VESSEL REVIEW | Almirante Tamandare – FPSO to operate in Brazil's Buzios oil field
A new floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) has arrived in Brazilian waters, particularly in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin 180 kilometres off the coast of the southeastern state of Rio de Janeiro.
Built to serve a long-term contract
Almirante Tamandare honours Joaquim Marques Lisboa, Marquis of Tamandaré, a famed Brazilian naval officer. The FPSO is the first high-capacity unit to be installed in the Buzios field, with the potential to produce up to 225,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and process up to 12 million cubic meters (420 million cubic feet) of gas per day. The FPSO will be deployed at the field in fulfilment of a 26-year lease agreement between Netherlands-based SBM Offshore and Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras.
Built by China Merchants Heavy Industry to a design by SBM Offshore, the FPSO features technologies for decarbonisation such as the closed flare, which, together with other equipment, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. There are also systems for heat utilisation, which reduce the additional energy demand of the unit.
The Bahamas-flagged FPSO has a length of 336 metres (1,100 feet), a beam of 60 metres (200 feet), a draught of 10 metres (30 feet), and a displacement of 460,000 tonnes. These dimensions make the FPSO one of largest by tonnage in operation today.
The vessel utilises an SBM Offshore proprietary design that permits connection to 15 wells using subsea infrastructure consisting of rigid production and injection pipelines and flexible service pipelines.
Designed for ease of construction and operation in harsh environments
The FPSO adopts SBM Offshore's original "universal type" hull design concept, which is based on a floating production unit with a capacity of two million barrels of crude oil. The hull was developed to withstand the conditions of a wide range of marine environments including the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and Brazil, thus making it suitable for oil and gas development operations worldwide.
The FPSO also boasts a range of superstructure modules and mooring system solutions. The adoption of a modular design can help shorten the construction period and reduce costs while still being able to fully satisfy the owner’s requirements. Compared with traditional FPSOs, the hull of the vessel is versatile and adaptable, and its production cycle can be shortened by six to 12 months.
