Off shore oil rigs, production platforms, FPSO's and other related shipping

Occasionally we have interesting tows passing through our waters, and FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading vessels) Kizomba A & B and FPSO The Greater Plutonia and their attendent tugs were 2 of them. Kizomba A & B were built in Korea and towed from Ulsan to offshore Angola where they are permanently anchored in well over 1000 meters of water where they are expected to remain for the next 20 years possibly longer. Photographs are courtesy of Smit Amandla Marine, Andrew Ingpen, Colin Sunkel and Deene Collopy. Diagram of FPSO use from Wikipedia.

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FPSO Kizomba A & B and FPSO The Greater Plutonia


FPSO Kizomba A
FPSO Kizomba B
FPSO Kizomba B

Hyundai Heavy Industries built the 81,000 tonne Kizomba ‘B’ ordered by ExxonMobil on December 2002 for $800 million. The FPSO is is 285 metres long, 63 metres wide and 32 metres high. It is capable of storing 2.2 million barrels of crude oil in its lower hull facilities while processing 250,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It will be permanently moored in water depths of 1,005 - 1,280 metres (3,300 - 4,200 feet).

Further reading.....
Semco PTE LTD (formerly Semco Salvage and Marine PTE LTD)
Wikipedia article on FPSO's
More on mooring the Kizomab A & B
The Kizomba Project



Greater Plutonia convoy
FPSO Greater Plutonia

Fairmont Alpine
Salviscount
Salvanguard

FPSO Xikomba, FPSO Girrasol and FSO Yoho


FPSO Xikomba
FPSO Girrasol
FSO Yoho

The FPSO Xikomba is an old VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) that has passed its active trading life and has been refitted into a FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading vessels). These vessels are usually self powered and make their own way from the builder yard to the oil fields. The FPSO Girrasol she was one of the very first FPSO to be purpose built and was towed by the two South African crewed and managed tugs John Ross (as she was named then), Wolraad Woltemade and Smitwjis Singapore.
The Yoho is what is known as a FSO (floating storage offloader) this is usually an old tanker that has ended its days commercially, some FSO as the one in the photo have been extensively modified so as to Fit for Purpose, others can be old tankers that are just anchored on a oil field either on or near a offshore oil installation and act as floating tank farms, however these vessels are being withdrawn slowly depending on their general condition and converted into FPSO or FSO similar to the other pictures above.


Jack Up Rigs and Heavy Lift Ships




Three Jack Up drilling rigs riding aboard the Dock Wise heavy lift vessel Black Marlin. This vessel and it's cargo passed through South African waters in February en route to the UAE region. The Black Marlin is the 2nd largest heavy lift ship in the world the biggest being her sister the Blue Marlin. Two of the rigs are owned by Rowan Drilling and the 3rd (which looks the smaller of the 3 that is right aft) is owned by Global Sante Fe.