What is FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) System?

[Ganimedes Reveley]

What is FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) System?

The FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) system is used extensively by oil companies for the purpose of storing oil from the oil rigs in the middle of the ocean and in the high seas. It is one of the best devised systems to have developed in the oil exploration industry in the marine areas.

The FPSO, as its name suggests, is a floating contraption that allows oil rigs the freedom not just to store oil but also to produce or refine it before finally offloading it to the desired industrial sectors, either by way of cargo containers or with the help of pipelines built underwater.

The use of this system ensures that shipping companies do not have to invest even more money by ferrying the raw and crude oil to an onshore refinery before transferring it to the required industrial areas. In simple terms, the FPSO saves time and money effectively.




Understanding FPSO

The following steps will elaborate on the different functions performed by the FPSO as a system:
◾Production: The 'P' in the FPSO stands for production. Production means evolving the crude oil obtained from the deeper parts of the ocean. The FPSO is enabled and fitted with equipments that would act as a refinery of sort to distil the oil obtained from the ocean along with the gases that are emitted. This is the main feature of a FPSO as only with the help of this feature can a FPSO attain the reliability that it enjoys in today's times.



◾Storage: This is the second most important feature and the 'S' in the acronym FPSO. Second-most important because just as it is important to filter the excavated oil from its oceanic reservoirs, it is equally important to store it well. For this purpose, the FPSO is built in such a way that the tubes and the pipes and the tanks are perfect for storing the distilled product from the crude raw-material. They are safe and sturdy so as to resist any chances of unwanted oil spillage and thus contamination of the marine life-forms.



◾Offloading: This is 'O' in the concept of FPSO. The offloading aspect is important when the FPSO has to transfer its contents into ships designed as oil carriers or to pipelines that act as transfer agents. In simple terms, offloading refers to removing the cargo in a FPSO and transferring it to another cargo-carrying vessel or equipment. The offloading part is very tricky as the process is carried out in the middle of the sea and thus requires a lot of concentration and focus in order to avoid any sort of spillage.

Important Information

It has to be noted that even while the entire working process of a FPSO is very intriguing, the designing aspect is very amazing. This is because the system has to be constructed in such a way that it remains invulnerable to the constant changes that take place in the middle of the ocean or the seas. The various tubes and pipes have to be built in such a way that they do not affect the pureness of the oil obtained and the same time do not get broken because of heavy storms or tide-currents.




Conclusion

The FPSO as a system has been in use from the seventies when major-scale oil exploration began in the oceans and seas. In these past four decades, given the way oil exploration industry has been on the rise, the use and relevance of a FPSO has increased even more. The system is foolproof, enables cost efficiency and thus becomes a very major asset when it comes to excavating oil in the marine areas.

source from marineinsight

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[Ganimedes Reveley]

A floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. An FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline. FPSOs are preferred in frontier offshore regions as they are easy to install, and do not require a local pipeline infrastructure to export oil. FPSOs can be a conversion of an oil tanker or can be a vessel built specially for the application. A vessel used only to store oil (without processing it) is referred to as a floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO). There are also under construction (as at 2013) Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) vessels, which will extract and liquify natural gas on board


History

Oil has been produced from offshore locations since the late 1940s. Originally, all oil platforms sat on the seabed, but as exploration moved to deeper waters and more distant locations in the 1970s, floating production systems came to be used.

The first oil FPSO was the Shell Castellon, built in Spain in 1977. Today, over 200 vessels are deployed worldwide as oil FPSOs.

In addition to the significant growth of this market sector, we are witnessing today the progressive extension of the significant knowledge base of building and operating these floating facilities to provide solutions for other segments of the oil and gas industry.

As an example, the Sanha LPG FPSO, which operates offshore Angola, is the first such vessel with complete onboard liquefied petroleum gas processing and export facilities. It can store up to 135,000 cubic meters of LPG while awaiting export tankers for offloading.[1]

Another very promising expansion is the progressive development of the floating LNG (FLNG) market. An LNG FPSO works under the same principles an oil FPSO works under, taking the well stream and separating out the natural gas (primarily methane and ethane) and producing LNG, which is stored and offloaded.

On July 29, 2009, Shell and Samsung announced an agreement to build up to 10 LNG FPSOs:[2]

Flex LNG has four contracts for smaller units at the same yard.[3]

As a very significant and momentous event, on May 20, 2011, Royal Dutch Shell announced the planned development of a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility, which will be situated 200 km off the coast of Western Australia and is due for completion in around 2017.[4] When it is finished, this will be the largest floating offshore facility. It will measure around 488m long and 74m wide, and when fully ballasted will weigh 600,000 tonnes.[5] It will have a total storage capacity of 436,000 cubic metres of LNG, plus LPG condensate.

At the opposite (discharge and regasification) end of the LNG chain, the first ever conversion of an LNG carrier (Golar LNG owned Moss type LNG carrier) into an LNG floating storage and regasification unit was carried out in 2007 by Keppel shipyard in Singapore


Mechanisms


FPSO diagram
Oil produced from offshore production platforms can be transported to the mainland either by pipeline or by tanker. When a tanker is chosen to transport the oil, it is necessary to accumulate oil in some form of storage tank such that the oil tanker is not continuously occupied during oil production, and is only needed once sufficient oil has been produced to fill the tanker. At this point the transport tanker connects to the stern of the storage unit and offloads oil.[citation needed]

Advantages

Floating production, storage and offloading vessels are particularly effective in remote or deepwater locations where seabed pipelines are not cost effective. FPSOs eliminate the need to lay expensive long-distance pipelines from the processing facility to an onshore terminal. This can provide an economically attractive solution for smaller oil fields which can be exhausted in a few years and do not justify the expense of installing a pipeline. Furthermore, once the field is depleted, the FPSO can be moved to a new location.[citation needed]

Specific types

A floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) is essentially a simplified FPSO without the capability for oil or gas processing. Most FSOs are converted single hull supertankers. An example is Knock Nevis, ex Seawise Giant, for many years the world's largest ship, which has been converted to an FSO for use offshore. The vessel was sold to Indian ship breakers, and renamed Mont for her final journey in December 2009. After clearing Indian customs, she was sailed to, and intentionally beached at Alang, Gujarat, India for demolition.

At the other end of the LNG logistics chain, where the natural gas is brought back to ambient temperature and pressure, specially modified ships may also be used as floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs). A LNG floating storage and regasification unit receives liquefied natural gas (LNG) from offloading LNG carriers, and the onboard regasification system provides natural gas exported to shore through risers and pipelines.

Mooring systems for FSO, FPSO & FSU units are available in market which allow the vessel to be moored on an ice sheet



source from wikipedia

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