Singapore-headquartered Seatrium Limited, former Sembcorp Marine Ltd before the merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, has welcomed the first steel fabrication milestone for the construction of a new floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is destined for an Equinor-operated pre-salt gas and condensate project off the coast of Brazil.
According to Seatrium, the first steel for the FPSO Raia was cut in Brazil at its BrasFELS Shipyard. This comes months after Offshore Frontier Solutions Pte. Ltd, a MODEC Group company, hired the firm for work on the FPSO, encompassing the fabrication of three modules, vapor recovery unit/flare knockout (VRU/ FLARE KO), oil separation and stabilization, flowline circulation, and metering and utility systems.
The Singapore-based player explains that the strike steel ceremony marks the start of the collaboration with MODEC, Equinor, Repsol, and Petrobras for this project. The FSPO Raia is expected to use combined cycle technology resulting in a reduced carbon footprint.
With the capacity to process 126,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 16 million cubic meters of gas, the FPSO Raia will have a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil. This FPSO will be deployed in the giant pre-salt area at the southern part of Campos Basin, around 200 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Equinor submitted the declarations of commerciality and plans of development for two natural gas fields – Raia Manta and Raia Pintada – in the BM-C-33 concession in September 2023 to Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP). Saipem’s pipelaying vessel, Castorone, will work on bringing this project to life.
The start-up of the project, which is expected to be Brazil’s first project to treat gas offshore and be connected to the national grid without further onshore processing, is anticipated in 2028. Equinor, as the operator, holds a 35% stake in the project while Repsol Sinopec Brasil and Petrobras hold 35% and 30% interest, respectively.
At the end of January 2024, Seatrium also cut the first steel for a new semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU) for Shell’s deepwater development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.