Saudi Aramco achieved a landmark by energizing its largest tie-in platform with a 46km-long, 230kV submarine composite cable, the longest of its kind.
The tie-in platform, TP-20, lies in the world’s largest offshore oil field, Safaniya, and energizing it was the first phase of long-term plans to upgrade the Safaniya offshore field, referred to as the Safaniya master plan, reports Saudi Aramco.
TP-20 will be the main crude oil gathering and power supply hub for North Safaniya offshore field and is designed to provide 152mW of electric power via a 46km, 3-core 230kV submarine composite cable (power and fiber) from a Saudi Electricity Company, newly-built 380/230kV onshore substation.
The submarine composite cable is the longest of its kind in the world and was installed as a single piece without a field splice. Considering the value of equipment at stake, the laying of the submarine cable was an extremely critical and complex operation, reports Aramco.
The entire length of the submarine cable was transported from the manufacturer on a single deepwater cable laying vessel. Then, with the help of a shallow-water cable laying barge, the cable was installed from onshore to offshore TP-20.
With the complete 230kV electrical substation, the weight of TP-20 exceeds 6000 tons. Subsequent to the energization of TP-20, TP-18 and the nine wellhead platforms in central Safaniya field were also successfully energized under the same project. TP-18 is designed to provide 62mW of electric power being fed via a 44km, 3-core115 kV submarine composite cable from a newly -built 230/115 kV onshore substation.
The complete electrical power system is delivering power to Safaniya’s remote offshore loads and has increased crude oil production more than 70,000 b/d from the central Safaniya field.
Image: TP-20 / Saudi Aramco
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