Drydocks World, a DP World Company, has announced the successful completion of a major refurbishment and conversion project for the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Firenze, which is set to be redeployed off Côte d’Ivoire in West Africa.

The fast-tracked project was carried out within 15 months for Saipem S.p.A, the multinational oilfield services and engineering company. Its swift completion will allow the end-client — Italian energy company Eni and Petroci Holding — to redeploy the vessel at their first offshore discovery in the Ivory Coast.

Eni and Petroci discovered Baleine Field in Côte d’Ivoire in 2021. In completing the refurbishment project in 15 months, Drydocks World’s swift turnaround gives Eni, Petroci, and Saipem an important advantage in accelerating production at the Baleine field.

Drydocks World deployed 3,000 workers on the vessel daily while maintaining the highest standards of health and safety, which resulted in achieving a milestone of six million Lost Time Injury (LTI) free man-hours.

The technical scope of work for the project included engineering, procurement of bulk material, construction, and support for onshore commissioning. The project also included life-extension and the installation of new equipment to utilize 100% of produced gas and minimize gas emissions.

The upgrade of the FPSO Firenze included the fabrication and installation of five new modules. The project also involved steel, piping, cabling, and extensive coating activities of all the cargo and ballast tanks, hull, and topsides.

Additionally, the project included major refurbishments on the accommodation, helideck, boilers, gas turbine generators, static equipment, and process modules, as well as the modification of the existing bow-mounted turret with bearing replacement and gantry/swivel structure refurbishment.

Commenting on the successful completion of the FPSO Firenze project, the CEO of Drydocks World, Capt. Rado Antolovic, PhD said: “We are proud to have completed this project in close collaboration with our customer and in such a swift timeframe. Our teams worked tirelessly to ensure the project was fast-tracked and delivered in just 15 months. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to work dynamically with our client, Saipem, which allowed us to evolve and adapt the scope of work. We look forward to continuing our successful collaboration in future projects.”