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Pazflor field comes onstream ahead of schedule

Oilfield Technology,


Total, operator of Block 17, today announced that the giant Pazflor field offshore Angola has come on stream ahead of the initial schedule. The Pazflor field lies 150 km off Luanda in water depths ranging from 600 - 1200 m and has estimated proved and probable reserves of 590 million barrels. The field will gradually ramp up to its full production capacity of 220,000 bpd over the coming months.

“Pazflor’s start-up, several weeks ahead of schedule and within budget, is a remarkable achievement of the teams involved. The support and trust of Sonangol, our concession holder and partner, also made an invaluable contribution to our efficiency” says Yves-Louis Darricarrère, President Exploration & Production at Total.

Subsea network

Pazflor comprises a vast subsea gathering network, the most complex ever built in Angola: 180 km of lines tying in 49 subsea wells, 10,000 tonnes of subsea equipment and the giant Pazflor floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Held in position by 16 subsea mooring connectors, with its 325 m long, 62 m wide and a weight of more than 120,000 tonnes, the FPSO is the largest in the world. It can store up to 1.9 million barrels of oil that is then exported to tankers via an offloading buoy. The associated gas is reinjected into the reservoir, but could also be exported to the Angola LNG plant once the latter becomes operational.

A key technical challenge was producing two very different grades of oil from four separate reservoirs. Producing the heavy, viscous oil from the three Miocene reservoirs, which account for two-thirds of the reserves, and the related flow assurance constraints, represented a major challenge. The gas has to be separated from the liquids on the seabed so that the viscous liquids can then be pumped to the surface. The design and installation of subsea gas-liquid separation units and pumps are a world first on this scale. The pumps were purpose designed and tested for Pazflor.

Total’s wholly owned subsidiary Total E&P Angola operates Block 17, with a 40% interest, while Sonangol is the concession holder. The other partners are Statoil ASA (23.3%), Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited (20%) and BP Exploration (Angola) Ltd (16.67%).

Angola LNG

In addition, the Angola LNG project is building a liquefaction plant near Soyo to bring the country’s natural gas reserves to market. Total has a 13.6% interest in the project. The plant is under construction and will be supplied with associated gas from fields on blocks 0, 14, 15, 17 and 18. It is expected to come on stream in 2012.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/30082011/pazflor_field_comes_onstream_ahead_of_schedule/

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