Not much has been said about the fpso that Teekay Offshore/Odebrecht Oil & Gas will deliver and operate as an extended well test/early production unit on the giant LIBRA (SEN, 31/14) field, offshore Brazil, but it seems noteworthy.

This unit which will be converted from the shuttle tanker Navion Norvegia in Singapore at Sempcorp Marine’s Jurong Shipyard under a $696mn contract is an unusual beast.

It will have an oil processing capacity of just 50,000b/d - most of the production units under charter to Petrobras have at least three times that capacity - but will be able to process 4mcm/d and be able to compress most of it for reinjection back into the reservoir for pressure maintenance.

The low daily production level suggests less frequent offloading - there will be two producers and one gas reinjection well - but it also may be a somewhat smaller unit that will be redeployed. The water depth on the field exceeds 2,000m.

The contract is a 12-year charter which is due to begin in late 2016. The Libra field has estimated reserves of 8-12bnbbls.

And Jurong is on a roll. It has also picked up conversion work from Modec on a vlcc destined for Tullow’s TEN (31/8) fpso project, its second deepwater development in the waters off Ghana.

The unit will have an external turret in waters beyond 1,000m.

Offshore