Trelleborg to Deliver Bearing System for Mero 3 FPSO

Sweden-based engineering firm Trelleborg has won a contract to supply an integrated structural elastomeric bearing system for MISC Offshore’s  FPSO project in South America. 

Trelleborg said the FPSO would have a processing capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil and 12 million cubic meters of gas per day. These specs correspond to the FPSO MISC is building for deployment at Petrobras’ Mero 3 development, offshore Brazil.

“To meet stringent fatigue design life for the FPSO, an integrated structural elastomeric bearing system capable of enabling modules sitting on the FPSO to handle all forces in all directions, including critical uplift force, was essential. Additionally, it was vital that the system complied to international standards in design and engineering, and was stringently tested with its performance validated to guarantee performance in-situ,” Trelleborg said as part of the contract announcement.

Since the elastomers used are maintenance-free, this type of bearing is a more efficient and cost-effective alternative to steel pot bearings when there is a requirement for sagging and hogging effects, Trelleborg further explained.

According to Trelleborg, which did not share details on the contract value, Trelleborg’s engineering teams employ FEA modeling techniques to predict the stress versus strain characteristics and also the fatigue life of bearings. In addition, Trelleborg said, they examine wave action and the resulting multi-directional loads between a vessel’s hull and its topside modules, which guarantees the bearings can continue to perform in all environmental conditions.

As for the FPSO, it will be named Marechal Duque de Caxias, and will be installed in the Mero field, belonging to the Libra Block, in Santos Basin pre-salt, as part of the development of the block’s southern portion, where the Mero 3 Project is located.

The Mero 3 FPSO will be the third unit to be installed in the Mero field and will have a processing capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil and 12 million m3 of gas per day. The term of the charter and service agreements is 22 and a half years, counting from the final acceptance of the unit, scheduled for the first half of 2024.

The project foresees the interconnection of 15 wells to the FPSO, with 8 oil producers and 7 water and gas injectors, through a subsea infrastructure composed of rigid production and injection ducts, flexible service ducts, and control umbilicals.