Cathelco have won an order to supply a hull corrosion protection system for the P63 FPSO which will be operated on behalf of Petrobras in the Papa Terra offshore oil field off Brazil.
This follows the recent announcement of an order for an ICCP system for the P62 FPSO.
The project will involve the conversion of the BW Nisa, a 323,000 dwt ultra large crude carrier which was built in 1985 and is owned by BW Offshore of Norway who will supervise the marine scope of the conversion contract.
The conversion will take place at the COSCO (Dalian) shipyard with delivery scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.
Cathelco are supplying an impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) system for the vessel which will protect the underwater surface of the hull against corrosion.
To optimise the effectiveness of the system, it has been designed with four power units which are positioned throughout the length of the vessel. These enable arrangements of anodes and reference electrodes to be located on the hull in forward, midships and stern sections to achieve the best distribution of impressed current around the vessel.
In operation, the reference electrodes measure the electrical potential at the hull/seawater interface and send a reading to the control panel which increases or decreases the output to the anodes. In this way, the hull receives the optimum level of corrosion protection at all times.
The system has been supplied with a centralised controller which enables all four control panels to be monitored and controlled from a single location for the convenience of the crew.
This provides a clear graphical representation of the system and enables the anode outputs to be displayed individually as well as the readings from the various reference electrodes.
In addition, the controller stores the readings for each ICCP unit on a daily basis and generates monthly log readings for analysis by engineers at Cathelco Ltd.
Another advantage is that if an ‘alarm’ condition arises, the controller automatically generates a log file showing all the data relating to the condition together with details of all the configuration settings. This ensures that any faults can be traced and rectified without delay.
“We have listened to our customers and developed a monitoring system which saves a considerable amount of crew time. Instead of having to check a number of controllers at different locations around the ship each day, all of the information is centralised and the data logging is carried out automatically”, said Steve Ellis, project development manager at Cathelco Ltd.
Cathelco ICCP systems are being increasingly installed on FPSOs, FSOs and semi-submersibles including the FPSO P57 which was supplied in 2009 and more recently the FPSO P62 which is being converted for Petrobras.