Drydocks World Dubai, a part of DP World, has begun operations for converting an Aframax tanker capable of carrying 700,000 barrels of oil to a floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit for Perenco’s project located offshore Brazil.
Announcing the beginning of conversion on Tuesday, Drydocks said that the extensive modification and life extension work will include the provision of a new hull coating, designed to make the FSO’s performance reliable for uninterrupted offshore service for the next 20 years.
Furthermore, the work includes fabrication and installation of an external turret for weather waning, helideck fabrication and integration, metering skid installation and modification to cargo system, and installation of Hose Reel & Crane.
COO of Drydocks World, Neil Millar , commented: “Today is an important milestone for Drydocks World as we begin work on a conversion project for our customer, Dixstone, subsidiary of Perenco, an oil company based in Paris”.
Project Manager of FSO Pargo, Thomas Milani , commented: “Our Dixstone team is excited to lay the first milestone of FSO Pargo conversion works. We look forward to deliver to our client Perenco Petroleo e Gas do Brasil a high-quality project on time and within budget”.
Following exploration activities between 2009 and 2015, Perenco returned to Brazil in October 2019 following the completion of the acquisition of production concessions in the Campos Basin from Petrobras, announced in November 2018 .
Since then, Perenco has been operating the Pargo, Carapeba, and Vermelho concessions with 100 per cent stakes. These fields are located 70km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro in water 100 meters deep.
The Pargo field was discovered in 1975, and the fields of Carapeba and Vermelho in 1982, and their production was started in 1988. The fields are located in shallow water with reservoir depth between c.2,700 to 3,750 meters.
According to information on Perenco’s website, the Pargo cluster currently produces 5,000 boepd from six production platforms. The three assets offer a STOIIP (Stock Tank Of Initially In Place) of 1.5 billion bbls, 504 million of which have already been produced. All the crude oil is exported from the Garoupa platform to the onshore terminal at Cabiunas.