Oil and Gas FPSO Overview, Technology & Design Consideration

The course has its beginnings on my observation that many of my known senior engineers who have been working in FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) unit design and construction do know much about the tankers features. The reality is they when you work in a EPC company you are kept so busy in your own area that you rarely get any time to know about the other specialisations and how your work impacts them.

And there is no structured training arranged by any of these companies

Because FPSOs are ship shaped, the tendency is for designers to approach the design of an FPSO as though it is primarily a ship with production facilities as cargo. An FPSO is a floating offshore production and storage facility which happens to be ship shaped. Therefore there has to be a change in the approach to its design to ensure that it is considered as a single integrated entity, as is the case for a fixed jacket installation

Seeing all this, I thought a course outlining all the marine, structural, production (process) and the layout features could be a good start to introduce the FPSO to the Udemy students.

The course is tilted to process engineer requirements, but includes marine , structural and layout aspects also.

Anybody who wants to know about oil and gas, FPSO units may benefit from this course.

The course is structured in a manner to help everyone including beginners in FPSO. At the beginning, FPSO vessel and Process overview is presented before moving into Process Design considerations. After this, “General Considerations” influencing the design of the vessel is provided. This gives a flavour of the issues that need “considerations” while deciding the vessel in which facilities will be built. Beyond this the Marine and Structural aspects of design are discussed. Finally a introduction to Deepwater system is presented.

The student of this course will be able to perform her job with a high level of awareness and effectiveness.

Lessons Learnt so far:

Many important lessons have been learnt in the first year of delivery. Some of them are:

1.  It was understood that many students with diverse experience wish to take up this course. So it is useful to restate the meaning of the word "Design Considerations".

Design Considerations are generally the things you think about before starting the major decisions about your design solution.

The knowledge provided by this course is aimed to enable the student to be aware of the diverse aspects that need to be considered while designing a FPSO.
2. Some students think that the “instructor is reading out the slides”. This is not the case. The instructor has prepared the slides to serve as a pointer to the students when the material is delivered.
3. Some young students may find this material “over the top” because of its multi-disciplinary nature. However, since the content is available lifelong, it will be of great value when they plan to get associated with a FPSO design, operation or maintenance.

Course structure

The intent of the course is to

• present the FPSO vessel and production facility overview.

• Provide the design considerations of the production facilities

  Part 2 reviews a range of significant design related issues which have a bearing on the ability of the FPSO to ultimately function safely and efficiently over the time it is in the field. It covers matters such as the development of design philosophies, layout, and general system design. Although it does not attempt to fully address the design of the oil and gas production systems, it does touch on a number of issues, or contingent factors, connected with hydrocarbon recovery and processing which can have a significant bearing on the FPSOs ability to function as originally envisaged.
  Present functional requirements, system design & equipment performance, sparing, safeguarding and shutdown, monitoring & control , maintenance, commissioning, layout, and interface requirements

• Delve into the general considerations influencing FPSO selection and design.

  Green water, bottom slamming, tank sloshing, escape and evacuation, effects of movements.

• Marine and Structural Design Considerations of FPSO

• Deepwater systems and their Selection

Exclusion

This training should not be considered either as a detailed design guide or as a form of textbook on FPSO design. Neither are they a substitute for current statutory regulations that prevail now.

Important to note that “Design Considerations” are not same as “Sizing or Design” of equipment but they are critical from safety, operability and reliable operation of the “equipment systems”.

The design of FPSOs involves the use of a large range of national and international laws, standards, codes of practice and specifications and so this training by definition, can refer selectively to only a very small number of these.