VESSEL REFIT | Anita Garibaldi MV33 – MODEC deploys sixth floating storage vessel in Brazil’s Campos Basin

China's Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company has completed work to convert an existing very large crude carrier into a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) for a Singapore-based subsidiary of Japanese company MODEC.

The 300,000DWT, 332- by 58-metre Anita Garibaldi MV33 will be operated by MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore). It will be deployed at the Marlim and Voador oil fields in the Campos Basin some 150 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state in Brazil on behalf of local state-owned oil company Petrobras. This is the 16th floating storage and offloading vessel that MODEC will provide in Brazil, as well as MODEC's sixth vessel in the Campos Basin since the company started to operate in the region in 2003. The rebuilt vessel's charter contract has a firm period of 25 years and the owner expects first oil within this year.

MODEC is responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, mobilisation chartering, and operations of the FPSO, including topsides processing equipment as well as hull and marine systems. SOFEC, a company under the MODEC group, designed and supplied the spread mooring system for the floating unit. SOFEC said the mooring system is built to ABS class.

The FPSO was designed to be capable of processing 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day, seven million cubic metres of gas per day, and 390,000 barrels of water injection per day. It also boasts a minimum storage capacity of one million barrels of crude oil.

The vessel was engineered to have a service life of 34 years and a total displacement of more than 10,670 tonnes. It is designed to operate in water depths of up to 100 metres as well as accommodate 59 flexible risers and umbilicals. The FPSO is also durable enough to withstand significant wave heights of up to 7.85 metres, wind speeds of 61 knots, and currents of 3.63 knots.

The FPSO's accommodation spaces can house 160 people and are built to the standards of Norway's NORSOK standards, which were developed by the Norwegian petroleum industry to ensure adequate safety on vessels. As such, the requirements in ventilation, noise control, and other aspects are more specific than in earlier FPSO deliveries and even in some similar vessels still under construction.