"The Belanak FPSO will be an important milestone to enhance Indonesian oil production capacity, since it will be expected to be able to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day and to process up to 400 MMCFD of natural gas top fulfill commitment to Singaporean an Malaysian buyers," said Kardaya Warnika, deputy chairman of Indonesian oil and gas upstream authority BP Migas who inaugurated the hull in Dalian shipyard.
The Belanak FPSO project costs around US$ 800 million.
The South Natuna Block B PSC is operated by ConocoPhillips (40 percent) with its co-ventures Japan's Inpex (35 percent) and ChevronTexaco (25 percent). (alex)