Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiary Sembawang Shipyard has won a contract worth SGD600m ($475m) from French firm Saipem to convert two floating storage production offloading (FPSO) units.

Under the 32-month timeline, Sembawang will convert two very large crude carrier (VLCC) sister ships, namely Olympia and Antartica, into turret-moored FPSOs for the Kaombo project, offshore Angola. Both vessels are owned by French oil and gas major, Total.

The proposed conversion forms part of a $3bn contract that Saipem received from Total in April for the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of the two converted turret-moored vessels.

The conversion process will include refurbishment of the VLCCs, construction engineering, fabrication of flare, helideck, upper turret and access structure, lower turret components and pre-commissioning of the FPSOs. It also covers integration of the topside modules that will be fabricated at Saipem’s Indonesian yard

Upon conversion, each FPSO will have an oil-treating capacity of 115,000 barrels and a water-injection capacity of 200,000 barrels a day. In addition, each unit will have a 100 million standard cubic feet per day (scfd) gas compression capacity along with a storage capacity of 1.7 million barrels of oil.

“The award is a strong endorsement of our Shipyard’s capabilities in the highly specialised field of FPSO conversion, modification and upgrading work.”

Sembcorp Marine deputy president and Sembawang Shipyard managing director Ong Poh Kwee said: “The award is a strong endorsement of our shipyard’s capabilities in the highly specialised field of FPSO conversion, modification and upgrading work.

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“We thank Saipem for selecting Sembawang Shipyard to execute this prestigious contract and for their trust and confidence in our high health, safety, security and environment standards, quality, project management know-how, engineering design, outfitting and commissioning capabilities.

“We are fully committed to work closely with all partners involved in this milestone project for a successful outcome. The buoyant offshore market offers exciting opportunities for both the shipyard and owners and we look forward to a long-term collaborative partnership with Saipem.”

The two vessels are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2015 respectively.

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