FPSO'S

[10 bagger]

Aker Floating Production....

Although there is a market in Aker in Norway the Bid/Asked spread and lack of volume make it next to impossible to own Aker outside of Norway..

This is part of a recent PR Release put out by Aker and explains the need for FPSO's.. Currently, 109 offshore projects are in the pipeline and will potentially require floating production systems. This is an increase again of FPSO units necessary to fill the needs of O&G exploration to get oil to the market.. At present there is a backlog at the major shipyards that would build FPSO's,,, building Harsh Deep Water Drilling Rigs,, the same rigs that will produce added needs for FPSO's.. The market will continue to tighten and Day Rates for FPSO's will esculate to the level where prices paid for tankers used for conversion to FPSO's will compete with the actual commerical value of some tankers used in liquid transport... hank
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Going for Benign Waters...

High oil prices have spurred oil companies to invest in the development of smaller offshore fields and fields previously considered too costly to develop. Many of these fields are situated in the benign waters of West Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and Mexico.Key FPSO industry market segments are:

Benign waters, medium to small fields...

Large, engineering-driven projects...

EPIC (engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning) contracts...

Harsh environments...

Aker Floating Production is an innovative and competitive participant in the field development segment for medium and small fields in benign waters.

According to International Maritime Associates (IMA), the FPSO industry has grown by 11.5 percent per year. Currently, 109 offshore projects are in the pipeline and will potentially require floating production systems.

IMA expects that CAPEX (capital expenditure) budgets for exploration and production spending will increase 10-15 percent over the next year, with many oil companies earmarking benign deepwater regions as their spending priority.

Many of these fields — situated in the so-called benign waters off West Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and in the Gulf of Mexico — are candidates for FPSO production. Aker Floating Production targets these regions. The number of field development projects contracted over the next 10 years is expected to be high, based on previously documented oil and gas discoveries.

Smaller offshore fields are ideally suited for FPSOs, because FPSO-based field development offers the shortest time to market — from project start-up to producing “first oil.” Going on-stream rapidly enables operators to generate an early cash flow. Moreover, deepwater fields have few viable alternatives to using an FPSO solution. The speed with which Aker Floating Production can get Aker Smart FPSOs built to specification and field deployed represents a significant competitive advantage.

High drilling rig charter rates have made the building of new rigs attractive; and drilling contractors will have available a surge of new deepwater drilling vessels during the next few years. Greater drilling resources will eliminate some of the constraints on exploration and development that have slowed deepwater projects in recent years.

Many of the offshore projects that will move to the field development stage during the next five years stem from exploration activity in the late 1990s, as well as the early part of the current energy cycle. We offer oil companies proven, cost-effective solutions for producing oil and gas from such untapped reserves.

Benign-water regions of the world sometimes become stormy. FPSO sailaway during typhoons and hurricanes is safe, rapid, and without petroleum releases. Security is engendered by the FPSO mooring system selected for each field development project.

From project initiation through life-of-field operation, maintenance, and upgrades, Aker Floating Production has strategic alliances with leading subsea field production equipment manufacturers such as Aker Kvaerner, and providers of offshore field installations and subsea oilfield services.

Aker Floating Production simplifies and accelerates field-development projects in benign waters worldwide....