South Korea‘s shipbuilder Samsung Heavy In[ds_preview]dustries has won a contract to construct a semisubmersible platform for BP. It is its first offshore newbuilding order in 18 months.
The contract will see SHI build and deliver the floating production unit for the oil major by August 2020. The FPU will be able to produce 110,000 barrels of crude oil and is due to be delivered by August 2020, Samsung said. The vessel will join BP‘s »Mad Dog II« oilfield development project in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP sanctioned the »Mad Dog« Phase 2 project in December. Oil production is expected to begin in late 2021.
In 2013, BP (60.5%) together with co-owners BHP Billiton (23.9%) and Chevron (15.6%), decided to re-evaluate the Mad Dog Phase 2 project after an initial design proved too complex and costly. Since then, BP has worked to simplify and standardize the platform’s design, reducing the overall project cost by about 60%. The 9 bill. $ project is projected to be profitable at or below current oil prices.
So far, BP has taken delivery of approximately 40 vessels including oil tankers, LNG carriers and oil drilling ships from Korean ship yards such as Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding. »Quad 204«, an FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading) vessel, built by HHI, was delivered in 2016. In addition, 14 crude oil tankers by STX, another 14 petrochemical carriers by Hyundai Mipo and six LNG carriers by Daewoo will be delivered over the next few years.
South Korean shipbuilders have been under serious financial strain since the 2008 global economic crisis, which sent new orders tumbling amid a glut of vessels and stiffer competition from Chinese rivals.
Tthe country‘s big three shipbuilders – Hyundai, Daewoo and Samsung – logged a combined operating loss of 8.5 trill. won in 2015.
