Dutch offshore services provider Boskalis has engaged its heavy transport vessel Blue Marlin to move a recently converted floating production unit (FPU) to Angola, ahead of its deployment at Congo’s first natural gas liquefaction project.
The cargo, formerly one of the largest semi-submersible drilling rigs of its generation, has been converted into an FPU is currently en route to Angola on Blue Marlin vessel.
Even though the 80-by-68-meter, 41,000-ton structure is five meters wider than the 63-meter-wide deck of the Blue Marlin, the colossal FPU stands rock-solid on deck, according to Boskalis.
Boskalis did not explicitly state which FPU unit is being transported, but the photographs shared by the company show the refurbished FPU is a recently-converted Saipem’s Scarabeo 5 drilling rig, which will be deployed at Eni’s Congo liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
The Scarabeo 5, built in Italy in the early 1990s, is one of the best units of its generation, hence it was chosen as an asset for conversion into a floating gas treatment facility.
Once installed, it will serve as a control hub for the entire offshore development field of Eni's Congo LNG Project.
The refurbished will be used to send processed gas to the Nguya floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG).
Eni held the sail away ceremony for the Nguya FLNG unit earlier in the week in Shangai, which is set to depart for Congo LNG project in the Marine XII concession.