Hanwha Ocean is accelerating its push into the South American and West African offshore plant markets through a comprehensive standardization strategy for Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) units.

The South Korean shipbuilder recently secured Basic Design Review (BDR) certification from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for the basic design of its standard FPSO model, while concurrently receiving Approval in Principle (AIP) from the Norwegian classification society DNV. The certified model was specifically developed to reflect regional characteristics of South America, where large-scale offshore project orders are anticipated to concentrate — particularly in Brazil's prolific pre-salt fields, which have driven some of the largest FPSO tendering programs in recent years.

Hanwha Ocean's FPSO standardization initiative departs from the conventional project-specific customized design approach, instead leveraging a verified platform to construct facilities. This methodology enhances efficiency throughout the design, procurement, and construction phases, enabling rapid responses to client requirements. The approach is designed to shorten project execution timelines while simultaneously improving cost competitiveness. The standardization concept itself is gaining traction across the offshore industry, as operators and contractors seek to reduce the cost overruns and schedule slippage that have historically plagued bespoke FPSO projects.

During the certification process, design documents and technical standards spanning all FPSO components — including the hull, topside structure, and mooring system — underwent rigorous verification. By demonstrating compliance with international regulations and classification society requirements, Hanwha Ocean has received formal recognition of its design reliability and technical completeness. Securing global certification at the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage positions the company to demonstrate technical superiority in competitive bidding situations, where it routinely competes against established FPSO players such as SBM Offshore, MODEC, and its domestic peers among South Korea's major shipbuilders.

This latest achievement builds on Hanwha Ocean's earlier milestones. In 2024, the company obtained certification for the conceptual design of a standard FPSO tailored for deepwater West Africa from both ABS and the French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV). With the addition of the South America-specific model certification, Hanwha Ocean has assembled a standard FPSO portfolio covering the world's major offshore plant markets. The progression from conceptual design to basic design certification reflects a deliberate staged approach to advancing each regional platform toward commercial readiness.

The strategy aligns with expanding global FPSO demand, driven primarily by deepwater oil field development in South America and West Africa. An FPSO integrates crude oil extraction from the seabed with refining, storage, and offloading capabilities onto transport vessels, earning it the industry nickname "refinery on the sea." Given the scale of these facilities and the high degree of engineering complexity required, FPSOs are widely regarded as the flagship of high-value offshore plant projects. For Hanwha Ocean — which operates as part of Hanwha Group following its 2023 acquisition of the former Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering — growing its offshore plant business represents a key pillar of diversification beyond the cyclical commercial shipbuilding market.

Hanwha Ocean stated that this certification validates its world-class design capabilities and that the company intends to strengthen its order competitiveness through a differentiated standard platform optimized for regional market requirements.

Source: Business Korea via Hellenic Shipping News