Offshore focus: Single Point Moorings

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The Red Sea and Persian Gulf market for offshore loading solutions continues to boom. SPM technology is making great strides to ensure safe and environmentally sound operations, says David Waronoff from tanker mooring specialist SOFEC.

A single point mooring (SPM) is a loading buoy anchored offshore that serves as a mooring point and interconnect for tankers loading or offloading gas or fluid products. SBMs are the link between the geostatic subsea manifold connections and the weathervaning tanker. They are capable of handling any size ship, even very large crude carriers (VLCC) where no alternative facility is available.

Oil & Gas Middle East met SOFEC’s manager of marine terminals, David Waronoff to discover what advances are being made in the offshore realm of the SPM.

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DW: Single Point Moorings are generally understood to be associated with vessels moored at a fixed location which weathervane around a single point. These SPMs are floating production, storage and offloading (FPSOs), FSOs, tower yokes, single anchor leg mooring systems (SALMs) and catenary anchor leg mooring systems (CALMs).

FPSOs and FSOs can incorporate either external or internal turrets and the internal turrets can be either permanent installations or disconnectable systems. SOFEC has provided all of these types of SPM systems to the worldwide offshore oil and gas industry.

SOFEC has installed systems offshore every continent except Antarctica. In 1974 the company delivered its first SALM to Malaysia, and made its Middle East debut for Saudi Aramco’s Ju’ Aymah SALM in 1976. SOFEC’s first CALM buoy was delivered to Malaysia in 1982. In 1987 the company was awarded its first project for an external turret moored SPM, which incidentally was a conversion of the worlds largest storage tanker, to Yemen Exploration and Production Company. This was installed in the Red Sea back in 1988.

What is SOFEC’s market share in the Middle East?

DW: We have a very strong presence in the region. Our installations span from Kuwait to Yemen. We have done work for, and supplied systems to, Kuwait Oil Company, ADCO, ADMA OPCO, Aramco and Hunt Yemen. The company is currently working with KOC to complete the commissioning of their CALM Buoy upgrade project. We also used local Kuwait fabrication of upgrade the CALMs we supplied in 1977.

What are the specific requirements of SPMs in the Middle East?

DW: The majority of the projects in the Middle East involve crude oil export operations which are normally handled via CALM buoy terminals. The oil tankers chartered throughout the region include the largest tankers ever built. Although the worldwide fleet has moved toward slightly smaller tonnage, there are still tankers in excess of 450 000 dead weight tonnes mooring to our CALM buoys and moving oil to worldwide markets.