Interesting Ship of The Week – BW Pioneer

This week’s interesting ship is the BW Pioneer, which Keppel Shipyard Limited (Keppel Shipyard) has just announced is on track to be delivered BW Pioneer Ltd, an affiliate of BW Offshore.  The vessel will be the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the US Gulf of Mexico. Named today at Keppel Shipyard, the vessel BW Pioneer will be turret moored at a water depth of about 2,600 meters – by far the deepest for an FPSO.

The FPSO, which is nearing completion, has achieved an impressive safety record of more than 4 million incident-free man-hours to-date. BW Pioneer has been leased by Petrobras America Inc. to operate in the Cascade and Chinook fields of the US GoM, with production scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

Designed to handle the harsh operating conditions in GoM, BW Pioneer is equipped with an internal disconnectable Submerged Turret Production (STP) mooring system and outfitted with advanced safety features to withstand environmental loads from currents, waves and wind. In the event of an approaching hurricane, this highly advanced safety feature will allow the FPSO to disengage from site and move on her own propulsion to seek sheltered waters.

BW Pioneer has a storage capacity of about 600,000 barrels of oil, a process capacity of 80,000 bopd and gas export facilities of 16 mmscfd.

Click HERE to read more from Keppel Corporation

Unlock Exclusive Insights Today!

Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.

Sign Up