Eni Norge’s Goliat FPSO, the world’s largest cylindrical floater yet built, has left Hyundai Heavy Industries’ yard in Geoje, South Korea en route to Norway aboard Dockwise’s even bigger Dockwise Vanguard heavy transport vessel.

The floating production unit – the largest cargo yet carried by the Vanguard – will eventually be installed in the Norwegian Barents Sea, where it will instantly become the northernmost oil field onstream in the world. At a location of 71° 30’ North, it will sit further north than the current leader, Russia’s Prirazlomnoye field in the Pechora Sea (69°15’ N).

The Sevan Marine-designed floater weighs 64,000 tons, is 112 m (367 ft) in diameter and 75 m (246 ft) tall, and is designed to hold up to 1 MMbbl of crude oil.

Expected to start production by mid-2015, the project is however substantially behind schedule, originally having been planned to come onstream before the end of 2013. It’s also over budget, with project cost estimates now put at US $5.5 billion (NOK 45 billion), up from the original estimate of $4.2 billion, due mainly to engineering adjustments and higher equipment prices. Eni has stated previously that the project remains economically robust. The Plan for Development and Operation on Goliat was submitted in 2009.

The Dockwise Vanguard will, after delivering the Goliat unit to Hammerfest in Norway, then transport the former BP Schiehallion FPSO (now the Armada Intrepid FPSO) currently in Rotterdam to the Far East.

Offshore