First FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico

摘要

Will FPSOs be useful in the ultra-deep water of the US Gulf of Mexico? One operator intends to answer this question first-hand. The use of floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) has become a successful means of producing deepwater fields throughout the world. Beginning in the 1970s, FPSOs were first used by Shell off the coast of Spain and Petrobras offshore Brazil. Over the last 30 years their use has been expanded worldwide with 125 FPSOs in operation to date, according to "The World Floating Production Report 2008-2012" published by Douglas-Westwood Ltd. The Quest Floating Production Database states that more than half of the world's floating production systems are FPSOs.