Artist’s impression of the Whale Floating Production Unit. Credit: Sembcorp Marine Ltd.

Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters has secured a contract from Shell Offshore for the Whale field development in the Gulf of Mexico.

The contract will see Sembcorp construct and integrate the topside and hull of a Floating Production Unit (FPU) for the Whale field. Currently, Sembcorp is building Shell Vito FPU at its Tuas Boulevard Yard in Singapore. The company plans to leverage synergies from this ongoing project for the Whale FPU.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

In May 2019, Sembcorp Marine won a construction and integration contract from Shell for the Vito semi-submersible FPU.

Sembcorp Marine Head of Rigs & Floaters William Gu said: “We are very grateful to Shell for recognising our yard capabilities and entrusting us with the Whale FPU project, which comes after our successful bid for the Shell Vito FPU last year.”

Scheduled for completion in 2022, the Whale FPU will consist of a topside module and a four-column semi-submersible floating hull, both weighing around 25,000t. It will operate in the Alaminos Canyon Block 772.

Shell is expected to make the complete Whale project’s final investment decision (FID) in 2020. The company plans to integrate and commission the entire Whale FPU topside on ground level at the yard.

Upon completion, the FPU topside will be raised and attached to a 51m-tall hull, using a pair of gantry cranes.

Gu added: “With our state-of-the-art 30,000t cranes at Tuas Boulevard Yard, we can assemble the Whale FPU topside into a mega-block and combine it with the hull efficiently in one single lift.”