Extending the life of the Terra Nova FPSO oil tanker

The Terra Nova FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) is a floating oil tanker used for oil production, storage and offloading. It was built to operate the Terra Nova oil field off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It was commissioned in 2002 and is operated by the oil company Suncor Energy. It is one of the largest FPSOs in service in Canada, and continues to play a crucial role in the country's oil production.

Equipped with all the facilities needed to produce oil, store crude oil and transfer oil to supply vessels. It can store up to 1.7 million barrels of crude oil and can produce up to 110,000 barrels of oil per day.

In 2021, 19 years after its commissioning, Suncor and the Terra Nova co-owners have signed an agreement to carry out refurbishment and maintenance work on the vessel, with the aim of extending its service life by a further 10 years. This will enable the production of an additional 70 million barrels of resources over the next 10 years.

At the end of 2022, as part of the refit of the Terra Nova FRSO, Suncor commissioned DAWCO to carry out a pre-operational check of the vessel, which was in dry dock in Ferrol, Spain.

The operations and human resources teams succeeded in assembling a team of 38 people, including thirteen (13) electricians, seventeen (17) pipe fitters and eight (8) industrial mechanics, in just seven (7) days over the holiday season. It was a fine demonstration of our ability to mobilize efficiently and rapidly abroad. Many thanks to Laurence Demers d'Amour, Human Resources Advisor, Frédéric Proulx, Superintendent, and Richard Gadoury, Vice-President, Corporate Services, who worked so hard in such a short space of time.

The pre-operational check focused rigorous attention on all the ship's piping, heating cables and motors, to ensure that they were in good working order. This operation was carried out within a fairly tight schedule (approximately five (5) weeks of work at six (6) days a week out of seven (7).

Thanks to the expertise of the DAWCO team, more than 7,000 hours were completed without accident. A big thank you goes out to the entire team who worked so hard on this mandate, which only serves to consolidate our expertise in the marine industry.

This year, the Terra Nova FPSO plans to return to the waters of Newfoundland and Labrador to continue producing oil safely, reliably and efficiently.