China to build FPSO

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and ConocoPillips China signed a contract with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for the construction of a 300,000DWT FPSO for service in China’s Bohai Bay. Fu Chengyu, chairman and CEO of CNOOC, said that the vessel will be the largest built in China, will cost $200 million and is expected to be completed by May 2007.

The vessel will be 310 metres long, 60 metres wide, have a draught of 29 metres and is expected to have a storage capacity topping 2 million barrels of crude oil. The newbuilding will be used for offshore oil and gas production, a process that combines oil and gas extraction, processing with storage and transportation. The FPSO topside modules are being built in Singapore and, upon completion, the FPSO will have a processing and handling capacity of 190,000 barrels of oil and 510,000 barrels of LNG per day.