A floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit being built at Cosco Nantong shipyard for Sevan Marine has had its delivery delayed until the first quarter 2017 because the oilfield on which it will be deployed is running two years behind schedule.
The FPSO, which has storage capacity of 400,000 bbl, was ordered by Sevan in December 2012 for charter to Dana Petroleum, a subsidiary of Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC), for deployment in the Western Isles.
Dana and its partner Cieco respectively have a 77% and 23% interest in the Western Isles Development Project (WIDP) at the Harris and Barra oil fields in the northern North Sea, 160km east of the Shetland Islands.
However, the WIDP has overrun its original $1.6bn budget, and is now not expected onstream until 2017 – two years later than announced when the project was approved by the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change in December 2012.
“I can confirm the project cost for Western Isles is now around $2bn and first oil is expected in late 2017,” a Dana spokesman told Splash today.
The FPSO (pictured under construction) was originally scheduled to arrive in the second quarter this year, but was delayed by mutual agreement between the shipyard and its client “due to changes in technical requirements from the shipowner”, a Cosco statement said today.
The WIDP involves a subsea development of at least five production and four water injection wells tied back to the FPSO, with oil to be exported using shuttle tankers.
The FPSO is being built to a cylindrical design developed by Sevan Marine. Its keel was laid in 2014 and photographs posted on Dana’s website (such as the one above) show that a helideck was installed on the unit in August this year.
