Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO)

A floating production storage and offloading unit is a ship-shaped offshore facility that receives well fluids from subsea or platform wells, processes oil and gas on board, stores the crude in its hull tanks, and offloads to a shuttle tanker. Most are converted from existing tankers, though large fields use purpose-built hulls, and they are moored either by a spread mooring or by a turret that lets the hull weathervane. They suit deepwater and remote fields where a pipeline to shore is uneconomic, and they can be redeployed when a field is exhausted.