Sept. 2001 Vol. 222 No. 9  Offshore

Robert E. Snyder,  Editor

MMS 5-Year Lease Plan; Terra Nova FPSO; Girassol risers

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) unveiled its Draft Proposed 5-year Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Natural Gas Leasing Plan for the years 2002 – 2007 on July 20. The plan includes: two lease sales in the much-reduced Sale 181 area south of Alabama, an annual sale in both central and western planning areas of the GOM, two sales in the Chukchi Sea, three sales in the Beaufort Sea and two in Cook Inlet.

Also included is provision for one "special sale," with a possible second, to be conducted on a tract-nomination basis in Norton basin off Alaska’s West Coast. MMS estimates total resources made available under this plan are between 10.2 and 22.4 Bbbl oil and 39.5 to 59.2 Tcf gas.

This plan offers 20 sales, compared to the previous plan’s 16, but not significantly expanded "opportunity." The last 5-Year Plan included only one Eastern Gulf sale (Sale 181), but the area to be included in it was 75% greater than the area being offered in the two Eastern Gulf sales. MMS will accept public comments on the Plan until September 18, 2001. The National Ocean Industry Association (NOIA) plans to file formal comments on the proposal, to be available on its website: www.noia.org.

Terra Nova gets FPSO. The Terra Nova FPSO completed sea trials on August 2, and arrived on location at the oil field off Newfoundland on the Grand Banks August 4. The operator, Petro-Canada says this is the first FPSO designed specifically for environmental conditions offshore Newfoundland, and it is ready to bring Newfoundland’s second offshore oil field into production.

Successful completion of the FPSO and startup of production is expected to pave the way for future developments and contribute to the continued growth of Canada’s Atlantic offshore oil/gas industry. A three-month commissioning program begins immediately on the FPSO, after which production will begin. It is designed for up to 150,000 bopd, with storage of 960,000 bbl. Companies involved in the project include: Petro-Canada, ExxonMobil Canada, Husky Oil, Norsk Hydro Canada, Murphy Oil & Gas, Chevron Canada and Mosbacher Operating.

Girassol’s first riser tower. AMG, the Alto Mar Girassol Joint Venture, which comprises Stolt Offshore and Bouyges Offshore, announced in late June that it successfully completed installation of the first riser tower on Girassol field, offshore Angola, in Block 17. Achieved within the turnkey contract awarded by TotalFinaElf, the installation represented a major technological challenge and a world first in deepwater development. Four ships from Stolt’s fleet contributed to the transport and installation.

The riser tower, a 1,300-m-long bundle, was transported from the SONAMET fabrication yard in Lobito to the location by subsurface tow. The bottom of the tower was lowered to the seafloor, bringing the tower to vertical. It was then secured to its anchored base. Two more riser towers were to be installed on the field.

When the Girassol FPSO, the world’s largest floating production storage / offloading unit, arrived on site in July, it was to be linked by flexible flowlines, supplied by NKT Flexibles, to the top of the riser towers. The FPSO was built by the Stolt Offshore / Bouygues Offshore Mar Profundo Girassol (MPG) joint venture in South Korea. Girassol is operated by TotalFinaElf under a PSA with SONANGOL. Other partners are ExxonMobil (20%), BP (16.67%), Statoil (13.33%) and Norsk Hydro (10%).

Big gas pipeline. INTEC Engineering has been working with PEG, the Partnership for Equitable Growth, a non-profit organization set up by the APEC Business Advisory Council, to develop a clean energy strategy for APEC economies, particularly those in Asia. One of the projects is to harness huge gas reserves in the Southeast Asian region (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam), and transport the gas via a large diameter pipeline to China.

Currently, the project plans to obtain gas from Natuna Alpha D, where gas reserves in place are estimated at 222 Tcf. Excluding CO₂, the reservoir contains about 46 Tcf of sales quality gas. Studies by INTEC show that a pipeline from Natuna to the JDA (Joint Development Authority of Malaysia and Thailand), and then to the Nam Con Son area, Danang (Viet Nam), Hong Kong, Fuzhou and Shanghai (China) is feasible.

A 48-in. pipeline, 5,000 km long, with several compression facilities along the route, would transport 500 MMscfd gas to Fuzhou, China, and another 1,500 MMscfd to Shanghai. A fleet of construction vessels will require about four years to install the lines and offshore compression facilities. The project will now move into feasibility and FEED stages, with a gas delivery date targeted before the end of this decade.

Deepwater simulator. A new deepwater ocean simulator, capable of modeling water depths of more than 13,000 ft, is now available for testing services at Southwest Research Institute, (SwRI), San Antonio, Texas. Measuring 24 ft in length, with a 50-in. ID, and a wall thickness of 5 in., the simulator is crafted of HY100 high-strength steel. It is housed in a test pit, also constructed at the Institute.

The simulator is rated to 6,000 psig, equivalent to a water depth of 13,280 ft. It can be used to test a variety of offshore components, including subsea valves, production control pods, tubular goods, pressure resistant housings and flotation materials.

SubSea MudLift Drilling field test. As this issue went to press in mid-August, equipment for industry’s first subsea mudlift pumping system was being installed on Diamond Offshore’s Ocean New Era semi in Galveston, Texas. Within two weeks, the rig was scheduled to complete system testing and move onto the Texaco-operated Green Canyon 136-8 well in 1,150-ft water for its first field test.

As described in detail in World Oil’s October 2000 issue, this project is the culmination of Phase III of the SubSea MudLift Drilling (SMD) JIP, with eight remaining participants. Following the field test, with all lessons learned evaluated, the concept should be commercially available early next year.