The activities of Fred. Olsen Production ASA and its subsidiaries (the Group) consist of the operation and ownership of a fleet of five Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) units. An FPSO unit is operating offshore fields for the production of oil and/or gas. An FSO does not have the production capability, only storage and offloading.
FPSOs are typically constructed by installing oil and gas processing systems onto the deck of either an existing crude oil tanker vessels or a new build tanker hull. FPSOs are suitable for most offshore regions throughout the world. They are normally moored to the seabed through a spread mooring system, however when situated in areas with sever weather conditions they are moored by a turret mooring system which allows the vessel to freely rotate with ocean- and wind forces. The major advantages of FPSOs are cost efficiency in combination with high mobility, large storage capacity and production versatility.
The parent company of the Group is Fred.Olsen Production ASA (FOP ). The Group manages its activities from offices in Singapore, Norway, Nigeria, Gabon and Houston.
The Group owns and operates four FSO/FPSO units. In addition the Group renders management services for the operation of a production jack-up to an oil company client.
The Company has entered into ship management agreements for the crewing and operation of its FPSOs/FSOs with Fred.Olsen Marine Services AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Olsen Ltd (FOL).
Until February 2007 the floating production activities within FOP were wholly owned by First Olsen Ltd., which in turn is owned by the two stock listed companies Bonheur ASA and Ganger Rolf ASA. In early February 2007, Fred.Olsen Production AS was registered as a public limited company –“allmenaksjeselskap”- and in parallel, FOL reorganised its activities within floating production into wholly owned Singaporean subsidiaries of Fred.Olsen Production ASA by transferring vessels and vessel owning companies.
Also in February, FOP completed a private placement of 44 million new shares at NOK 27 per share with gross proceed of NOK 1,188 million (USD 194.2 million). After the placement FOL owned 57.7% of the shares of FOP.
In May FOP completed an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 1,930,000 new shares with proceeds of approximately NOK 50 million. After the completion of the offering FOP has 105,930,000 shares outstanding and approximately 1,000 shareholders. The company’s first day of trading on Oslo Stock Exchange was 11 May 2007.
The Company is trading under the ticker (FOP on Oslo Stock Exchange)