BW Offshore, a Norwegian provider of FPSO units, has shed some light on what is going on with the Catcher FPSO, destined for the Premier Oil-operated Catcher field in the UK North Sea.
While Premier Oil itself in August said there were some delays in the construction of the FPSO, the Norwegian FPSO-owner on Friday provided more details.
BW Offshore said that the good progress had been made during the second quarter of 2015, with construction of the turret mooring system progressing well, and the mating cone module completed and delivered to the hull fabrication yard.
However, the Norwegian company said that the activities related to hull construction activities had slipped due to the yard’s inability to progress the hull delivery by the contractual schedule.
Japan’s IHI handles the construction of the hull. BW Offshore has revealed that the hull construction is ongoing but has been affected by IHI building a drillship, which is currently occupying main dry dock. Upon delivery, the topsides and the hull will be assembled in Singapore.
In line with what Premier Oil said in August, BW Offshore has assured that first oil from the Catcher development will flow in 2017, as a revised construction and assembly plan for the FPSO has been implemented, and the project remains within budget.
Once delivered, the FPSO will be on a 7-year charter with Premier Oil, producing oil from the Catcher development. Located 180 kilometres east of Aberdeen, the Catcher project includes the development of three main oil and gas fields, Catcher, Varadero and Burgman.
The FPSO will have a processing capacity of 60,000 bopd and a storage capacity of 650,000 bbl.
Offshore Energy Today Staff