Imtech (technical services provider in Europe ) has received an order worth 20 million euro for an important part of the technology on board a high-tech floating oil-production platform to be made operational in the North Sea .
The North Sea contains many so-called ‘marginal fields’ , which still contain a substantial amount of oil, but are too small for exploitation by means of large production platforms. The only way to extract this oil is by making use of Floating Production Storage Offloading vessels (FPSOs). These are floating oil-production systems that serve the same purpose as production platforms. They are far more efficient and flexible in use than the large platforms. After extraction, the crude oil is largely processed on the spot by means of pre-refining, after which the stabilised oil is stored inside the ship and periodically transferred to large oil tankers for further distribution and/or processing.