Norwegian contractor designs hull for Bay du Nord FPSO

Norway’s independent ship design company Salt Ship Design has designed a hull for a harsh environment FPSO, which will serve on the Bay du Nord project located offshore Canada for its compatriot oil and gas company, Equinor.

Salt Ship revealed in a statement on Thursday it has been working closely with Equinor for quite some time to develop an FPSO with enhanced motion characteristics and purpose made for operation in the exposed weather conditions in the Flemish Pass basin where the field is located.

In February 2022, Equinor and Salt entered a pre-FEED contract to mature and further develop the hull design in cooperation with Equinor, topside and turret contractors, class, flag and authorities. This work will carry on until the start of FEED, Salt Ship said.

Egil Sandvik, CEO of Salt Ship Design, commented: “It has been a great experience over the last 8 years to be working with Equinor being a major international energy company with a vast experience in developing, building, and operating FPSOs. Salt’s contribution has been our expertise in design and shipbuilding of complex vessels for demanding operations at sea. The result is a ship-shaped FPSO concept with unique design solutions.”

The development of FPSO designs and concept studies are an important part of Salt’s business, and being a part of the Bay du Nord FPSO development represents an important breakthrough in an interesting new segment, the company explained.

After a period of uncertainty marked by delays, Equinor finally received approval from the Canadian government to develop the Bay du Nord project in April 2022. The government claims that this will be among the lowest carbon per barrel of oil in the world.

The Norwegian company is now working on a drilling campaign to boost the resources for the project. As recently reported, operational challenges forced it to restart the second well in the campaign. As a result, drilling operations will take longer than previously expected.

Oil major BP is expected to join Equinor as a partner in the Bay du Nord project following the completion of a deal announced in June 2022.