Saipem awards deepwater field development ship contract

Offshore staff

MILAN, Italy -- Saipem has awarded a turnkey contract to Samsung Heavy Industries Co. for the construction of the new deepwater field development ship FDS 2.

The overall investment for the construction of the new vessel, including the vertical J-lay tower, is approximately €380 million ($588 million). Construction will take approximately 36 months.

The new ship will be built in Koje shipyard in South Korea.

SaipemFDS 2 will have a maximum length of 183 m (600 ft), a moulded breadth of 32 m (105 ft), and a moulded depth of 14.5 m (48 ft). It will be equipped with a vertical J-lay tower with a maximum capacity of 2,000 tons (1,814 metric tons) designed to install up to 36-in. (91-cm) diameter pipe, in water depths of up to 3,000 m (9,843 ft. It will also be capable of S-laying pipelines of the same diameter.