Shell, SBM Offshore win OTC ‘Distinguished Achievement Award’

Dutch oil major Shell and compatriot FPSO provider SBM Offshore have been awarded the OTC 2018 Distinguished Achievement Award in Houston this week.

SBM Offshore said on Tuesday that the companies received the award in recognition of the successful development of the world’s deepest oil and gas project, the Stones field, using the FPSO Turritella designed by SBM in collaboration with Shell.

This award follows SBM Offshore’s last year’s Spotlight on New Technology award for the turret mooring system (TMS) on the FPSO.

The FPSO provider’s chief strategy officer Stein Rasmussen accepted the award on behalf of SBM Offshore.

The Stones development is located in 2,896 meters (9,500 feet) of water approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) offshore Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area.

FPSO Turritella, the vessel used on the field, is the deepest FPSO development in the world and has a turret with a disconnectable buoy allowing it to weathervane in normal conditions and disconnect from the FPSO upon the approach of a hurricane.

Shell took over the ownership of the FPSO Turritella in January following a $1 billion acquisition of the vessel.

The FPSO Turritella has been on hire since September 2, 2016, and forms an early phase in Shell’s Stones development. The acquisition allowed Shell to assume operatorship of the Stones development in its entirety.