On July 15, China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding began construction of the sixth Fast4Ward® multi-purpose floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO, Hull N.O MPF6) for Dutch company SBM OFFSHORE.
The hull of MPF6 uses SBM OFFSHORE’s proprietary generic hull design. The basic design is a FPSO with a crude oil storage capacity of up to 2.3 million barrels.
The FPSO is 333 meters long, 60 meters wide, with a deck area equivalent to three standard football fields, a depth of 33 meters, and a displacement of 460,000 tons. Designed with a multi-point mooring system, it is capable of operating in marine environments in West Africa, South America, and other regions, and is suitable for oil and gas development operations in multiple seas around the world.
Based on long-term friendly cooperation and efficient communication between the two parties, since the first delivery in 2019, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding has successfully delivered a total of five Fast4Ward® MPF hulls to SBM OFFSHORE.
The successful commencement of construction of MPF6 marks that Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding has formed the continuous construction capability of this universal hull, and also confirms the market demand for such standardized design.
On December 20, 2024, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding announced that it had formally signed a contract with SBM Offshore for the construction of the sixth 2.3 million barrel “general-purpose” FPSO hull. To date, the first five FPSO hulls were delivered in 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively.