“The primary motivation is really that conventional FPSOs require continuous human presence for day‑to‑day operations,” Singhal said, noting that this affects both safety and operating expenditure.
Starting with an existing large Petrobras FPSO design, the team identified labor‑intensive activities (e.g., tank inspection, cargo and ballast operations, oil offloading and chemical loading) and targeted them through design changes. A key modification was adopting a double‑hull configuration with all internal structural members moved into void spaces, creating smooth cargo tank surfaces.
“This was a key design modification that facilitated significant reduction in the complexity associated with cargo tank cleaning… and subsequently enabling remote inspection of the cargo tanks through ROVs or drones,” Singhal added.
Marine systems were simplified using electrically actuated valves and reduced pump counts, while the engine room, helideck and living quarters were eliminated. Offloading concepts leveraged Petrobras’ existing use of cargo transfer vessels, with operations controlled remotely from onshore centers.
In summary, he said that integration of remote monitoring, fail-safe design, UAV/ROV inspection and plug-and-play maintenance delivers a viable path to remotely operated FPSO.
“Overall, we looked at combining targeted design modifications, new technology, remote inspections and bringing them all together… to form a path to a remotely operated FPSO,” Singhal concluded.
