Bumi Armada to Convert Tanker into FPSO for Kraken Project

Bumi Armada to Convert Tanker into FPSO for Kraken Project

Bumi Armada Berhad said that its nominated wholly-owned subsidiary, Armada Kraken Pte. Ltd. has signed a bareboat charter contract with EnQuest Heather Limited, EnQuest ENS Limited, First Oil and Gas Limited, Nautical Petroleum Limited and Nautical Petroleum AG as field partners, led by EnQuest Heather Limited as field operator for a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Vessel (FPSO) to be deployed at the Kraken field located in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Simultaneously Bumi Armada UK Limited, another wholly-owned subsidiary of Bumi Armada, and EnQuest Heather Limited also signed a reimbursable contract for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the Kraken FPSO.

Both contracts run simultaneously for a fixed period of eight years, valued at USD 1.4 billion (equivalent to approximately RM 4.6 billion), with options for 17 annual extensions with a significant upside when the options are full y exercised.

Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of Bumi Armada, Mr Hassan Basma said, “We have already commenced work on the project on 27 Sept 2013, following the execution of the previously announced Letter of Interim Agreement (LOIA) and we look forward to working closely with our clients and value chain suppliers to successfully deliver our first North Sea FPSO to the Kraken oil field in 2016. We certainly hope that this would be the first of more projects to come.”

Bumi Armada will be using a recently built ice-class tanker for this FPSO conversion. The FPSO will have a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels. The FPSO will be moored by a buoy turret mooring system with a fluid transfer system designed to 390 bars pressure.

A total of 16 risers will be connected to the buoy turret mooring; the turret will be one of the largest of its kind in the world. The FPSO will also handle a peak fluid rate of 460, 000 bpd and 80,000 bpd oil production, 275,000 bpd water injection and 20 MMscf gas handling capacities. The FPSO has a total installed power of 62 megawatts in a four by 15.5 megawatt configuration. The power plant is equipped with a triple fuel system including direct burning of heavy crude oil.

The heavy oil will be produced by means of hydraulic subsea pumps (HSPs) and this type of submersible pumps have high reliability and require less maintenance compared to traditional electric submerged pumps. It is the second such application of its kind in the North Sea after the Captain field.

This project underscores Bumi Armada’s capability to build, own and operate a harsh-environment FPSO under a stringent regulatory regime. Bumi Armada operates in 18 countries worldwide and has a workforce of more than 3,000 spanning 40 nationalities.

 

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Press Release, December 23, 2013