FPSO slot booked for Suriname’s first multi-billion-dollar offshore oil development

TotalEnergies has fired the starting gun on the first deepwater oil development offshore Suriname by awarding the first engineering contract on what could be a US$9Bn project, according to the oil company’s previous estimates.The French energy major intends to develop hydrocarbon fields offshore in Block 58 with a network of subsea production systems and flexible pipelines, risers and umbilicals linked to a newbuild floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in the next five years.

This would be similar to projects in neighbouring Guyana, where billions of barrels of oil reserves are being recovered through subsea networks and FPSOs.TotalEnergies intends to develop the Sapakara and Krabdagu fields, with combined recoverable resources estimated above 700M barrels, using an FPSO with capacity to produce around 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with production scheduled to start in 2028.

SBM Offshore and Technip Energies were awarded the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for this project and SBM has already reserved a slot at a shipyard for the construction of an FPSO Fast4Ward hull for the project.TotalEnergies is the operator, holding 50% interest in Block 58 with APA Corp having the other 50%. A final investment decision (FID) is expected Q4 2024.

State energy company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname has an option to enter the development project with up to 20% interest upon FID.Following exploration and appraisal drilling on the block, the next offshore activity will be an ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic survey over the fields, covering 900 km2 in H2 2024, which will help TotalEnergies to maximise resources and place the development wells. More OBN campaigns will follow during the lifetime of the project.

TotalEnergies said it would deploy technologies to minimise greenhouse gas emissions from this FPSO project including no routine gas flaring by reinjecting associated gas into the reservoirs and using local content and logistics operations from a port in Paramaribo.

Contracts for major subsea engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning packages will be awarded once there is greater understanding of what is required at the FID stage. With Technip Energies involved in the FEED work, TechnipFMC could play a role in these subsea developments.SBM already operates three FPSOs – Liza DestinyLiza Unity, and Payara Prosperity – for ExxonMobil’s multi-billion-dollar oil and gas projects offshore Guyana, all built as part of the Fast4Ward hull programme.  

Another FPSO hull, One Guyana, is at the Seatrium yard in Singapore for installation and integration of topside modules for the Yellowtail offshore development. This FPSO will produce around 250,000 barrels of oil per day, with an associated gas treatment capacity of about 450M ft3 per day and water injection capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

One Guyana will be spread-moored in a water depth of around 1,800 m, and will be able to store 2M barrels of crude oil.ExxonMobil is expecting to recover 11Bn barrels of oil equivalent from the Stabroek block offshore Guyana, while other projects are progressing on other blocks in that basin. Suriname intends to emulate this success in its side of that basin.

Off West Africa

On the other side of the Atlantic, BP and its partners welcomed the arrival of an FPSO at the site of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore project on the maritime border of Senegal and Mauritania on 12 May, which was towed from Tenerife 5 May.Technip Energies is carry out mooring, hook up and commissioning of this 270-m FPSO, which has a beam of 54 m and a height of 32 m, eight processing and production modules, and can accommodate up to 140 people.

Its key function is to remove water, condensate and other impurities before exporting processed gas to a nearby floating liquefied natural gas facility. It will operate in water depths of 120 m and has an expected lifespan of 30 years.Technip Energies completed the FEED phase of the FPSO for Phase 1 of the GTA project, and was subsequently awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract in 2019.

Source:https://www.rivieramm.com