Hanwha Ocean (formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, DSME) is currently constructing three marine projects, which are scheduled for delivery within the year. Two of the vessels will be completed at the Geoje shipyard this month and shipped to their destinations, while the wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) will be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year.
All of the projects in this series were orders during the DSME period. Since being acquired by Hanwha Group in 2023 and renamed Hanwha Ocean, DSME has not yet received any offshore engineering orders, but is expected to receive new orders within the year.
Hanwha Ocean is reportedly planning to complete equipment manufacturing and the P-79 floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit it is building for Petrobras within this month. The contract, valued at approximately US$2.3 billion, was signed in 2021.
An FPSO is a large integrated offshore facility that combines crude oil and natural gas production, refining, storage, and offloading functions. The facility can extract crude oil and natural gas from the seabed, process it directly on board, store it in tanks, and then transport it to land via oil tankers.
The P-79 is planned to be installed in the Bezios oil field in Brazil, the world’s largest deep-sea oil field, with a designed daily production of 180,000 barrels of crude oil and 7.2 million cubic meters of natural gas, and a maximum oil storage capacity of 2 million barrels.
Hanwha Ocean will also deliver a Field Control Station (FCS) this month for the Jansz I-o gas field, approximately 135 kilometers off Barrow Island on Australia’s west coast. The order was placed with US energy giant Chevron for US$544 million. The field is considered one of the world’s largest natural gas developments.
In addition to offshore engineering facilities, Hanwha Ocean’s other offshore engineering project is also progressing smoothly, with plans to deliver a large offshore wind turbine installation vessel by the end of this year. The vessel will be capable of transporting and installing five 15-megawatt large offshore wind turbines at once. The order took effect in 2021, with a cost of approximately US$330 million.
It’s worth noting that Hanwha Ocean has not taken on any offshore engineering projects since its acquisition by Hanwha Group. It plans to complete all of its offshore engineering orders from its shipbuilding and offshore days within the year. Sources suggest Hanwha Ocean is expected to secure new offshore engineering projects this year, and the company plans to be the only South Korean shipbuilder to participate in the bidding for the Brazilian FPSO P-86 project in November.