Chevron Australia has awarded a contract to MAN Energy Solutions to support the front-end engineering and design study of a subsea compression solution for Chevron-operated Jansz-Io field off Western Australia.
According to a press note from the German tech major, the Jansz-Io will be the first gas field outside Norway where the subsea compression technology comes to use.
It is located around 200 kilometers off the Australian north-west coast at a water depth of approximately 1’350 meters. Jansz-Io is part of the Gorgon project – one of the world’s largest natural gas developments.
Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions said: "We are very proud to work with our alliance partner Aker Solutions on the Jansz-Io field development project for Chevron Australia. Thanks to this project, we will be able to prove once again the unrivaled value and reliability of our groundbreaking subsea compression solution.”
MAN Energy Solutions’ scope of work within the front-end engineering and design (FEED) covers the technology of the subsea compressors, which will be used to maintain output as reservoir pressure drops over time. Subsea compression solutions boost the recovery of the gas more cost-effectively and with a smaller environmental footprint than conventional compressor systems that are typically installed on platforms above sea level.
“We are very excited that Chevron Australia has chosen our subsea compression solution for this technologically highly demanding project,” states Alexandre de Rougemont, Head of Sales Turbo Solutions at MAN Energy Solutions. “This is the direct result of the close collaboration between the Subsea Compression Alliance partners Aker Solutions and MAN Energy Solutions and our extensive expertise gathered together.”
MAN’s subsea compression solution has already proven its reliability and benefits for Equinor’s Åsgard gas field in Norway, where the subsea compressors reached 50’000 hours of operation with practically no stops or interruptions in December 2018.
Based on Barrow Island (Western Australia), the Gorgon project includes a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility designed to produce 15.6 million metric tons of LNG per year. The subsea infrastructure will also be used to transport the gas from the Jansz-Io offshore field to Gorgon’s onshore facilities with its three LNG processing units. The project also comprises a domestic natural gas plant.