Ichthys LNG Project launches FPSO hull

The hull of the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility was yesterday launched from the dry dock at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in Okpo, South Korea.

The launch saw the 336-metre-long hull – equivalent to more than three football fields in length – floated out of the dry dock and positioned quayside where construction will continue.

Ichthys LNG Project Offshore Director Claude Cahuzac said the milestone was an impressive achievement, with an enormous amount of work carried out since the FPSO’s keel laying ceremony.

“Pre-fabricated blocks weighing around 60,000 tonnes in total have been lifted into the dry dock and assembled to create what we see on the water now,” Mr Cahuzac said.

“While the hull is at its full length from stern to bow and floating, it does not mean it is complete.

“We still have some work to do to complete the hull, and even more for the entire FPSO, including the fabrication and integration of the topsides, living quarters and our next major milestone – the installation of the turret, which is currently under construction in Singapore.”

The FPSO will be moored about 3.5 kilometres from the Ichthys LNG Project’s Central Processing Facility (CPF). It will process and store condensate from the CPF and periodically offload stabilised condensate to shuttle carriers for export directly to market.

The 336 m by 59 m FPSO is designed to hold more than one million barrels of condensate and will have the capacity to accommodate a workforce of up to 200 people.

Once complete, the facility will be towed 5,600 km to the Ichthys Field in the Browse Basin, offshore Western Australia, where it will be permanently moored to the seabed for the life of the Project.

The Ichthys LNG Project recently celebrated its most significant construction milestone to date after officially marking 50 per cent completion on 25 June 2014.