Keppel on track to deliver Catcher FPSO

Keppel Offshore & Marine’s subsidiary, Keppel Shipyard, is on track to deliver a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to BW Offshore, meant for Premier’s North Sea field. 

Josephine Teo, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Transport, attended the naming ceremony of BW Catcher at Keppel Shipyard on Friday.

Teo said, “This project is testament to the capabilities of Singapore’s offshore and marine sector. I hope there will be many more collaborations that boost the strength of Maritime Singapore.”

Upon its completion, BW Catcher will be on a 7-year fixed term and 18 years of options contract with Premier Oil and will be deployed to the Catcher field located in Central North Sea, UK. Keppel Shipyard’s work scope on the FPSO include the installation and integration of topside modules.

According to Keppel, BW Catcher is scheduled for sailaway from the shipyard in the next few months and is on track to achieve its first oil in 2017.

Chris Ong, Acting CEO of Keppel O&M, said, “The successful fast-track delivery of BW Catcher is an example of strong team work, project management and experience. I am glad that we were able to meet our customer’s needs. Our reliability and expertise in executing FPSO projects allows us to continue to win the trust and confidence of our customers.”

Carl Arnet, CEO of BW Offshore added, “Having worked together on eleven other projects previously, Keppel has proven to be a reliable partner. I would like to thank the project teams from BW Offshore and Keppel for the excellent work on this project. We are looking forward to the final completion to our expectations. We are confident that the FPSO will perform well in the Catcher Field and bolster the oil output in the North Sea.”

BW Catcher has an oil storage capacity of 650,000 barrels, with a processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. It has a design life of 20 years without dry docking and will be moored using a submerged turret production at an average water depth of 90m.