Singaporean offshore and marine giant Seatrium has confirmed that its newly launched design of a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel is tailored for the Brazilian deepwater market. The company's proprietary FLEXHull 1500K-M FPSO hull design was recently endorsed by the American Bureau of Shipping. The Singapore company combines the strengths of Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Offshore & Marine, and has a long track record of fabricating large floating production units.

However, the FPSOs have traditionally been third-party designs, marking this as a significant strategic shift for the company.

Current Brazilian Operations

Currently, Seatrium is executing the construction of five FPSOs for the Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras: P-80, P-82, P-83, P-84, and P-85. The company recently delivered the P-78 FPSO to Brazil's Petrobras. The FLEXHull is designed for water depths of up to 2,500 meters and will have a storage capacity of more than 1.5 million barrels of oil. The hull will be large enough to support topsides loads weighing up to 80,000 tonnes, with processing ability of up to 120,000 barrels per day of oil and 10 million cubic meters per day of gas.

Strategic Rationale

A Seatrium spokesperson confirmed to Upstream that the FPSO is engineered with Brazil's deepwater market in mind, adding that the various design features suit the country's upcoming FPSO projects, including build-own-transfer developments. Aziz Merchant, Seatrium's executive vice president for engineering, technology, and new product development, told Upstream the rationale for designing its own FPSO was “strategic, technical, and commercial.”

Strategically, there is strong FPSO demand in Brazil and other deepwater basins, which necessitates having an in-house differentiated hull solution, said Merchant. “Owning the design enables Seatrium to offer an integrated solution, from engineering to construction and life-of-field support, reducing reliance on third-party designs,” he said.

Technical and Commercial Advantages

Technically, Merchant said the design addresses industry challenges with a simple, scalable configuration, eliminating complex bow or stern structures to reduce steelwork hours and improve build efficiency. Seatrium said that, from a commercial point of view, having its own design would enable the company to offer a standardized moored hull design for multiple project opportunities in Brazil as well as other deepwater locations in South America and West Africa.

Merchant said the design is the result of lessons learned from Seatrium's experience in delivering FPSOs, including the successful P-series projects in Brazil. “This design reflects a careful evolution of a proven philosophy, enhanced by insights from past execution challenges, operational feedback, and technological advancements,” he said.

Development and Marketing Plans

In terms of getting the FPSO ready for marketing, Seatrium stated that receiving approval in principle from ABS was a key step. Model testing is planned to validate and fine-tune the FPSO's hydrodynamic performance, while a scheduled front-end engineering and design phase will ensure readiness for execution. The development represents a significant milestone for Seatrium as it moves away from its traditional approach of building third-party designs to offering its own proprietary solutions in the competitive FPSO market.

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