MOPSU™ BACKGROUND

Conventional offshore platforms are built from components that are transported separately from fabrication sites to offshore sites where they are put together utilising barge mounted heavy lift cranes or jack-up drilling rig mounted derricks.
Due to the shortage of such crane barges and jack-up rigs, the mobilisation / demobilisation costs and day rates for these units have escalated. Installation of platforms and a network of pipelines to extract hydrocarbons from small or marginal fields in remote locations is therefore no longer economically viable or it significantly reduces potential profit margins.
Mobile Offshore Production Units (MOPUs) which are self-installing and easily re-locatable without the need for a derrick barge or a jack-up drilling rig were developed as a partial solution. The MOPU is used adjacent to a wellhead platform that supports drilling operation. Hydrocarbons extracted via the wellhead platform are sent to the MOPU for separation and further conditioning before being returned to the wellhead platform for onward transportation to a pipeline network or via a Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel.
The MOPU can only be operational where a pre-installed wellhead platform with risers linked to a pipeline, network is in existence. In lieu of the network of pipelines an FSO can be substituted. For marginal fields and medium sized fields in remote locations where a pipeline network is non-existent, the high costs associated with the installation / de-installation of the wellhead platform and an FSO will not make the project feasible.
This led to the development of the patent pending Mobile Offshore Production and Storage Unit (MOPSU™). The current MOPSU™ is designed as a self-installing re-locatable platform for use in water depths up to 80m, with its own integrated production storage of up to 90,000 barrels provided in the foundation mat, capable of supporting drilling, production and off-loading of crude oil to shuttle tankers.