Production begins at Greater Plutonio
Posted: 2 October 2007
Production from the Greater Plutonio development area in Block 18, offshore Angola, started on 01 October 2007.
It consists of five distinct fields discovered in 1999-2001 in water depths of up to 1,450 metres and is the first BP-operated asset in Angola.
The Greater Plutonio offshore development area is located 160 kilometres northwest of Luanda and is comprised of the Galio, Cromio, Paladio, Plutonio and Cobalto fields in water depths varying from 1200 to 1450 metres.
It will contain 43 wells: 20 producers, 20 water injectors, and 3 gas injectors.
The development utilizes a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to process produced fluids and export crude.
The FPSO is connected to the wells by a large subsea system.
The FPSO is 310 metres in length and has an oil storage capacity of 1.77 million barrels, oil processing of up to 240,000 barrels of oil per day, produced and treated water injection rate of 450,000 barrels per day, and gas handling of up to 400 million standard cubic feet per day.
It is held in position by 12 mooring lines connected to anchor piles on the seabed.
The heart of the Greater Plutonio subsea system is the longest single riser tower system of its kind in the world.
At some 1,258 m, it connects the FPSO to a network of subsea flowline and control systems that include 150 km of flowlines, 9 manifolds and 110 km of instrument and control umbilicals.
Many components of the subsea systems, including the riser tower, were constructed and assembled in Angola, including 6 of the subsea manifolds along with the worlds largest CALM (Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring) offloading buoy and the first ever Angolan assembled and tested subsea trees.
Many Angolan technicians and engineers, whose numbers will continually increase over the next several years, have been trained to operate and support the Greater Plutonio development area in an ongoing 5 year development program.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward described the start of production from the first BP operated development offshore Angola as "a further significant step in the steady build-up of oil and gas output from new projects due on stream this year and next."
Speaking in Luanda at the FPSO's inauguration last week, Hayward said: "The successful start-up of this complex of fields has significantly advanced BP's development and use of innovative deepwater technology that will prove so important in accessing new resources around the world."
Posted by Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com
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