On 3 December 2025 at Marintec China in Shanghai, Deltamarin and China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) received an AiP (Approval in Principle) from classification society ABS for a new versatile floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) hull concept.
The AiP confirms the feasibility of a robust, fatigue-friendly FPSO hull optimized for deployment across multiple field locations, including deepwater operations west of Africa.
The barge-shaped hull with double bottom and sides has an overall length of 285.1 m, a breadth of 60.97 m and a depth of 29.3 m, with a maximum draft of approximately 19.6 m. The design offers a crude oil storage capacity of 1.5 MMBBL in a 5 x 3 tank configuration, a topside capacity of 25,000 tonnes, a spread-moored 4 x 4 mooring system, a 60-bay riser balcony and a design life of 30 years.
Using its in-house tools, Deltamarin optimized the main dimensions of the FPSO hull for minimum weight, relying on only a limited number of key inputs and constraints. Two additional hull variants, with storage capacities of 1.0 and 2.0 MMBBL, were also created using a parametric hull model, cutting the time traditionally needed for FPSO hull resizing.
The structural design of the FPSO hull is benchmarked against rule loads, allowing the concept to be applied in different locations worldwide. Depending on site conditions, the structure can be further optimized to reduce steel weight, directly lowering CAPEX.
Together with CMHI, standardized design solutions have already been developed to support fast and efficient project execution during the EPC phase.
According to Toni Salminen, project manager at Deltamarin, the project targets a versatile FPSO hull that combines simple, robust marine systems with fatigue-resistant structural details. This approach enables tailor-made FPSO units to be delivered in short timeframes and adapted to varying locations and operating conditions around the world.
At Marintec China 2025, five next-generation vessel designs from Deltamarin were also granted AiPs by DNV and Lloyd’s Register (LR).
