TWI served as the technical authority on all matters relating to welding for the duration of a two-year project to convert a shuttle tanker to a $1 billion floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
OOGTK Libra GmbH & Co KG is a joint venture between Odebrecht Oil & Gas and Teekay Petrojarl that oversaw the conversion of Navion Norvegia, a tanker built in 1995, into the FPSO Pioneiro de Libra. Carried out across four shipyards in South East Asia, the conversion process began at the end of October 2014 and was completed in early 2017.
TWI’s expertise in welding technology and international reputation in the oil and gas industry meant the company was drafted in to provide technical support throughout the project.
TWI’s contribution to the project included the following:
- Ensuring the correct welding procedure qualifications were in place, in accordance with varying welding standards and codes (ASME IX, AWS D1.1 or ABS) and internal specifications.
- Auditing the four shipyards, spread across three countries, to ensure the different subcontractors were all following sound working practices.
- Overseeing inspection of critical areas using phased array ultrasonic and eddy current testing, advising on specific inspection procedures and assessing results.
- Providing two experienced welding engineers to support the attachment of the FPSO turret head to the vessel.
- Assessing the potential risk of distortion when attaching the turret head.
Over the course of the project TWI assessed more than 250 welding procedures. As the project progressed, it provided OOGTK with regular updates, including frequent conference calls and a detailed monthly report.
For OOGTK, TWI’s involvement meant the company could be sure that the welding procedures being used during the project were properly qualified and that everyone involved had access to top-tier technical support on any issues relating to welding, inspection, corrosion and distortion.