The skidout operations were carried out according to plan and the SSP is now temporarily seafastened on the deck of the drytow vessel. The float-off will take place this week, followed by float-on and sea fastening for the sea voyage to the Keppel Verolme Shipyard in Rotterdam, where the topsides will be fitted.

DNV is providing classification, verification and risk management services to Norwegian contractor Sevan Marine during the design and construction of its novel floating production facility.

The SSP is the innovative, round floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit currently under development. Two units are being built by Yantai Raffles in China. The first unit, Piranema, is scheduled to commence service off the coast of Brazil for Petrobras in mid-2006. The second will enter service in the North Sea for Venture in mid-2007.

Compared with traditional ship-shaped FPSO facilities, Sevan Marine claim many advantages, most notably that it will deliver comparable production performance for significantly lower cost.

DNV is working closely with Sevan Marine and Yantai Raffles to ensure that the SSP will be designed, built and maintained to meet applicable DNV Class Rules, as well as internationally recognised safety and quality standards.

Additionally, DNV is assisting Sevan Marine implement a world-class hazard management process by which safety, environmental impact and other business risks will be effectively controlled.

The SSP concept combines innovation, simplicity and re-use of existing technologies. It has many features and attributes found on existing oil and gas production facilities, both fixed and floating.

Its intended marketplace is worldwide, in all water depths. Being scalable it will have storage capacities and deck size to suit a wide range of production profiles.