South Korea: Hyundai Launches Largest FPSO in the World

HHI today held a naming ceremony for the Usan FPSO, the world’s largest floating production storage and offloading facility. The Usan FPSO can refine 160,000 barrels of oil and 5 million cubic metres of gas daily. It has storage for 2 million barrels of oil.

The facility is 320m long, 61m wide, 32m high and weighs 116,000 tons. HHI’s FPSOs are preferred in the offshore industry as they are easy to install and do not require pipelines to export oil and gas.

Attending the naming ceremony were HHI chief operating officer Kang Chang-june, Total executive director for external affairs John Addeh, and 300 guests. The $1.7 billion FPSO was ordered by French supermajor Total in February 2008.

Cutting-edge technologies such as three-dimensional simulation during module installation to assess risks and drydock loading of four sets of topside modules are a paradigm shift in the industry, shortening construction time by up to a month and increasing reliability and worker safety.

After trial runs in Ulsan, Usan FPSO will sail out for the Usan Field at the end of March 2011. The Usan Field is located 100km south of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

HHI has built ten supersize FPSOs, each with 2 million barrels or more storage capacity, for oil majors worldwide since its first FPSO for Petrobras in 1996. Currently the company has a 60% market share in the burgeoning supersize FPSO business.

HHI is an integrated heavy industries company with business divisions specializing in shipbuilding, engine and machinery, offshore and engineering, industrial plant and engineering, electro electric systems, and construction equipment.

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Source: HHI, November  12, 2010;