SBM Offshore has signed contracts with Shell Offshore to supply and lease a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) for the Stones development project in the Gulf of Mexico. When installed, the Stones FPSO will be the deepest FPSO development in the world.
The contracts include an initial period of ten years with future extension options up to a total of twenty years. The Stones development is located in 2896 m (9500ft) of water approximately 320 km offshore Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area.
Buoyant Turret Mooring
The converted Suezmax FPSO will have a turret with a disconnectable buoy (Buoyant Turret Mooring or BTM) allowing it to weathervane in normal conditions and disconnect from the FPSO upon the approach of a hurricane.
The BTM will be configured with Steel Lazy-Wave Risers (SLWR) which will be a first application for a disconnectable FPSO. The mooring system will also incorporate the ability to adjust line tension during operations by use of an In-Line Mooring Connector (ILMC).
Generation 2 FPSO
The FPSO is a typical generation 2 design with a processing facility capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 15 mmscfd of gas treatment and export. No water injection facilities are specified. The Suezmax hull will be able to store 800,000 barrels of crude oil and total topsides weight will reach 7000 tons.
Enterprise Framework Agreement
In March 2012, Shell and SBM Offshore signed an Enterprise Framework Agreement (EFA) for the supply of medium and small FPSOs on a lease and operate basis. The Stones FPSO is the first Shell project to award contracts utilising the EFA.
SBM Offshore and Shell have been engaged in front-end development work for the Stones FPSO solution for the past two years. Execution work has already commenced in SBM Offshore’s Houston Execution Center with early procurement and commitments underway.
The total asset value of the FPSO is approximately US $ 1 billion.
