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FLOATING PRODUCTION: Substantial growth for the sector 2008-2012.

The first installation of a floating production system (FPS) occurred over thirty years ago when Transworld 58, a converted semi-submersible drilling rig, was deployed on the Argyll field in the UK sector of the North Sea in 1975.

Since then, a number of different floating production systems have evolved and four main types can be identified: Floating Production Storage & Offloading vessels (FPSOs), Floating Production Semi-submersibles (FPSSs), Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs) and spars. Production barges have also been deployed in the benign environments of the Asia Pacific and West African regions.

FPSOs are ship-shaped vessels which are deployed to produce hydrocarbons from wells located on the seabed (subsea wells) or from wells located on offshore platforms. Their main distinguishing factor, relative to other forms of FPS, is their ability to store produced fluids which are then offloaded into shuttle tankers. Many FPSOs are converted oil tankers, although increasingly newbuild purpose built vessels are being deployed.

The key components of an FPSO are:

• The vessel itself, which may be a newbuild or, more usually, a tanker conversion;

• The mooring system, which on many modern FPSOs is built upon a geostationary ‘turret' mounted inside the hull and which leaves the vessel free to rotate to head into the prevailing weather. Such mooring systems are based on patented technologies and comprise a promising niche market;

• The process plant, the configuration of, depends largely on reservoir characteristics and environmental factors; water and/or gas injection and gas-lift facilities are commonly included.

The world's first FPSO was introduced in 1977, on Shell's Castellon field in WD 117m in the Spanish Mediterranean. The Brazilian operator Petrobras followed this lead by converting the Presidente Prudente de Moraes tanker and deploying it on the Garoupa field in 1978.

Recent years have seen a rapid expansion of the world's FPSO fleet, prompted in part by an increased demand for drilling units which has reduced the number of semi-submersible rigs available for conversion to production platforms.

International legislation (introduced largely in response to the Exxon Valdez disaster) which phases in requirements that tankers be fitted with double hulls provides further stimulus, since conversion of otherwise obsolete single-hull tankers into FPSOs enables the profitable re-utilization of depreciated assets.

FPSOs dominate the global floating production scene. As of year-end 2007, there have been nearly 190 FPSO deployments worldwide - 63% of all floating production systems (when combined with FPSSs, TLPs and spars).

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