Offshore staff

PARIS -- Nexans has delivered power, control and instrumentation cables to SBM Offshore for the conversion of the FPSO Espirito Santo. The vessel will serve the BC-10 deep water development in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.

The workscope involved manufacturing over 500 km (310 mi) of specialized halogen-free, fire-safe offshore cable at Nexans’ plant in Lyon, France for the conversion, which was performed in Singapore. The double-hulled FPSO has large power and heat delivery systems to drive the subsea production equipment and to process crude oil, and has production capacity of 100,000 boe/d.

Nexans delivered the cables under the ABS approval scheme. They include high voltage 12/20kV rated power cables and low voltage power, control, and instrumentation cables engineered to SBM’s requirements.

The halogen-free design ensures fire-safety, Nexans claims – in the event of a fire, the cables will not cause the fire to spread, and will generate only limited smoke. Any smoke spread would not be harmful to the crew, and would be non-corrosive. This means it would not damage vital electronic circuits, allowing the FPSO safety functions to operate longer in an emergency.

Nexans has since secured a new contract to supply cables for the Jubarte FPSO for the BC-57 deepwater field development in the Campos basin. SBM Offshore will again perform the conversion in Singapore, with the Nexans Ficap plant in Brazil manufacturing the cables.

4/16/2010