Shell’s massive Perdido Spar finished its mammoth global journey last month. Oil & Gas Middle East chronicles the amazing upstream project which culminated in the topside installation of the 50 000 tonne floating structure in March.
May 2008
From Finland to the Gulf of Mexico
The race is on to produce tomorrow’s oil from new and more hostile frontier environments. The construction of the hull of one of the world’s deepest oil production facilities is now complete, and in May it started to make its 8200 mile journey from the shipyard in Pori, Finland, to Ingleside, Texas.
The massive steel spar structure, which is nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and weighs as much as 10 000 family cars, forms part of Shell’s most ambitious deepwater offshore oil and gas development ever undertaken and will be the world’s deepest spar production facility.
Following its departure from Pori, the hull travelled by transport barge to Ingleside, Texas, where it was outfitted for offshore installation. Its journey to the deep sea and its final frontier destination, in block 857 of the Alaminos Canyon took place nearly a year a half later.
Perdido will be capable of delivering 130 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
August 2008
Perdido heads to ultra deepwaters
Shell and co-owners BP and Chevron came one step closer to bringing much-needed new energy resources to the United States in August 2008, when the Perdido Spar departed
Ingleside on its way to its final work site, Alaminos Canyon Block 857, in the ultra deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
The spar (pictured below), was towed 160 nautical miles over a three-day period. The spar unit was then upended – rotated from a horizontal to a vertical floating position – before being secured by nine polyester / chain mooring lines to the anchor piles on the seabed, which were already installed on site.
All this is took place in approximately 8000 feet of water, making Perdido the world’s deepest oil and gas spar production facility. It will provide production processing for three fields, namely Great White, Silvertip and Tobago Fields.
Perdido is on track to begin production around the turn of the decade, having slipped from this year to 2010 for start-up.
December 2008
World’s deepest offshore well
Shell set a world water depth record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9356 feet (1.77 miles) below the water’s surface in the Silvertip Field approximately 200 miles from Houston in the Gulf of Mexico.
This achievement represents a leap forward in applying sophisticated technologies in a harsh environment of rough terrain and very high pressures, accessible only by remotely operated vehicles.
As an oil well, the Perdido record is 35% deeper than the previous oil well record of 6950 feet, also set by Shell at the Gulf of Mexico’s Fourier field. At Perdido, Shell intends to drill an even deeper well at the Tobago field at 9627 feet, which will surpass the present world record
at Silvertip.
To get the oil and gas to market required installing 77 miles of oil export pipelines and 107 miles of gas export pipelines in a remote part of the Gulf of Mexico over very rugged sea floor terrain.
March 2009
Topsides successfully installed
Last month Shell completed the installation of the drilling and production platform atop the 555-foot cylindrical spar floating in about 8000 feet of water.
Over the next several months, approximately 270 personnel living on the platform and on a “flotel” alongside it will complete the myriad of tasks in the commissioning and hookup required to produce first oil.
The Perdido Development includes a common processing hub that incorporates drilling capability and functionality to gather, process and export production within a 30-mile radius of the facility.
This concept will provide reduced cost and lower risk as well as reducing the number and size of the facilities and operations in this challenging frontier area, resulting in a lower environmental impact than would otherwise be achieved. Follow the progress in pictures at
arabianoilandgas.com
Perdido by numbers
• 200 miles south of Houston, Texas
• 7500 – 10 000 foot water depths
• 130 000 barrels of oil equivalent per day capacity
• Products Treating for Sulphur removal
• 50 000 tonnes total operating weight including vertical tension
• 9 polyester mooring lines averaging more than two miles in length hold the spar in place
• 555 foot-long spar is 118 feet in diameter and nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower
• 35 wells (22 direct vertical access subsea, 13 remote subsea)
• 77 miles of oil export pipelines
• 107 miles of gas export pipelines
• 6 turbines generate 26 MW of electricity, 2 turbine drivers produce 18 MW to compress gas in the pipelines
• 150 person maximum capacity facility
