Petrojarl I FPSO finally ready for Brazil

Upgrade work on Teekay’s Petrojarl I FPSO destined to be redeployed in Brazil after having spent almost three decades in the North Sea area, has finally been completed.

Damen Shipyard, which has been working on preparing the vessel for Brazil since the early 2015, on Friday said the work had been completed and the FPSO handed over to Teekay.

To remind, the vessel had worked in the North Sea for 28 years, when Teekay, rather than scrapping it, decided to give it a new lease of life, after having found work for it in Brazil, at QGEP’s Atlanta field.

In order to make the unit ready for redeployment, Teekay hired Damen Shiprepair tasking it to revamp the provide Petrojarl I with hull reinforcements, steel renewal work, paint work, topsides modifications and basically extending its life.

The FPSO has been at the Rotterdam yard since early 2015. The upgrades along with mild climate conditions in Brazil, are expected to extend the Petrojarl I life by 15 more years.

Work in Rotterdam

According to Damen’s statement on Friday, the self-propelled FPSO spent 14 months in Dock no. 8 (300x50m) in Rotterdam, undergoing refurbishment of its marine systems, underwater hull, seawater system, crane booms, heating coils in the cargo tanks, and specialized steelworks in the upper and lower turret areas, which needed to be completely revised and adapted to suit the 1500 meters deep mooring location.

Simultaneously, Damen said, newly designed, prefabricated equipment skids containing heating, cooling, separation, compression, boilers, centrifuges as well as a new E-house with electrical equipment were placed on board. Interconnecting piping and cabling was subsequently installed to complete the topsides and connect it to the remaining facilities.

Start-up delayed

Worth noting, the FPSO had been expected to start flowing oil from QGEP’s Atlanta field in the Santos Basin off Brazil in mid-2016, however, delays with FPSO works in the shipyard have led Teekay and QGEP to amend the charter contract and prolong the first oil date.

According to Teekay’s recent quarterly report, the Atlanta field start-up is now expected in 2018.

The amended charter contract includes an extension to the delivery window for the project and an adjusted charter rate profile which reduces the day rate for the FPSO unit during the first 18 months of production.

During the final 3.5 years of the contract, the charter contract will revert to a rate that is higher than the original daily rate, plus production tariffs, which provides the potential for Teekay to more than recover the reduction during the first 18 months.

Offshore Energy Today Staff