Premuda Group in 2002, within a strategic plan, to diversify the activities, has decided to enter the crude oil FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) business, with significant financial, technical and human resources investments. The activity is herebellow explained:

An FPSO is a floating production system that receives produced fluids from the subsurface reservoir into a floating storage facility. Topside facilities separate the fluid into oil, gas and water, and then store the crude oil in the vessel's tanks. The crude oil is periodically offloaded to shuttle tankers.

FPSO is an increasingly attractive alternative to conventional fixed platform field development. It combines full production facilities - process equipment, control equipment for remote wellheads, crew accommodations and crude storage capacity into one floating facility.
The FPSO has evolved from being a technology for marginal fields to one for larger discoveries. Over the last ten years, FPSOs have become the primary choice for field development in many areas of the world. Currently more than 100 FPSOs are in operation worldwide.

The Woollybutt Field is located in the Carnarvon Basin, off the North West coast of Australia, 23 nautical miles west of Barrow Island.

As additional in-field well, Scalybutt was connected as a step-out well to the existing Woollybutt Field during December 2005.

Woollybutt recoverable reserves were estimated to be approximately 35 million barrels of oil (mmbo) and the field is currently anticipated to be in production for approximately three years.

Premuda converted an existing trading tanker into the Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) “Four Vanguard” for the field development, with process equipment installed on the main deck.  This process system has been designed to accommodate the production requirements of ENI Australia Ltd (EAL), including provision of gas lift facilities, and the process plant has been kept independent of the vessel systems as far as possible to minimise interface engineering and operation.

The FPSO is fitted with a disconnectable single point mooring (DSPM) system, which takes the form of a swivel and buoy combination.  The buoy is held by a hydraulic quick connect / disconnect (QCDC) clamping arrangement within a moonpool.  The buoy is moored by means of six anchor chain legs to drag anchors on the seabed.