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Chouest Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS)

The Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS) provides rapid mobile transfer of fuel from offshore tankers to U.S. military fuel storage facilities ashore when conventional fuel transfer facilities are unavailable. In January 2005, MSC awarded a contract to Edison Chouest Offshore for an OPDS-replacement, including newer, more capable vessels, fuel-delivery systems and personnel, to be delivered by June 2007. Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO), Galliano, La., was awarded a $26,616,165 firm fixed price contract with additional reimbursables for the time charter of one Offshore Petroleum Discharge System. According to MSC, the contract was competitively procured with more than 50 proposals solicited and two firm offers received.

The OPDS system provides rapid, mobile transfer of fuel from offshore tankers to U.S. military fuel storage facilities ashore when conventional fuel transfer facilities are unavailable. Each OPDS system includes one new-build support vessel and one tender. The vessels covered under this contract are to be named in the future. This contract contains options, which if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to a total of $241,457,294. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with more than 50 proposals solicited and two offers received. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting authority (N00033-05-C-3300).

The contract includes a time charter for one OPDS for a total of $125.6 million if all option periods are exercised. The Navy has the opportunity to add a second OPDS with option periods, which could raise the contract total to $241 million. The OPDS will be maintained in the Guam/Saipan area, ready to be deployed worldwide. The first system will be delivered to MSC in October 2006.

Under the contract, each OPDS includes one 348' newbuild support ship and one tender vessel, similar in size to ECO's current fast supply vessel fleet. The 165-foot tender vessel will be capable of speeds in excess of 20 knots and will assist the OPDS vessel in the deployment and retrieval of the flexible pipe. The tender will be equipped with 6,000 horsepower and a dropdown 360º Azimuthing bow thruster.

The current OPDS utilizes modified tankers that are 40 years old with a government owned and deployed system designed in the early 1980s. MSC first proposed letting the commercial industry provide a better solution in 1997 and subsequent market surveys indicated significant interest.

The Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS) supports COCOM requirements by distributing fuel from a tanker offshore to forces operating on land. Only three government-owned OPDSs exist, two deployed as part of MSC's Afloat Prepositioning Force, and one lay berthed in CONUS. Each of these ships is a single-hulled tanker over 40 years old. USPACOM's validated requirement for delivery of 50 percent more fuel (1.7 million gallons) from 8 miles offshore under significantly more stringent environmental conditions has driven USTRANSCOM and MSC to initiate an OPDS transformation project to meet the new requirement.

The OPDS consists of two ships -- a support ship and a tender -- that work together to pump fuel for U.S. military forces from a commercial oil tanker moored at sea to a temporary fuel storage area ashore. To begin the process, the 348-foot support ship and 165-foot tender work together to install up to eight miles of eight-inch-diameter flexible pipe. Next, the support ship positions the tanker for safe off-load operations. While the tender holds the tanker in place, the tanker's lines connect to the flexible pipe through the support ship. Booster pumps aboard the support ship increase the pressure of fuel, pushing the fuel to shore.

The OPDS is especially valuable in areas where fuel piers are unavailable, and tankers are unable to tie up ashore to off-load fuel. The OPDS can pump up to 1.7 million gallons of fuel per day. MSC bid specifications also required that the system be able to withstand winds up to 40 knots, waves up to twelve feet, a current of three knots and a tidal range of 13 to 20 feet. After its initial arrival on location, the vessel must be able to deliver the fuel within 48 hours in a water depth of 20 to 200 feet.

Government-owned OPDSs have been deployed since the mid-1980s, but this is the first time that the system has been leased from a private company. Offshore Petroleum Discharge Systems provide fuel, the lifeblood of any military mission or exercise, wherever and whenever it is needed. The contract includes a time charter for one OPDS for a total of $125.6 million if all option periods are exercised. The Navy has the opportunity to add a second OPDS with option periods, which could raise the contract total to $241 million.