Anadarko combines subsea and FPU in Rovuma Area-1
The Houston based Anadarko Petroleum (Anadarko) and its partners Mitsui E&P (Mitsui), BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V. (BPRL), Videocon Mozambique Rovuma (Videocon), PTTEP and ENH, are exploring all the potential solutions for the offshore part of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the area-1 of the Rovuma Basin Offshore Mozambique.
Since 2011, Anadarko accumulated major discoveries in the Area-1 of the Rovuma Basin along the East Coast of Africa:
– Properidade Complex
– Gulfinho and Atum Complex
– Bargentine
– Camarao
– Lagosta
Currently Anadarko and its partners accumulated 65 trillion cubic feet (tcf) recoverable reserves of natural gas from the Area-1, but in respect with the remaining part of the fields to be explored, Anadarko estimates that these reserves should exceed 100 tcf.
Since the Italian national oil company Eni is running on the same path within the neighboring Area-4, the Mozambique Government asked to both companies to cooperate in order to optimize resources and infrastructures in the development of their respective project.
In practice, Anadarko and Eni signed in December 2012 a Heads of Agreement (HOA) to guide their cooperation in the development of their respective licensed Area.
The main focus of this HOA is the onshore LNG plant to concentrate the production and export of LNG for both groups of companies operating the Area-1 and the Area-4.
To be located in the Afungi LNG park, the Mozambique LNG project should require 10 LNG trains to be developed in phases depending on the speed of the implementation of the offshore production infrastructures.
This conventional concept to develop the Rovuma Basin with offshore production unit, export pipelines to shore and onshore LNG plant with vessels offloading facilities has been imposed by the Mozambique Government in order to maximize the added value of the project for the local economy.
Anadarko compares concepts for Prosperidade FPU
KBR and Technip completed the pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) of this onshore Afungi LNG plant while three groups of companies are at work on a competitive front end engineering and design (FEED):
– Bechtel from USA
– CB&I from USA with Chiyoda from Japan
– JGC from Japan with Fluor Transworld Service from USA.
Regarding the offshore part of the Mozambique LNG project Anadarko and Eni are working separately, out of the scope of their HOA.
Anadarko is planning to begin the development of the Area-1 by the Properidade complex.
Covering 260 square kilometers in the north of the Area-1, the Prosperidade complex contains 17 to 30 tcf of recoverable reservesout of 30 to 50 tcf in-place reserves of natural gas.
To perform the FEED on this offshore part of the project, Anadarko and its partners contracted three engineering consortia:
– McDermott with Allseas
– Saipem with Subsea7
– Technip with Heerema, since both companies signed a strategic alliance
In parallel the Houston-based IntecSea from WorleyParsons has been appointed by Anadarko and its partners to design the subsea gathering system.
If most of the production from the Properidade Complex is designed to be operated subsea, it will also require a floating unit to support the gas compression facilities to export the gas to the shore.
The subsea wells should have a flow rate between 100 and 200 million cf/d of gas.
The export pipeline should have a capacity of 2 billion cf/d of gas through twin pipelines of 22-inch each.
From the conceptual study completed by KBR‘s Granherne, this floating production unit (FPU) should have a capacity of 2 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d).
Considering the sizing of the offshore gas compression facilities, Anadarko and its partners, Mitsui E&P (Mitsui), BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V. (BPRL), Videocon Mozambique Rovuma (Videocon), PTTEP and ENH are now evaluating all the alternatives for the hull including, ship-shaped hull, semisubmersible platform or SPAR for this Mozambique LNG FPU to be in operations in 2018.