Jerry Joynson, Corporate Director, Concept Development of SBM Offshore outlines some of the challenges in achieving successful FPSO delivery to Oil & Gas IQ Editor Bryan Camoens. He also explains why we shouldn’t fix something that isn’t broke even though technical innovations are necessary.

1. Deep water will remain the most significant
activity in the oil industry
Jerry Joynson, Corporate Director, Concept Development of SBM Offshore outlines
some of the challenges in achieving successful FPSO delivery to Oil & Gas IQ Editor
Bryan Camoens. He also explains why we shouldn’t fix something that isn’t broke even
though technical innovations are necessary.
Bryan Camoens: Could you please outline the current position of FPSO’s in today’s
field development strategy?
Jerry Joynson: The major discoveries are taking place in deep water and look to
continue to do so in the foreseeable future, and hence FPSO’s will clearly be central to
developing these deep water fields. The use of steel catenary risers connected to FPSOs,
as demonstrated on the turret moored Espirito Santo in 2008, will extend their range
beyond the current flexible riser limit of around 2,000m. Extraction of the massive arctic
oil and gas reserves will require means to cope with the winter ice shelf, and
disconnectable FPSOs will prove to be invaluable in this respect. The enormous
flexibility of the FPSO will ensure its leading position in regions where there is no
offshore oil export pipeline infrastructure.
Bryan Camoens: What are some of the challenges faced from evaluation to the final
phase of construction?
Jerry Joynson: The challenges in achieving successful FPSO delivery are manifold, and
are often client or regional specific. Local content requirements can be challenging to
comply with, such as the 65% Brazilian content recently achieved on P57; bidding rules
and a need for competitive tendering can hamper clients’ ability to carry out effective
development in collaboration with FPSO suppliers; and resources will become tighter
including the demand for experienced personnel as we pull out of the global recession.
Bryan Camoens: Could you please outline some of the developments for a more
balanced contracting regime in terms of project risk, responsibilities and cost?
Jerry Joynson: Lease based projects can help reduce risks for clients, as the
consequences of the detailed design decisions made in execution remain with the FPSO
lease operator. Performance and incentive based contracts work well with lease contracts,
and leases can also work to deliver lower life cycle costs.
Bryan Camoens: What are some of the technical specifications you must take into
account when choosing FPSO technology to maximizing field productivity?
Jerry Joynson: Maximizing field productivity requires high availability of facilities, and
enhanced recovery technologies including gas lift and water injection, which are now
commonplace on FPSO’s. Sea bed pumping and ESP’s will also be applied and Shells

2. Brazilian FPSO, Espirito Santo, leased from SBM, which is producing from a heavy oil
field, has demonstrated the effective installation of seabed pumping powered from the
FPSO via the turret mooring. SBM is now designing for Shell a work-over system for
those pumps which is FPSO based.
High availability is strongly linked to robust design. Despite the absolute need for
technical innovations it is demonstrably critical not to change too much from one FPSO
to the next, building in past execution and fleet operating experience to ensure highest
availability. Even where maximum productivity is not necessarily critical, project success
is built on taking many incremental steps project by project, with a large core of staff
experienced in the execution FPSO projects.
Bryan Camoens: By 2020, what advances in new build fpso hull and marine systems
will we see in the FPSO sector?
Jerry Joynson: Clearly the large demand for FPSO’s, many of which are required to be
as large as possible in Brazil given the enormous scale of developments there, will
require both new builds and conversions. Inevitably a fairly standardised new build FPSO
hull will emerge triggered by the likes of the 8 FPSO hull order in Brazil, and shipyards
focussed in this area could be expected to apply bulk carrier design and build
philosophies to drive costs more in the direction of bulk crude carriers.
Jerry Joynson will be speaking at the 12th Annual FPSO Congress.
Log on to www.fpsoasia.com for more details on the event. You can register by emailing
us at enquiry@iqpc.com.sg or calling us on (65) 67226388