Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. delivered its first product yesterday, a 150,000 dead weight ton oil tanker, the largest of its kind ever made in the city.
Officially called FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading facility for oil), the vessel was built at the country's largest and most technically advanced Waigaoqiao shipyard.
The boat was made for the China National Offshore Oil Corp's Nanhai West Co. for use as a platform in production and storage for oil exploration. Construction cost was not disclosed.
The 262-meter-long, 46-meter-wide platform can produce 3.6 million tons of crude annually.
The shipyard's 12-meter water depth at the mouth of the Yangtze River, has allowed Waigaoqiao to build larger ships than its rivals.
It is now building an FPSO with a dead weight of 170,000 tons and plans to deliver the ship to China Offshore Oil Bohai Corp in the second half of next year.
(Eastday.com June 23, 2003)
