Sembcorp Delivers Massive Vito Platform To Shell

Singapore-based offshore builder Sembcorp Marine has completed the Vito Regional Production Facility (Vito RPF) for Shell’s deepwater project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Sembcorp Marine said that the Vito RPF was the company’s first floating production unit. The integration of Vito’s topside structure with its hull was executed by a pair of cranes with a 30,000-ton combined lifting capacity in the Tuas Boulevard Yard.

The yard’s ability to perform this type of mega-block lifting enabled the Vito topsides and living quarters to be fabricated and assembled at ground level to minimize work-at-height risks, before integration with the four-column FPU hull in a single lift. The integration of mega-topsides with a hull for the Vito unit was completed in October 2021.

The Vito FPU was successfully delivered to Shell on December 27, 2021, and the platform departed Tuas Boulevard Yard for Singapore’s anchorage to prepare for loadout and its sailaway to the Gulf of Mexico in the United States.

“The successful construction and delivery of Vito FPU is a key milestone in our newbuilding track record and a testament to Sembcorp Marine’s proven expertise and differentiated capabilities in the construction of turnkey projects for the offshore, marine, and energy industries,” Wong Weng Sun, Sembcorp Marine President and CEO, said.

“We would like to thank Shell for their strong teamwork and steadfast support in overcoming the challenges and constraints brought on by COVID-19. We look forward to continuing this partnership with Shell for the Whale Host Facility (WHF),” he added.

As for Vito, it is a Shell-operated deepwater development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico sanctioned back in April 2018. It lays in four blocks in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico and will be developed with eight subsea wells with deep (18,000 feet) in-well gas lift. Sembcorp Marine was selected to build and integrate the hull, topsides, and living quarters of the Vito semi-submersible unit in May 2018.

Sembcorp Marine is currently undertaking the construction of a second FPU project for Shell, involving the fabrication and integration of the FPU topsides, living quarters and hull, for the Whale development located in the United States Gulf of Mexico.

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