ALP to tow Kaombo Norte FPSO to Angola

ALP Maritime Services has been selected by Interoil and Saipem to provide a spread of five vessels to perform tow assistance and heading control services for the Kaombo project.

ALP said on Wednesday that the project services include tow-assist operations to an FPSO from South East Asia to West Africa, by two of 300ts bollard pull Future class vessels.

On arrival in Angola, the vessels will be joined by three additional vessels from the ALP fleet, which are required to keep the heavy FPSO Kaombo Norte stationed during connection to its mooring lines.

On completion of the mooring operation, two of the vessels will continue to support the riser pull-in operation.

Paul Mulder, CEO of ALP, said: “ALP is very proud to have been selected for this tow assist and pull-in operation. Acting as a single service provider from yard to hook-up and installation, ALP is providing a tailor-made solution to our customer with optimum vessel scheduling flexibility.”

Last week, Saipem awarded GranEnergia, a Brazilian offshore accommodation solutions provider, a contract for the DP3 compact semi-submersible vessel Venus for Kaombo project support.

Total’s Kaombo project will develop six of the 12 discoveries already made on Block 32 offshore Angola. The six fields (Gengibre, Gindungo, Caril, Canela, Mostarda, and Louro) cover an area of 800 km2 in the central and southeast part of the block will be connected via 300 km of subsea pipelines to two FPSO units, Kaombo Norte and Kaombo Sul.

As for Saipem’s involvement in the project, it was awarded a $4 billion contract for the conversion and delivery of the two FPSOs for the Kaombo project, following the final investment decision made by Total in April 2014.

The two FPSOs are being converted from VLCC sister ships by Sembcorp Marine in the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore.

Offshore Energy Today Staff