SOFEC, Inc. has awarded mooring connector specialist, First Subsea, a contract to supply the mooring connectors for the first FPSO to be installed in the Jubilee Field, offshore Ghana. Moored in 1,100 meters (3,609ft) of water, the external turret-moored FPSO will begin production in 2010.

First Subsea is supplying nine Ballgrab ball and taper connectors, with a minimum breaking load (MBL) of 5,364kN, for the external turret's mooring lines. Ballgrab connectors will link the suction piles and ground chain segments, interfacing directly with the mooring lines' long term mooring shackles. The female receptacle part of the connectors will be installed subsea with the piles, mounted on a docking porch. When the FPSO is in position, the male connector, attached to the mooring line, is lowered from the surface into the female receptacle to complete the mooring installation.

“We chose First Subsea as a supplier of this critical component because of their willingness to meet a challenging schedule” said, Caspar Heyl, lead mooring engineer for SOFEC.

The Jubilee field is one of the largest oil fields discovered offshore West Africa in the past 10 years.

Tags: First Subsea Ltd, Inc., SOFEC