Pazflor, deep offshore experience and technological ... - Total.com

PAzFlOr
bringing together deep offshore
eXperienCe and teChnologiCal boldness
three subsea separation units,
constituting a world first!
tried and tested drilling solutions
and well equipment

PAzFlOr
bringing together deep offshore
eXperienCe and teChnologiCal boldness
the first world develoPment to install entire seabed artificial lifting
Production systems associating gas/liquid seParation and PumPing
modules on several fields, Pazflor marks a new steP forward
in the conquest of the deeP offshore and confirms the grouP’s
influential contribution to sustainable energy growth in angola.
ConCessionaire
of bloCk 17 SOnAnGOl
– 2 000 m
250 km
– 1 500 m
– 1,000 m
– 200 m
– 100 m
– 2,000 m
– 1,500 m
partners
TOTAl (OPERATOR) STATOilHyDrO ESSO BP
40% 23.33% 20% 16.67%
–1,000 m
–200m
–100 m

Combining
innovation and
teChnologiCal
robustness
Pazflor, the third production hub on Block 17, due to start
production in 2011, reiterates Total’s commitment to pushing
the frontiers of the deep offshore ever further. Capitalising
on the experience acquired on Girassol/Jasmim/Rosa and
Dalia, the Group combines on Pazflor, tried and tested
technological solutions and innovation, optimising the
management of the risks inherent to the challenges raised
by this major development for the Group and for Angola.
Stretching out over almost 600 km 2 , at water depths of
between 600 to 1,200 metres, Pazflor combines two
developments in one: two subsea production systems
dedicated to two different oils (Miocene and Oligocene)
linked to 49 production and injection wells and supplying
a single FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading),
a 114,000 tonne colossus of steel and installations designed
to process the mixing of these two oils.
The main challenge concerning the Miocene reservoirs
is the extraction of a heavy (17 to 22°API) and highly viscous
oil, through 35 wells (18 producers and 17 water injectors).
To meet this challenge, Total based its development scheme
on the concept of seabed gas/liquid separation;
a technological world first on this scale, consisting in
the installation of a separation unit including two hybrid
liquid-boosting pumps on each of the three subsea production
lines of the Miocene fields. The liquids are carried up to the
surface by 3 flexible risers and the gas by 6 similar risers.
As for the Oligocene reservoirs, they contain a light oil
(35 to 38°API), whose production will be assured by a
conventional loop linked by 3 manifolds to 7 producer wells;
2 IPB (Integrated Production Bundle) production risers will
connect the subsea network to the FPSO. This production
network is accompanied by an injection network comprising
5 water injection and 2 gas injection wells, their dedicated
pipelines and two flexible risers.
In total, this sprawling subsea complex of 175 km of flowlines
and 90 km of umbilicals, will be able to ramp up to a
production of up to 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
total Consolidates
the foundations
of sustainable
growth in angola
The fourth major step in the Block 17 global development
strategy, Pazflor, opens a new chapter in the history of the
partnership that has forged between Total and Angola over the
past fifty-five years. After Girassol in 2001, Dalia in 2006 and
Rosa in 2007, Total, in collaboration with Sonangol and
its partner companies is chalking up a new world reference
in the petroleum portfolio of the Angolan deep offshore.
Confirming the strength of the Group’s commitment
to the country’s sustainable development initiatives, Pazflor will
ramp up the installed production capacity of this Golden Block
to over 700,000 barrels per day.
Merging the benefits of experience and technological audacity,
this new industrial milestone consolidates the major basis
that the deep offshore represents for sustainable development
in Angola. The re-injection of produced water from the Miocene
reservoirs, the recovery of the heat from turbine exhaust gases
and the recycling of vent gases from the tanks are just some
of the essential keys to limiting the environmental impact of
the project. Gas flaring will also be avoided in normal operating
conditions by re-injecting associated gas into the reservoir
or exporting it to the future Angola LNG liquefaction plant.
Pazflor will also be an important vector in developing
the industrial fabric of the oil industry in Angola.
The industrial achievements of the project are maximised
in the construction and assembly of elements of the FPSO,
the Subsea Production System and the different flowlines
in the country. In addition, by contributing to the training
of technicians and Angolan managerial personnel in
the spearhead technologies of the deep offshore and by
including them in the project teams, Pazflor will be yet another
example of the desire to share know-how which catalyses the
productive relations between Total and Sonangol.

UM regional geological and seismic cross sections. Development well pattern.
geosciences
managing two different
geologiCal environments
As commonly found on Block 17, the four Pazflor reservoirs
are tertiary turbidite reservoirs with a complex internal
architecture of massive sands (channels and lobes)
and composite facies (a mixture of sands and shales bordering
the channels) depending on the depositional environment.
However this sedimentary unit conceals a number of
characteristics very specific to the Miocene (Hortensia,
Perpetua and Zinia) and Oligocene (Acacia) fields. Whereas
the former lie shallow (1,200 m), are poorly structured and
extend over a large surface area (15 km from North to South),
the Acacia field is more compact, strongly dipping and
comprises superposed, disconnected units. Concealed in their
depths, two different oils: heavy and viscous in the Miocene,
light in the Oligocene, and specific uncertainties whose
concurrent management represents one of the biggest
challenges for the geosciences teams.
The oil evaluation was based essentially on seismic data
of varying quality. The data from the Oligocene – of lower
resolution than in the Miocene – gave rise to a series of
innovative processes imposed by the strong dip of
the reservoirs, to reduce geometric uncertainties and optimise
well location. In parallel, the expertise acquired during the
development of the Block 17 fields was a valuable contribution
to the interpretation of geological facies in a highly variable
depositional environment, and to the prediction
of the biodegradation of the oil within the reservoirs.
On the Miocene reservoirs, three interference tests between
wells to be carried out before first oil, will help reduce
the uncertainties in terms of reservoir continuity and
communication. At stake: the validation of the vast distance
between producer and water-injection wells (between
1,500 and 2,000 m), a solution chosen to optimise the balance
between the number of wells and the effective recovery
on these extensive fields.
Miocene depth map
1,750 m
3,750 m
4,500 m
Oligocene depth map
drilling
towards an industrial approaCh
to the deep offshore
The experience acquired by Total during the conquest of
Block 17, means that the Group now has in hand the keys
to an industrial drilling and well equipment approach.
A design based on a strategy to optimise technological
know-how and to deploy tried and tested industrial
solutions, with the marked advantage of simultaneously
managing expenses and risks.
Research into ways of simplifying the well trajectories,
led in close collaboration with the Geosciences teams,
is just one illustration of this strategy which contributed
to keeping the trajectory design within the perimeters
already managed by Total on Block 17, while authorising
the drilling of high offset wells, implying long horizontal
drains (700 to 1,100 m).
The concept of well selectivity however, was retained
only for water injection wells. Limited to cases for which
the true added value had been proven, recourse to smart
technologies was part of a determined effort to optimise
the technological robustness of completions. To deal
with the complex issue of sand control, the tried
and tested solution of filtering screens was chosen.
The installation of the innovative expandable screens
technology will be reserved for the finest-grained
and least homogenous sands, in complement
to the Open Hole Gravel Pack technology.
The standardisation of equipment, in particular tubing,
is also part of the industrial optimisation strategy
for Block 17 as a whole.
2,000 m
2,500 m
3,000 m

The three subsea gas/liquid separation units were
developed specifically for Pazflor.
subsea seParation
a teChnologiCal
world first
The solution to one of the greatest challenges on Pazflor,
the difficult production of the heavy and viscous Miocene oil,
was a match for the complexity involved: the coupling,
at a depth of 800 metres of the gas/liquid separation and
the lifting of liquids using hybrid pumps (versus multiphase
pumps combined with bottom riser gas lift), is the
technological key to the cost effectiveness of the project.
For the first time in the world, this device is to be
implemented as the basic design for a development scheme.
The three Subsea Separation Units (SSU) comprising
essentially a separation module, a manifold module and two
pumping modules – were developed specifically for Pazflor.
To ensure their robustness and performance, rigorous
qualification programmes were initiated right from
the pre-project phase and were run up until 2007,
in particular in partnership with the University of Cranfield
(United Kingdom) and the French Petroleum Institute (IFP).
The outcome of these programmes was the selection
of a vertical design for the separators, and the confirmation
of a maximum GVF (Gas Volume Fraction*) of 15% in
the liquids, a threshold tolerated by the hybrid pumps which,
downstream of separation, carry the liquids back up
to the FPSO. Here again, innovation is on the agenda.
These new hybrid pumps, with a lifting capacity of 70,000 bbl/d,
under Pazflor operating conditions, combine multi-phase
helico-axial stages, compatible with the presence of gas,
and centrifugal stages, to assure an improved yield.
To guarantee maximum availability and the required
redundancy, each SSU is fitted with two pumping modules.
This forefront technological assembly is part of a subsea
production system, including 49 horizontal production
and injection Christmas trees to be fitted with vertical
connectors, a first on Block 17. In addition, the 25 production
Christmas trees will be equipped with multiphase
flowmeters, for production allocation purposes and
to replace the surface test separator.
(*) Gas Volume Fraction : fraction volumique de gaz résiduel
dans le liquide en sortie de séparateur.
The Pazflor production and injection subsea network
comprises almost 260 km of flowlines and umbilicals.
flow assurance
two anti-hydrate
strategies
Using subsea separation on the Miocene reservoirs means
that production loops are not required. Operating at a pressure
of 23 bars, this separation system effectively guarantees
that the production fluids downstream of each separation unit,
remain outside the hydrate formation window. The upstream
preservation of the multiphase line is assured by a simple
depressurisation operation in the event of an extended
production shutdown.
For the Oligocene reservoirs, the anti-hydrate strategy is
assured by the installation of a production loop comprising
a pipe-in-pipe envelope, insulated by rock wool. In normal
operating conditions, this device guarantees that the oil,
at 110°C when it leaves the well, arrives on the FPSO at
a minimum temperature of 40°C. In the event of an extended
production shut-down, line preservation is assured by
circulating an inert oil to replace the effluent running out
of the wells.
fPso
a floating giant
The oil desalting process and the decanting of produced
water will be performed in the FPSO Hull.
The third FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading)
on Block 17 will assure oil processing, storage and export
via an offloading buoy as on Girassol and Dalia, though
certain specific characteristics distinguish it from its
predecessors:
– a record electric power of 120 MW, supplied by five 24 MW
turbo-generators, required in part to cope with the power
supply necessary for the Miocene liquid-boosting pumps;
– two qualities of oil to be processed, one heavier and more
viscous than that of Dalia and requiring more complex
processing installations. After pressure balancing, the
Oligocene/Miocene mixture is processed by two parallel trains.
To lighten the topsides, whose 15 modules represent
32,000 tonnes, Pazflor innovates yet again by carrying out
the oil desalting process in the hull of the FPSO,
using 4 desalting tanks with a total capacity of
450,000 barrels, and the decanting of produced water from
the Miocene reservoirs using two decantation tanks.

oligoCene
mioCene

nord
a maJor new development
in the deep offshore
Pazflor, a vast project combining two subsea developments in one,
sized to achieve a production of up to 220,000 barrels per day.
subsea produCtion systems
Two subsea production systems including 49 wells
// miocene
> 18 producer wells
> 17 water injection wells
> 3 subsea gas/liquid separation units
connected to 6 hybrid pumps for the
artificial lifting of liquids
> 8.2 km of umbilicals supplying
the 3 separation units
umbiliCals and flowlines
175 km of pipelines and 82 km of umbilicals :
// miocene
> 3 x 10’’ flexible liquid production risers
(4 km)
> 6 x 6’’ flexible gas production risers
(8 km)
> 3 flexible water injection risers
(3.8 km)
> 3 x 10’’ multiphase production lines
(17.9 km)
> 3 x 10’’ liquid production lines (6.6 km)
> 6 x 6’’ gas production lines (11.6 km)
> 3 water injection lines: two 10’’ (18.1 km)
and one 8’’ (7.7 km)
> 33.6 km of production umbilicals (of which
10.6 km are dynamic and 23.2 km are static)
> 16.9 km injection umbilicals
drilling
fpso
// hull
> length: 325 m x width: 61 m x height: 32 m
> Dry weight: 82,000 tonnes
> Storage capacity: 1.9 million barrels
> 4 oil desalting tanks
> 2 decantation tanks
// living quarters
> Accommodation capacity: 140 people
and up to 240 maximum
offloading buoy
// oligocene
> 7 producer wells
> 5 water injection wells
> 2 gas injector wells
> 3 manifolds (4-slot)
// oligocene
> 2 x 10’’ flexible production risers using
integrated Production Bundle technology
(2.4 km)
> 1 x 10’’ flexible water injection riser (1.2 km)
> 1 x 8’’ flexible gas injection riser (1.2 km)
> 34.6 km of 10’’ production loop
> 28.1 km of 10’’ water injection lines
> 11.8 km of 8’’ gas injection lines
> 19.9 km of production umbilicals (of which
13 km are dynamic and 6.9 km are static)
> 11.2 km of injection umbilicals
// gas export
> 1 x 8” flexible riser (1,2 km)
> 17.3 km of 8’’ lines
> Almost 2,700 days’ drilling for 49 wells, of which 23 will be required as from first oil
> Approximately 150 km drilled
> 2 dynamic positioning drill rigs working in parallel
// topsides
> Dry weight: 32,000 tonnes
> Oil production: up to 220,000 barrels/day
> Water injection capacity:
382,000 barrels/day
> Water treatment capacity:
311,000 barrels/day
> Gas compression capacity:
4.3 million m3 /day
> installed power: 120 MW
> located 1,800 m from the FPSO > Offloading system using flexible lines

a sense of
sharing…
Pazflor, a major contribution to angolan energy resources growth,
is Proof of total’s commitment to backing the country’s industrial
develoPment and exPanding its exPertise.
A new illustration of Total’s capacity to steer an extensive
project, Pazflor will mobilise tens of industrial sites in Africa,
Europe, Asia and the United States, for about three years and
a half, generating almost 7 million working hours for
the FPSO alone.
The central aim of this international contractual strategy,
deployed to optimise the cost effectiveness of this huge
project, is to reserve a privileged place for Angola. Support
for local industrial development, the central focus of Total’s
commitment in this country, will optimise the number
of Pazflor technological achievements in Angola.
As far as possible, priority was given to Angolan industries
able to offer the capacities and competencies in line
with the economics of the project and also with the safety
criteria that enables Total Exploration & Production
to achieve a performance that ranks among the best
in the world oil industry.
giving momentum to loCal
produCtion struCtures
In line with this contractual strategy, Angolan industries are
notably involved in the construction of the FPSO. The helipad,
the FPSO anchors, the boat landing – a structure dedicated
to the docking of passenger transport vessels – the riser
protection structures and mooring lines will therefore be
“made in Angola”.
Angolan industries will also be actively involved in the
manufacture of the Pazflor flowlines. They will be responsible
for the coating and insulation of the Miocene production lines,
the assembly of production and injection lines, the manufacture
of certain umbilicals and of numerous structural elements
key
dates
2000 > 2003 Discovery of the pazflor field
2000 Discovery o perpetua
2002 Discovery of Zinia and acacia
2003 Discovery of hortensia
January 2003 Creation of the Pazflor Project Group
december 2005 Basic-engineering contracts
awarding
2006 Basic engineering carried out
invitations to tender issued
(FLETs, In Line Tees and jumpers). The offloading buoy,
anchors and the assembly of structural elements including
the export lines will also be manufactured
in Angola.
As for the production and separation system,
the 3 Oligocene manifolds will be manufactured and
assembled in Angola, as will the anchoring piles for
the Subsea Separation Units and the assembly and testing
of the production and injection Christmas trees to be
installed after production start-up. In total, about ten
Angolan yards will be drawing on the Pazflor experience
to consolidate and maintain their expertise and assure job
security.
skills transfer
This support for industrial development in Angola goes hand
in hand with a determination to transfer technologies
and know-how. Loyal to its commitments, Total has made
a concerted effort to promote the recruitment of Angolan
personnel in the multi-metier team leading the project
(including the Hull manager, the FPSO Piping Leader and
the Training Manager for the Operations team). In parallel,
a local training and recruitment drive was kicked off as soon
as the project started, to put together the teams of engineers
and operators responsible for assuring the development
and operation of the field. Following suit after Girassol,
Dalia and then Rosa, the increase in the number of Angolan
teams operating on Block 17 will continue through
the deployment of local expertise and knowledge of deep
offshore technologies.
27 december 2007 Kick off of the development project
4th quarter 2009 FPSO hull launch
1st quarter 2010 Delivery of the 1st Christmas tree to Angola
3rd quarter 2010 Offshoreinstallation campaign start
end 2010 FPSO sail away to Angola
1st quarter 2011 Delivery of the 1st Subsea Separation Unit
to Angola
second half 2011 First oil
Design production: . Photo credits: Laurent Pascal, Michel Labelle, Laurent Zylberman.
IInfographics: Jean-Pascal Donnot. Map design: Idé. © Total - March 2008 - Printed by Comelli (Villejuif).