Clarke Chapman Ltd., Gateshead, U.K., a unit of Rolls-Royce plc, is to supply three giant hose reels as off-loading units for North Sea floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels. The offloading units consist of a hydraulically operated hawser winch and hose reel. The winch is used to maintain a set distance between FPSO and shuttle tanker, eliminating undue tension in the offloading hose. The hose reels are 10 m high, weigh 100 metric tons, and store more than 100 m of 16-in. or 20-in. hose. The unit shown was supplied to SLP Engineering Ltd., Teesside, for installation on North Sea Producer FPSO, which will have capacity to store 550,000 bbl of oil. This ship is being converted by SLP for use by Conoco (U.K.) Ltd. to develop MacCulloch field. Harland & Wolff Holdings plc, Belfast, is to install a third hose reel on a 950,000 bbl capacity FPSO under construction for BP Exploration Operating Co. Ltd. to develop Schiehallion field west of the Shetland Islands. Delivery will be in late 1996. A third unit will be supplied in early 1997 to Maersk U.K. Ltd., London, for installation on the 560,000 bbl storage capacity Maersk Dorset FPSO. This ship will be used by Shell U.K. Exploration & Production to develop Curlew discovery. Photo courtesy Clarke Chapman.
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