KBR has been awarded a contract by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company, Ltd. (DSME) to provide topsides engineering, procurement and interface design services for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel on the Pazflor project, operated by Total in Angola.

The award marks the eleventh major FPSO design that KBR has been involved with in the past decade. Pazflor’s design is a purpose-built FPSO with a topsides weight of 32,200 metric tons. Total's Angolan subsidiary, Total E&P Angola (TEPA), awarded DSME the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to construct the vessel's moorings, hull and topsides. It is designed with a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day of oil, 150 million cubic feet per day of gas, and a storage capacity of about 1.9 million barrels of crude. Facilities are planned for a 20-year design life, and quarters are provided for 220 operation and maintenance personnel. First oil production on Pazflor is scheduled in 2011.

"The Pazflor FPSO is the fourth consecutive mega-topsides and second new-build FPSO awarded to KBR by DSME in the last five years," said John Rose, president, upstream for KBR. "This project builds on KBR's long history of work in Angola and reinforces the importance of this market for our company."

"KBR has a track record for delivering innovative, quality engineering within schedule, which is why we continue to choose them for our projects," said W.S. Ryu, executive vice president and chief division officer, offshore business division for DSME.

Pazflor includes the Perpetua, Acacia, Zinia and Hortensia fields, which lie in the eastern portion of Block 17 approximately 150 kilometers from the Angolan coast. The FPSO will be spread-moored in a depth of approximately 2500 feet atop 25 subsea oil wells, 2 gas injection wells and 22 water injection wells. DSME will construct the vessel at its fabrication yard in South Korea.

Tags: Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Company, KBR