McDermott Advances Scarborough EPCIC with Successful FPU Floatover

McDermott has announced the safe and successful completion of the fabrication, construction, and offshore floatover of the floating production unit (FPU) topsides and hull for Woodside Energy’s Scarborough project. This achievement marks a significant milestone in one of the largest semi-submersible production platforms ever built in offshore history—and the largest floating production facility McDermott has designed and constructed to date.

Awarded in 2021, the contract followed McDermott’s successful delivery of front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Scarborough FPU and includes a full suite of EPCIC (engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning) services. The company was responsible for designing, fabricating, integrating, transporting, and installing the massive structures: a 30,000-metric-ton topside and a 37,000-metric-ton hull.

The topsides were fabricated at McDermott’s joint venture facility, Qingdao McDermott Wuchuan (QMW), in Qingdao, China. Meanwhile, the hull was constructed by COSCO at its shipyard in Qidong, China. The topside features six deck levels, 169 major equipment units—including three gas turbine-driven export gas compressors and three main generators with waste heat recovery systems—along with over 50,000 meters of piping, one million meters of cabling, 568 integrated subsystems, and a battery energy storage system to support reduced operational emissions.

Earlier this month, both the topsides and hull were successfully transported offshore, where the floatover installation was carried out off the coast of Dalian, China.

Following the floatover, the integrated FPU was moved to CIMC Raffles' yard in Yantai, China, for final integration works. Upon completion, the unit will sail to its final destination in Western Australia, where it will be moored at the Scarborough gas field, located approximately 375 kilometers offshore from the Burrup Peninsula.