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Oil and gas production handbook An introduction to oil ... - ABB Group

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FPSO: Floating Production,<br />

S<strong>to</strong>rage <strong>and</strong> Offloading. Their<br />

main advantage is that they are a<br />

st<strong>and</strong>alone structure that does not<br />

need external infrastructure such<br />

as pipelines or s<strong>to</strong>rage. Crude <strong>oil</strong><br />

is offloaded <strong>to</strong> a shuttle tanker at<br />

regular intervals, from days <strong>to</strong><br />

weeks, depending on <strong>production</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> s<strong>to</strong>rage capacity. FPSOs<br />

currently produce from around<br />

10,000 <strong>to</strong> 200,000 barrels per day.<br />

<strong>An</strong> FPSO is typically a tanker type<br />

hull or barge, often converted from<br />

an existing crude <strong>oil</strong> tanker (VLCC<br />

or ULCC). Due <strong>to</strong> the increasing<br />

sea depth for new fields, they<br />

dominate new offshore field<br />

development at more than 100<br />

meters water depth.<br />

The wellheads or subsea risers<br />

from the sea bot<strong>to</strong>m are located<br />

on a central or bow-mounted<br />

turret, so that the ship can rotate<br />

freely <strong>to</strong> point in<strong>to</strong> wind, waves or<br />

current. The turret has wire rope<br />

<strong>and</strong> chain connections <strong>to</strong> several<br />

anchors (position mooring -<br />

POSMOOR), or it can be<br />

dynamically positioned using<br />

thrusters (dynamic positioning –<br />

DYNPOS). Most installations use<br />

subsea wells. The main process is<br />

placed on the deck, while the hull<br />

is used for s<strong>to</strong>rage <strong>and</strong> offloading<br />

<strong>to</strong> a shuttle tanker. It may also be<br />

used for the transportation of<br />

pipelines.<br />

FPSOs with additional processing<br />

<strong>and</strong> systems, such as drilling <strong>and</strong><br />

<strong>production</strong> <strong>and</strong> str<strong>and</strong>ed <strong>gas</strong> LNG<br />

<strong>production</strong> are planned.<br />

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