2011 Annual Report - SBM Offshore
2011 Annual Report - SBM Offshore
2011 Annual Report - SBM Offshore
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Mooring Systems<br />
The Company is the world leader in complex mooring systems and has continued development of its mooring<br />
technology throughout <strong>2011</strong> to strengthen this position.<br />
The Company supplied the internal turret mooring system, one of the highest capacity mooring systems yet built,<br />
for BP’s Skarv FPSO in Norway. This unit was installed in <strong>2011</strong>, but will soon be overtaken by an even larger<br />
capacity system, the Prelude FLNG turret for Shell, which the Company is currently designing.<br />
This internal turret mooring system marks a step-change in existing technology, and consequently the novel<br />
components required are now undergoing qualification testing.<br />
The <strong>SBM</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> laboratory in Carros, France, performed extensive testing throughout the year on advanced<br />
fluid swivel and swivel sealing systems to qualify new developments. Many of these represent significant<br />
advances in the Industry, by expanding the allowable operating envelope of turret mooring systems. One<br />
significant development, fully qualified during <strong>2011</strong>, is a new High Voltage AC electrical swivel design, suitable for<br />
around 150 MW capacity, which allows large turret moored FPSOs to be fully powered from shore. The Company<br />
received a “Spotlight on New Technology” award at OTC <strong>2011</strong> for this new product.<br />
Other advances include a new swivel design for ultra high pressure applications, which was fabricated during<br />
<strong>2011</strong> and will undergo a qualification test programme in 2012.<br />
<strong>Offshore</strong> floating solutions<br />
The Company’s Deep Draft Semi TM<br />
hull design is now well proven in service, after operating on the Independence<br />
Hub and Thunder Hawk fields for several years. Both of these units are connected to subsea wells.<br />
During <strong>2011</strong> <strong>SBM</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> further developed this proven hull design as a ‘dry tree’ configuration, to allow the use<br />
of surface mounted Christmas trees in ultra-deepwater fields in Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico. The design<br />
successfully completed the first stage of model testing, and will be further developed during 2012.<br />
This new product has the advantage of overcoming the inherent water depth limitations of TLP platforms, which is<br />
tendon related, and consequently offers great potential for the ultra-deepwater High Pressure/High Temperature<br />
fields of the future, where dry trees are preferred.<br />
Risers<br />
As a consequence of the trend towards production operations in ultra-deepwater fields and High Pressure/High<br />
Temperature fields, there is now greater industry focus on steel riser systems rather than unbonded flexible risers<br />
or hybrid riser towers.<br />
<strong>SBM</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong>’s Espirito Santo FPSO, is world’s first turret moored FPSO to be equipped with steel risers. The<br />
Company is now developing an enhanced version of this turret design, with capacity for a greater number of steel<br />
risers in ultra deepwater conditions.<br />
The Company has developed and qualified an enhanced connector device to allow the deployment of steel risers<br />
without the need for welding offshore, offering considerable benefits in terms of material selection, installation<br />
This is a customized selection from the <strong>SBM</strong> <strong>Offshore</strong> N.V. <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />
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