Shanghai-based Huarun Dadong Dockyard (HRDD) has been awarded a fast-track engineering, procurement, and construction contract by Greek shipowner World Carrier Corporation to convert the Suezmax crude carrier Topaz into a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel for Oriental Energy Resources' Ebok field offshore Nigeria. The conversion is scheduled for completion in under six months.

Project and Field Background

The FSO will serve the Ebok field, a producing asset discovered in 1968 and operated by Oriental Energy Resources since 2007. The field is located in Oil Mining Lease 67, approximately 50 kilometres offshore in water depths of 135 feet. According to Nigerian regulatory data, production from Ebok averaged around 9,500 barrels per day in October of this year.

Vessel Details and Conversion Scope

The vessel undergoing conversion is the Topaz, a 159,000-deadweight-tonne oil tanker built in 2005 and currently sailing under the Liberian flag. The workscope is extensive, blending routine repairs with specialised modifications. The vessel will undergo drydocking for hull treatment and stern seal replacement. Structural work includes renewing 35 tonnes of steel plates across ballast and cargo tanks and replacing over 6.14 kilometres of piping on deck and in the engine room.

Key Technical and Safety Upgrades

A major special coating project will cover more than 50,000 square metres across numerous tanks. The mechanical overhaul involves servicing a wide array of equipment, including valves, pumps, motors, fans, the main engine, and boiler systems. Significant new installations include:

• A new 110-tonne helicopter support platform.
• A 100-tonne deck stacking platform and a quick release hook system at the stern.
• A 140-tonne lease automatic custody transfer module for oil measurement.
• Three new cranes and 12 chain stoppers.

Safety upgrades feature two completely renewed 75-person lifeboat systems. The vessel’s accommodation will be extensively renovated, and a full electrical system upgrade will involve replacing 59 air circuit breakers and installing significant new cabling.

Shipyard Experience and Status

HRDD, located in Chongming, China—where the Topaz is currently located—recently completed similar conversion work on a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Azule Energy’s Agogo project offshore Angola. Comments from World Carrier Corporation and Oriental Energy Resources were not available at the time of reporting.