Bumi Armada has, as expected (see DI, 7 April 2014, page 6), signed a formal contract with Eni to provide an FPSO vessel for the Italian major’s deepwater East Hub project offshore Angola.

Bumi is providing the floater to operate in Block 15/06 under a 12-year charter, operations and maintenance contract worth approximately US $3 billion. The FPSO will be equipped to store 1.8 MMbbl of oil and handle 80,000 b/d of production, once onstream in the fourth quarter of 2016. It will also be able to handle 120,000 b/d of water injection and 120,000 MMcf/d of gas.

This is also the first time that the Malaysia-based contractor will convert a Very Large Crude Carrier into an FPSO.

The effective date of the signed contract is 28 March 2014, corresponding to the commencement of the work. The 12-year contract also has options for 8 yearly extensions, meaning an extra $900 million in aggregate contract value if all the extension options are exercised.

Hassan Basma, Executive Director and CEO at Bumi Armada, said: “The contract for the Block 15/06 field marks Bumi Armada’s largest FPSO contract to date, in both contract value as well as the VLCC vessel which we will be using for the conversion, and clearly marks our entrance into the top tier of global FPSO players. Work on the FPSO for the 15/06 field has already commenced in April with the award of the LOI. We are confident of delivering the FPSO on time and on budget in Q4 2016.”

The converted FPSO will utilise an external turret with 18 risers and umbilicals, with the vessel’s topsides to weigh 15,000 tonnes. It will be moored at a water depth of 450 m (1,476 ft).

• Bumi Armada Berhad’s wholly owned subsidiary Bumi Armada Offshore Holdings Ltd. and its joint venture company PT Armada Gema Nusantara were also appointed as the FPSO lease contractor for the Madura BD field via a letter of intent (LOI) issued by Husky-CNOOC Madura Ltd. (HCML). The contractor will supply an FPSO to HCML for the field offshore Indonesia, with the total contract value put at $1.18 billion for a fixed period of 10 years, with options for five annual extensions worth an aggregate value of $147 million.