Wärtsilä Ship Design awarded breakthrough Brazil contract

Wärtsilä is to supply the design and propulsors/positioning system for a series of two new flexible pipe laying vessels (PLVs) to be built by Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

The owner and operator of the vessels is a joint venture formed between France’s Technip and Brazil’s Odebrecht Oleo & Gás (OOG). The vessels will work on a long-term charter in Brazilian waters for Petrobras.

The contract is a major breakthrough for Wärtsilä Ship Design in Brazil and is further recognition of Wärtsilä’s leading position in ship design with one of the world’s major shipyards.

The new VS 4146 PLV design has been tailored to the stringent requirements of both the owners and Petrobras.

The vessels, which have a high pipe lay tension capacity of 550 tonnes, are designed to achieve optimal fuel consumption in the design conditions, and to meet the need for efficient flexible pipe laying operations. They will be utilized mainly to install umbilical and flexible flow lines and risers to connect sub-sea wells to floating production units in waters more than 2,500 m deep.

The vessels will have a length of 145.60 m, molded breadth of 30 m and a molded depth of 12.7 m

“The selection of Wärtsilä Ship Design for this important and challenging project reflects our strong global track record in designing state-of-the-art pipe laying vessels,” says Riku-Pekka Hägg, Vice President Ship Design, Wärtsilä Ship Power. “These ships will be a high profile representation of our capabilities in this area for oil and gas companies operating in Brazilian waters.”

DSME, Technip, and OOG are all existing customers of Wärtsilä having earlier ordered equipment and/or design services for numerous new build projects.

December 22, 2011