Shell and Seatrium strengthen floating production systems ties

Singapore-headquartered Seatrium Limited, former Sembcorp Marine Ltd before the merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine Limited, is pooling resources with Shell Global Solutions International, a subsidiary of the UK-based energy giant Shell, to bolster collaboration opportunities in floating production systems.

The duo signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enable the exploration and fortification of collaboration opportunities in floating production systems by leveraging both players’ deep engineering capabilities and technologies to mature and realize further benefits of replication, tapping into each other’s competencies and incorporating lessons learned from past projects.

This MoU is focused on driving project standardization and replication, seeking to promote best practices in the design and construction of floating production systems. Seatrium and Shell have worked together on various projects over the years, including the recently announced Sparta floating production unit (FPU), which is conceived as a replicable project to leverage the firm’s topsides single lift integration methodology, following the fabrication of Vito and Whale FPU newbuilds in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

William Gu, Executive Vice President of Seatrium Oil & Gas (International), commented: “We are pleased to deepen our collaboration with Shell, leveraging both parties’ competencies and technologies in past floating production systems projects. We look forward to continue working with Shell to mutually learn and develop best-in-class project management practices to achieve operational efficiency in future floater projects, benefitting both parties.”

The MoU with Shell comes shortly after Seatrium disclosed a batch of new contracts with an aggregate value of S$350 million (around $258.9 million) for vessel repairs, upgrades, and conversions.

The Singapore player also recently held a ceremony to mark the first steel fabrication milestone for an FPSO destined to work on an Equinor-operated pre-salt gas and condensate project off the coast of Brazil.