First Subsea Supplies Mooring Connectors for PSVM FPSO

Deepwater mooring specialist, First Subsea, has been awarded a contract by SOFEC Inc to supply the mooring connectors for the PSVM (Plutao, Saturno, Venus and Marte) FPSO to be installed in the ultra-deepwater PSVM development in Block 31 offshore Angola. The FPSO is an external turret-moored FPSO in 2,000 meters (6,562 feet) of water. The double-hulled PSVM FPSO will have production capacity of 157,000 barrels per day.

First Subsea is supplying 12 Ballgrab ball and taper connectors, with a minimum breaking load (MBL) of 4,903kN, for the SOFEC external turret's mooring lines. Ballgrab connectors will link the suction piles and ground chain segments, interfacing directly with the mooring lines' long term mooring shackles.

The female receptacle part of the Ballgrab connectors will be installed subsea with the piles, mounted on docking porches. When the FPSO is in position, the male connector, attached to the mooring line, is lowered from the surface into the female receptacle to complete the mooring installation. The process is then repeated until all 12 mooring lines are connected.