Petronas to award Angsi CEOR vessel EPC contracts
The Malaysian national oil company Petronas is preparing the call for tender of the topsides and vessel conversion package for the Angsi chemical enhanced oil recovery (CEOR) vessel planned to be used to boost Angsi oil and gas production by an incremental 20%.
This Angsi CEOR vessel will be the first of that kind in the world implementing offshore the chemical solution to increase production.
Located in the South China Sea, 160 kilometers offshore Terengganu in the Malaysia Peninsula, Angsi was developed by a 50/50 joint venture between Petronas and ExxonMobil, with Petronas as operator.
Petronas and ExxonMobil started first production in December 2001 with a complex of interconnected platforms including two drilling welhead platforms and a central processing platform.
Connected to other production platforms in the area, Angsi stands as the hub with more than 300 kilometers of interconnecting pipelines securing the supply of oil and gas and the export through 160 kilometers pipeline to the Malaysian shore.
From the Angsi field, Petronas and ExxonMobil designed the full field development in phases to produce:
– 160 million barrels of crude oil
– 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Because of Angsi strategic contribution to Malaysia oil and gas production, Petronas investigated all the solutions to maintain output and expand the life of the Angsi field.
Malaysia becoming short of gas, Petronas opted for the chemical enhanced oil recovery technology.
Well known onshore, this technology had not been used at that scale offshore with a dedicated vessel capable to boost the production of the whole Angsi field.
In 2011, Petronas selected the consortium of MMC Oil and Gas Engineering from Malaysia and Water Standard from USA to perform the front end engineering and design (FEED) of this Angsi CEOR vessel.
Based in Houston, Texas, Water Standard brings its unique expertise in designing floating sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination and treatment plants.
According to the FEED work, Angsi vessel should have a desalination capacity of 150,000 barrels per day of sea water.
In the case of chemical EOR, the desalination process is not just about softening the sea water but also to provide the chemical balance to optimize the performances of the chemical additives used to help the crude oil and natural gas to flow freely across the tight rocks and pores of the reservoir.
These additives are made of a combination of alkali, surfactants and polymers (ASP) that must be adequately balanced to yield full production efficiency.
This mixture of softened water and ASP additives shall be pumped at 690 bars (10,000 PSI) in the reservoir.
For these reasons, the Angsi CEOR vessel, will be the first one to combine all these technologies at that scale of full field development.
MMC Oil & Gas and Water Standard completed FEED
MMC Oil and Gas Engineering and Water Standard completed their FEED work in 2012, so that Petronas is now moving into the execution phase.
From the FEED conclusions, Petronas will convert an existing vessel to support the topsides processing equipment.
Firstly estimated to weight 4,000 tonnes, these topsides end up to reach 7,000 tonnes.
This vessel shall have a storage capacity of 15 days for the ASP additives to be diluted in the 150,000 b/d of water to be desalinated and injected in the reservoir.
In addition to the CEOR vessel, the project includes the modifications on the central processing platform and a satellite structure to support the subsea risers and pipelines.
Petronas is preparing the call for tender separately for the:
– Vessel conversion
– Topsides
The topsides package includes:
– Sea water desalination and treatment
– Chemical injection
– Nitrigen generation module
While designed by Petronas, the vessel in operation will be leased to its shipping subsidiary MISC.
Petronas estimated the costs of the Angsi CEOR vessel to $1 billion capital expenditure and to enter in commercial operation in early 2015.
Scheduled to rejuvenate the Angsi oil and gas field during four years, Petronas and Shell agreed on the next step to transfer the Angsi CEOR vessel to boost Shell operated St Joseph oil and gas field.
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