VESSEL REVIEW | Blue Eagle – FPSO with 6,500cbm capacity for Mexico’s Durandco

Spanish shipyard Armon recently handed over a new floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to Mexican oil and gas company the Durandco Group.

Designed by Norwegian naval architects Inocean in compliance to DNV regulations for deployment in the Gulf of Mexico, Blue Eagle was built jointly by Armon and Sedef Shipyard of Turkey. Sedef constructed the hull while Armon built the superstructure at its facilities in Gijon, Spain.

The steel-hulled FPSO has an LOA of 106 metres, a beam of 25 metres, a height of 32 metres, and a displacement of 10,406 tonnes. Power is provided by a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system to ensure environment-friendly operations while a DP3 system will guarantee added safety in offshore waters.

The crude oil processing equipment is from the Kanfa Group and has a rated daily output of 6,500 cubic metres or the equivalent of 40,000 barrels.

A deck equipment package from Ferri includes electro-hydraulic articulated cranes – one with a 20-metre reach and 20-tonne lifting capacity exclusively for cargo handling duties at offshore platforms and the other with a maximum capacity of six tonnes for cargo handling duties that limited to the FPSO. The other deck equipment supplied by Ferri consists of two combined anchor windlasses, two stoppers, and two electric vertical winches. All deck machinery from Ferri are also ATEX-compliant, indicating their ability to be operated safely even in environments with explosive atmospheres.

Although designed primarily to operate as an FPSO, the vessel is also equipped for external firefighting thanks to the installation of two water monitors on the wheelhouse roof just aft of the forward helicopter deck. For added safety, the vessel is fitted with systems for emergency shut down, process shut down, and fire/gas warning. All of these systems are DNV-certified and were supplied by Sedni Marine Systems.

Accommodations are available for 80 crewmembers and other personnel.

Blue Eagle sails under the flag of Panama and is operated by Durandco subsidiary Blue Marine in the Basin of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico. It will operate in conjunction with around 80 fixed platforms of Mexican state-owned petroleum company Pemex.

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