Mobil Swift - (1978-1992)

Auke Visser's MOBIL Tankers & Tugs Site | home

"Mobil Swift", was build in 1973 as "Takakurasan Maru".

Sold as "Mobil Swift" in 1978, Renamed as "Swift" in 1992.

Sold in 1996 and rebuild as FSU named "Zafiro Producer".

"Mobil Swift".

( Photo Copyright Pieter Melissen )

She is moored as a FPU Floating Production Unit.

"Zafiro Producer" ( ex. "Mobil Swift" ).

She is moored as a FPU Floating Production Unit along with the "Magnolia" ( ex. "Mobil Petrel" )

acting as the FSU Floating Storage Unit. Once the "Magnolia" has enough crude aboard it is

transferred via single point mooring to an export tanker.

( Photo thanks to Capt. Stewart McCombs )

Zafiro Field, Gulf of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea.

Zafiro is located in the 500,000-acre Block B, 68km (42 miles) WNW of Bioko island, Equatorial Guinea, adjacent to the in-

ternational border with Nigeria. Water depths range from less than 300ft to greater than 5000ft.

The Zafiro-1 discovery well was drilled in February 1995, testing at 10,400 barrels per day. Three subsequent wells showed

the reservoir to be relatively shallow (around 5,000ft), and low pressure, with a bottom-hole shut-in pressure of 2,800psig.

The 268,191dwt VLCC (very large crude carrier) Swift was selected for conversion to the FPSO Zafiro Producer. The Swift was

built in 1973, with an overall length of 331.5m, a breadth of 56m and a depth of 26.4m. It has a draught of 20.5m fully loaded, or

8.3m ballasted. It has a storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels. The conversion was carried out at the HAM-PMB Bechtel yard, on

Pelican Island. Early reservoir evaluation indicated that a 40,000 barrels per day (b/d) rate could be expected from the planned

eight wells, requiring the installation of an 80,000b/d process plant, a 40MMSCFD gas flare capacity and storage for

1.7MMBBL of oil.

" Zafiro Producer".

Zafiro Field

The Zafiro Field complex produces around 155,000 bopd and 70 mmcfd of gas via the Zafiro Producer and Jade Platform facilities.

Zafiro was discovered in 1995 and was brought on stream within eighteen months of discovery. Facilities have been expanded

each year since production commenced. In 2000, the Zafiro Producer FPSO was converted to an FPU (Floating Production Unit)

with crude oil being stored in the MT Magnolia FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading vessel), which has a storage capacity of 1.8

million bbls. Gas is separated from the oil on board the FPU and the oil is sent to the FSO where it is stored until it can be exported

to tankers via a Single Point Mooring (SPM) system. In December 1999 a 60,000 bopd fixed platform facility (Jade) was installed.

By May 2001 production from Jade had reached capacity at 50,000 bopd. Gas is separated from the crude on the platform and the

oil exported via pipeline to the Zafiro FPU. During 2002, the southern part of the field will see development via sub-sea completions

into an additional FPSO which should lead to a production increase to over 220,000 bopd during 2003.

" Zafiro Producer", deck view.

The Miramar Ship Index for "TAKAKURASAN MARU"

Ton:	133927	Link:	-
DWT:	272491	Yard No:	961
Length overall:	331.5	Ship Design:
LPP:	317.9	Country of build:	JPN
Beam:	56.1	Builder:	Mitsui
Material of build:		Location of yard:	Chiba
Number of screws/Mchy/Speed(kn):	1D-15

Subsequent History:

1978 MOBIL SWIFT - 1992 SWIFT - 1995 ZAFIRO PRODUCER -

[ 1996 converted to storage tanker ] -

Disposal Data:

History :