MISC Berhad, a subsidiary of Petronas, has marked the start of the floating, storage and offloading (FSO) Benchamas 2 conversion project with the arrival of the donor vessel at MMHE West Yard, Pasir Gudang, Malaysia.
The arrival of Bunga Kelana 5 as the donor vessel for this project is a key milestone in the FSO Benchamas 2 journey, MISC said. The vessel which has been operated by AET Tankers is a 105,400 dwt Aframax tanker that was built in March 1999.
Bunga Kelana 5 was identified as the most suitable vessel to be converted into an FSO due to her features that allow for technical upgrades and integrations to fit the weather conditions of Chevron Offshore (Thailand) Limited’s (COTL) Benchamas field in the Gulf of Thailand.
Once the conversion works are completed, the FSO will mark MISC’s entry into Thailand’s offshore oil and gas market.
With the project management team on site and ready for the commencement of the conversion works, the FSO Benchamas 2 project is expected to be completed for its sail away in the first quarter of 2018. Upon successful conversion and delivery, it will be deployed for a full field development project for COTL.
MISC’s contract with COTL is valued at approximately USD 230 million for a duration of 10 years, with COTL having the right to extend up to 5 extensions of one year each. The project is undertaken by MISC’s fully owned subsidiary, MISC Offshore Floating Terminals (L) Limited (MOFT).