KrisEnergy, has chartered the Rubicon Vantage FSO vessel and a catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) buoy for utilisation on the Wassana oil development in the G10/48 licence area in the Gulf of Thailand. The Wassana field is anticipated to commence production in the second half of 2015.
The Rubicon Vantage is a double-hull FSO facility owned by Rubicon Vantage International Pte and has been operating in the Gulf of Thailand since 2008. The vessel is 228.6 metres in overall length and has a storage capacity of 597,206 barrels. It can accommodate up to 40 persons.
The CALM buoy is supplied by Equatoriale Services. Its hull is moored to the seabed using six mooring chain legs guided through rotating chain stoppers and connected to high capacity power anchors. A turntable is located on top of the hull to accommodate FSO mooring hawsers and floating hoses. A proprietary-designed dual-path swivel unit enables the transfer of fluids during vessel rotations.
Fluids are transferred from the CALM buoy to the FSO via floating hoses protected by marine breakaway couplings. This widely-used technology enables safe mooring of the vessel while guaranteeing the transfer of crude oil and water during weather-vanning of the FSO.
Chris Gibson-Robinson , Director Exploration & Production, commented: “The Rubicon Vantage has experience of the environment and local regulations in the Gulf of Thailand where it has been operating for six years. With the FSO and CALM buoy contracts, most of the key elements for the Wassana development – facilities, drilling contract and now offloading and storage – are in place and we are on track to take the field into production next year. We plan to coordinate further exploration in G10/48 at the same time.”
Press Release