Keppel Singmarine, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), is on track to deliver an ice class Floating Storage and Offloading vessel (FSO) to repeat customer, LUKOIL- Nizhnevolzhskneft (Lukoil).

The vessel was christened YURI KORCHAGIN at Keppel Singmarine's sister yard, Caspian Shipyard Company (CSC) in Azerbaijan on 26 August 2009. It was completed on-time and with zero Lost-Time Incidents (LTI) in over 2 million man-hours worked.

YURI KORCHAGIN will be the first ice-class FSO to be completed and deployed in the Caspian region. A new design by Keppel Singmarine's technology arm, Marine Technology Development (MTD), the FSO can withstand ice conditions of minus 20 degrees Celsius and ice thickness of 0.6 meters.

Hoe Eng Hock, Executive Director of Keppel Singmarine said, "This project marks a significant milestone for us and our partnership with Lukoil. This is the seventh vessel we will be delivering to them and also the most challenging. It has helped to enhance our design and construction capabilities and added to our track record of vessels constructed for difficult weather conditions.

"This completion demonstrates the synergy between Keppel's yards and the close cooperation we have with our partners. We are able to leverage our Near Market, Near Customer strategy to deliver innovative solutions to our customers."

The ice-class FSO was first built as two separate hull sections at Keppel Singmarine in Singapore so that they could be towed through the Volga-Don river canal, known for its strict restrictions on height, width and draft. The two hull sections, living quarters, helideck and other equipment were transported 11,000 km to CSC where it was assembled and completed.

This method of constructing a vessel in sections and then transporting them through the narrow Volga-Don River Canal into the Caspian Sea for completion is part of Keppel O&M's expertise having previously built a jackup rig and a semisubmersible in CSC through this method.

With oil storage design capacity of approximately 28,000 tonnes, the FSO will be deployed in the Yuri Korchagin field in the Russian Federation sector of the Caspian Sea. It is designed with provisions for forecastle deck structure for soft yoke mooring system, double bottom and double hull, a superstructure for 32 men and a Cargo Oil Control Station, machinery space and a helipad in the mid-section.

Offloading of oil is preformed at the stern through a 146 meter long, 16 inches diameter floating hose at approximately 1500 cubic meter per hour.

The FSO is meant for uninterrupted services in receiving crude oil from a fixed ice-resistant platoform (IFP-1) through single buoy mooring system, storage of oil onboard and finally offloading of oil to shuttle tankers.

Tags: Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited