Malaysia-based international offshore oilfield services provider, Bumi Armada Berhad has signed a bareboat charter contract with EnQuest for a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to be deployed at the Kraken field in the UK North Sea.
Simultaneously, Bumi Armada UK Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bumi Armada, and EnQuest Heather Limited, also signed a reimbursable contract for the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the Kraken FPSO.
Both contracts run simultaneously for a fixed period of eight years, and are valued at US$1.4 billion, with options for 17 annual extensions.
Bumi Armada will be using a recently built ice-class tanker for this FPSO conversion. The FPSO will have a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels. The FPSO will be moored by a buoy turret mooring system with a fluid transfer system designed to 390 bars pressure. A total of 16 risers will be connected to the buoy turret mooring; the turret will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.
The FPSO will also handle a peak fluid rate of 460,000 bbl/d and 80,000 bbl/d oil production, 275,000 bbl/d water injection and 20 MMscf gas handling capacities.
The FPSO has a total installed power of 62 megawatts (MW) in a four by 15.5 MW configuration. The power plant is equipped with a triple fuel system including direct burning of heavy crude oil. The heavy oil will be produced by means of hydraulic subsea pumps (HSPs) and this type of submersible pumps have high reliability and require less maintenance compared to traditional electric submerged pumps. It is the second such application of its kind in the North Sea after the Captain field.
Bumi Armada CEO Hassan Basma said: “The Kraken oil field development is one of the largest new oil fields in the UK sector of the North Sea, and amongst the largest investment announced for this sector in 2013. Approximately 140MM bbl of heavy oil (APIº 14) are expected to be extracted from the Kraken oil field, over a 25 year life. The North Sea has some 20 billion bbl of recoverable heavy oil yet to be explored.
"We have already commenced work on the project on 27 Sept 2013, following the execution of the previously announced Letter of Interim Agreement (LOIA) and we look forward to working closely with our clients and value chain suppliers to successfully deliver our first North Sea FPSO to the Kraken oil field in 2016. We certainly hope that this would be the first of moreprojects to come.”
Bumi Armada operates in 18 countries worldwide and has a workforce of more than 3000 spanning 40 nationalities.