OTC 18816

AKPO: A Giant Deep Offshore Development

F. Rafin, A. Laîné, and B. Ludot, Total France

Copyright 2007, Offshore Technology Conference

The paper addresses the challenges of AKPO development
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference held in and in particular some of the key technical issues.
Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 30 April–3 May 2007.
A unique hybrid condensate production/gas export
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
development scheme which maximises hydrocarbon
presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to recovery
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its officers, or members. Papers presented at
OTC are subject to publication review by Sponsor Society Committees of the Offshore
Technology Conference. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this
Reservoir management requiring massive pressure
paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Offshore Technology maintenance facilities, extensive use of intelligent and
Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not
more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous selective completions and subsea multiphase flow
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, OTC, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
measurements

ABSTRACT A development drilling strategy and well architecture

Since TOTAL Girassol in Angola, the world first deep water
project ever, deep offshore developments have become more A subsea layout compromise, aiming at maximum
common place but all of them had and have their own reliability and availability
particulars and challenges. They all are large developments,
difficult to implement and often beyond the limits of proven Extensive qualification and testing program of equipment
technologies at their inception. to meet with the reservoir conditions

Akpo field is located in OML 130, 200 km offshore Nigeria in An FPSO concept pushed to the limits to handle high
1400 m water depth. At plateau production, Akpo will produce volume of high pressure fluids together with a very large
and export 175,000 bbls/day of condensate and will export at gas inventory
start up 320 mmscfd of gas to Bonny NLNG plant, onshore
Nigeria. The securing of resources in terms of dry dock slot,
marine spread and deep offshore drilling units in a
Akpo reservoirs characteristics have greatly influenced the buoyant market
development scheme while still making it technically and
economically viable. Akpo reservoirs consist in a 620 million TOTAL, with 24% interest, is the operator on OML 130 on
recoverable barrels accumulation of a critical fluid made of behalf of Petrobras of Brazil, Sapetro of Nigeria, CNOOC of
very light oils (°API up to 53) classified as condensate, with China and NNPC of Nigeria.
well head shut-in pressures up to 400 bars, fluid temperature
up to 116 °C at wellhead and very high GLR (Gas Liquid Akpo achieved Project sanction on 25th April, 2005 when
Ratio). AKPO is not only a giant condensate field, but also a OML 130 was awarded by the Nigerian authorities. Akpo is
gas field with 1Tcf planned gas export. currently under development with drilling and construction
underway with first production planned before the end of
With such reservoir conditions, the development is in a league 2008.
of its own. Nevertheless, the Akpo development scheme
maximizes the use of proven and generic technologies when AKPO DEVELOPMENT
ever possible.
AKPO development is be the first TOTAL deep water
The development is taking place at a time when the supplier operated production in Nigeria.
market is very buoyant. This, in turn, has created additional
challenges with respect to the availability of skilled resources Although, deep water operations have become more common
and obtaining quality products on time. in recent years they remain complex and challenging. We drill
in water deeps ranging from 1300 to 1440m across the block
and in areas where the subsurface geology tests our drilling
and completions capabilities.
2 OTC 18816

AKPO development is big even on a world class scale. It assist the draining and emptying of the condensate storage
requires large capital investment, leading edge technology and tanks.
sound project management expertise to make it viable. AKPO
is a truly global project with a world wide project control The Hull is designed in accordance with the latest
organization. international maritime codes and standards. These are the
same codes and standards as the most up to date and recently
In 1998, the Nigerian Government granted a license to explore built crude oil tankers and include features such as double hull
the OPL 246 offshore block. Between 1999 & 2002 Total construction.
drilled one exploration and four appraisal wells in AKPO
structure with 100% success, leading the AKPO discovery to There are 15 topside modules which incorporate the main
become an economically viable development. processing and utilities facilities. Each module is designed, as
far as possible, as a standalone self contained unit which are
Several development options were considered but a unique being fabricated, tested and commissioned, prior to it being
hybrid condensate production / gas export development installed on the deck.
scheme which maximized hydrocarbon recovery was selected.
The development philosophy includes The living quarters located at the stern of the FPSO can sleep
up to 220 persons. The normal manning level for the FPSO
Full field development, with water injection during production is 140 persons. The additional
Condensate production accommodation is available to cover offshore personnel
Associated gas re-injection with the remaining gas during shutdown periods and non routine maintenance.
exported to Bonny NLNG
The stabilized condensate is exported via loading lines and a
The development of AKPO field has followed along classical deep water offloading buoy moored by 9 anchors and located
lines 2 km away from the FPSO bow.

Exploration and Appraisal of the field The field is developed using a complex subsea infrastructure
Conceptual studies to identify the best way to develop the with a network of flowlines, umbilicals and production
field facilities.
Basic Engineering of the preferred development option
Detailed Engineering, Procurement, Construction & In total, there are 110 km of subsea flowlines connected to the
Commissioning surface production facilities by 14 steel catenary risers
Production operations for the life of the field hanging off both sides of the FPSO. The subsea network
comprises 4 production loops, 1 gas injection line, 4 water
The development is based on a standalone facility using a injection lines, 1 gas export line and 65 km of static and
spread moored Floating Production Storage and Offloading dynamic umbilicals.
(FPSO) moored in 1314m water.
The subsea production and gas injection wells are connected
A total of 44 subsea wells ( 22 Production , 20 Water from 10 manifolds (9 production, 1 gas injection) installed on
injection , 2 gas injection ) will be drilled in a dispersed and the seabed. All of the manifolds are a standard 4 slot design.
clustered subsea architecture. 22 wells are required and will be The water injection wells are connected using “In Line tee”
drilled prior to first condensate. To maximize the duration of pieces in various locations along the water injection flowlines
the condensate plateau, reservoir management will be applied The production system also includes 170 subsea horizontal
to produce condensate from low GLR reservoirs initially and connectors, 2 control modules one located subsurface the other
control the arrival of water in the wells. located on the FPSO.

In addition to reservoir constraints, well target locations for First condensate production will start in 2008, and plateau
the field layout were derived taking into account several production of 175,000 bpd will be reached within 90 days. In
factors, such as drilling and completions, sea bed topography, addition, up to 320 mmscfd of gas will be delivered to Bonny
shallow gas, flow assurance, flowline laying & stability. NLNG plant, onshore Nigeria.

On the surface, the Akpo FPSO is over 300m in length, 60 m A SPECIAL FLUID IN A COMPLEX RESERVOIR
wide and has a displacement of over 400,000 Te. It is one of
the largest floating facilities of its type ever built. It is spread The AKPO structure is an anticline, which has been drilled by
moored using 12 suction anchors each one located the exploration well AKPO-1 at the end of the year 1999. Four
approximately 2km from the FPSO appraisal wells, drilled in 2000-2002 confirmed the potential
of the field.
The Hull has storage for up to 2 million barrels of condensate
or the equivalent of 11 days production. It is orientated NNE The reservoirs are deepwater fans of distal turbidite origin,
in the direction of the prevailing environmental sea conditions deposited in submarine channels and lobe. The development
and also trimmed towards the bow by approximately 1% to concerns five reservoirs, at depth ranging from 2950mSS to
OTC 18816 3

3750mSS. The two highest accumulations are complex evolving issues due to changes in the reservoir interpretation
channel systems, with several sub-units to be taken into along the project life. It is particularly true for the flowline
account in the reservoir management plan, while the three trajectories, which must be laid out in such a way that it is
lower accumulations are lobate systems. possible to reach all of the well targets for the producers and
for the injectors. It is also true for the flow assurance
The reservoir fluid in AKPO is a critical fluid, which implies constraints, which are dependent on the well by well
that the fluid type is dependent on pressure, temperature and production.
depth. Consequently there exists no sharp gas-liquid contact
within the hydrocarbon leg. Reservoir Models
AKPO Reservoir Model is derived from the geological model,
The liquid produced is light oil/condensate (42° to 53° API), the seismic interpretation, well data and regional context, and
with a high gas-liquid ratio (GLR = 1600 to 7300 scf/bbl). it leads to a definition of the well targets. This in turn allows
the production profiles to be estimated and a subsea layout to
Critical fluids are now better understood and have been the be initiated.
object of recent developments in the world, but it is the first An iterative process of cost estimating and refining takes place
time such a development is conducted in a deep offshore until an optimised solution is achieved.
context.
In the case of AKPO the initial conceptual development plan
The specifics of this type of fluids are: was based on full gas re-injection, which then evolved into a
Complex oil column, which requires special attention from hybrid gas export scheme at project sanction. Reservoir
the reservoir management strategy to avoid any loss of studies demonstrated that the reduced injection rate of the
liquid recovery, hybrid option, in fact, increased liquids recovery while still
High GLR, which has consequence on the type of enabling substantial gas export.
development,AKPO is not only a giant condensate field
with estimated 620 Mbbls reserves, but also a gas field Impact on Subsea Layout
with 1Tcf planned export gas. The subsea layout design must respect certain rules and
constraints:
For AKPO, specific attention is given to the pressure
maintenance, as models indicate that a low pressure drop Safety (FPSO layout of safe and hazardous areas,
would induce a change to a dysphasic context and jeopardize riser/umbilical interaction due to motion).
the liquid recovery. This pressure maintenance will be ensured Environment (soil conditions for equipment installation,
with water injection and gas injection, and necessitates the mooring footprint exclusion zones, water depth, seabed
availability of sufficient injection capacity at start of topography).
production. As the hydrocarbon volume occupied in the Flow lines (up-sloping criterion to minimize pockets, line
reservoir conditions is much larger than the volume of liquid length, line stability).
produced (Formation Volume Factor: 2 to 5), the ratio Operations (maximum and minimum flow rates in flow
producer/injector is higher than usual and reaches 1 injector lines and jumpers, line preservation during shutdowns to
for 1 producer. prevent hydrates, well testing requirements).
Well trajectories (shallow gas hazards, drilling feasibility,
Gas production: is a crucial part of the reservoir management target azimuth change, stand off distance).
since it is limited by the capacity of the FPSO and in particular Installation (flow line geometry, spacing of water
the emergency flaring system and the export pipeline capacity. injection ‘Inline Tee Assemblies’, minimum distance
Thus the maximisation of liquid production is depending upon between lines)
the control of the GLR of the wells, which may vary with the Control system (number of wells per umbilical core).
reservoirs and the position of the producing interval within the
hydrocarbon column. These rules and constraints dictated the framework to design
the Akpo subsea layout.

In addition the subsea layout is also impacted by surface

installation constraints such as the overall maximum flow
A RESERVOIR DRIVEN SUBSEA LAYOUT rates (production & injection), delivered pressure and
temperature limits.
The subsea network design is a critical part of the
development scheme. It must be built whilst respecting Flow assurance issues are critical for any deep water
different technical rules (flow assurance, drilling feasibility, development. The static head at seabed temperature invariably
installation constraints, etc), at the same time including puts the system in the hydrate regime. The Akpo solution is to
flexibility for reservoir model evolution or actual reservoir have a long “no touch” period, achieved by specifying a high
behavior after start of production. level of thermal performance for the production piping system,
and the facility to circulate dead crude through up-sloping dual
In the early stages, the subsea layout is one of the main flowline loops at the end of the “no-touch” period. The areas
4 OTC 18816

not covered by the dead crude circulation, such as the trees Risers (SCRs), sand production is controlled via adequate
and tree-to-manifold jumpers, are preserved by the injection of equipment downhole, intelligent well completions are used to
methanol through the umbilical system. delay any need to implement activation measures (no gas-lift
required in base case), well testing is limited by the use of
Although the general concept of the subsea layout remained subsea multi-phase flowmeters (MPFMs) on each producing
the same, there have been several evolutions: the number of well.
flowlines and manifolds has increased, and the trajectories of
the lines changed. Demonstrating the effectiveness of flow assurance is complex
and has to be coordinated across the whole of the project
Future evolutions scope of work. Most of the qualification testing occurs late in
Soon after project sanction the subsea layout was frozen, the engineering phase when equipment fabrication has already
otherwise there is no real prospect of managing the project started. Flow assurance must be at the heart of the review and
cost and schedule within reasonable limits. However, the to remain a transverse focus to mitigate the project and the
development of the reservoir model continues as new seismic future operational risks.
is processed and as development wells are drilled. There is
therefore a need to build inherent flexibility into the system to Hydrate inhibition strategy
allow revised targets to be selected without making any The hydrate inhibition is the main challenge in deep offshore
change to the slot locations. gas condensate field development. In production mode,
This has been achieved by locating the initial slots in positions hydrates and wax are not an issue on AKPO due to the high
which allow the wells to be deviated to possible new targets, fluid temperature. But, in case of shutdown, the live fluid from
and by adding spare slots in strategic locations. In the case of the whole subsea network has to be inhibited to avoid hydrates
Akpo, the total numbers of slots are 36 production, 32 water formation. The hydrate prevention strategy has been selected,
injection and 4 gas injection, giving 14, 12 and 2 spare slots based on a 14 hours sequence including:
respectively. With this in-built flexibility we will be able to 4 hours no touch period
respond to new requirements to develop and maximize the 5 hours for methanol injection in wells, trees and jumpers
economic production of the reserves. to flush this equipment and for flowlines depressurization
4 hours for dead condensate circulation to remove live
FLOW ASSURANCE: FROM DESIGN TO REALITY crude from the production loops
1 hour operational margin
Most of the flow assurance challenges associated with deep
offshore developments are now well known by TOTAL, As a consequence, the live fluid must remain above the
especially further to Girassol and Dalia developments. The hydrate formation temperature for:
differences mainly depend on the nature of the fluid to be 9 hours upstream of each production manifold
produced and the nature of the reservoirs. AKPO, as a gas 14 hours from the manifolds to the FPSO itself
condensate deep offshore field, has obviously its own flow
assurance challenges. Whatever the extent of these challenges, On AKPO, this is achieved using passive wet insulation and
they can only be overcome by a rigorous approach during conventional flowlines, not requiring expensive pipe in pipe
engineering and by implementation of comprehensive testing technologies.
programs.
Insulation Design
Classical flow assurance deep offshore challenges The main challenge faced on AKPO is the high temperature
Hydrate and wax issues due to the 4°C sea bed (115°C), deviating from current standards:
temperature Insulation material and chemicals are not all qualified for
Large quantity of methanol required 115°C at 150 bara
Slugging issues due to long riser Instrument electronics and part of the valves actuators are
Activation of wells still not qualified at these temperatures, preventing their full
Testing capabilities for a single well encapsulation with the insulation material

AKPO additional flow assurance challenges So, extensive simulations, using CFD and FEA modeling,
Gas condensate effluent have been performed during the design to maximize the
High flowing temperature (up to 115°C) thermal performance of the subsea facilities while optimizing
Chemical products suitability (due to fluid characteristics the insulation coverage and the instrumentation integrity at the
and pressure and temperature conditions) same time.
Unconsolidated reservoirs management
Maximization and continuity of gas export rate to feed Operations Enhancement: MPFMs and OCWR tools
Bonny LNG plant Previous projects have demonstrated that methanol
consumption can be greatly reduced by automatic sequencing
Part of AKPO flow assurance challenges have been alleviated of repetitive actions (start up, preservation), whilst at the same
or facilitated during the Project basic engineering phase: time increasing the quality control aspects of the operations.
slugging is reduced by the use of up-slopping Steel Catenary
OTC 18816 5

During the basic engineering, it was decided to install a Multi- facilitated the retrieval of the trees or manifolds without
Phase Flow Meter (MPFM) on each production well. These having to lift the spools or jumpers.
meters were primarily installed for reservoir monitoring
purposes but they also provide an opportunity for subsea The subsea equipment is designed with the ever threat of
facilities operations optimization in real-time. MPFMs greatly hydrates forming. Insulation requirements are very
reduce the topside testing frequency of the wells and allow demanding, and the high wellhead flowing temperatures have
optimization of methanol injection rates during start-up. prompted the use of phenolic resin insulation.

In addition an Overall Control of Well and Riser (OCWR) In the event of any item of equipment failing, there is a high
module was developed and included within the field level of redundancy in the control systems and greatly assists
Integrated Control & Safety System (ICSS). in ensuring the availability of equipment.

Testing program The equipment is modular designed which means that trees
Whatever the quality of the design, testing is required to can be separated from the wellheads, leaving the downhole
validate this design and to demonstrate the final product completion intact, all chokes, Subsea Control Modules (SCM)
performance. , Distribution units on the manifold, Accumulator packages,
flowline jumpers, electrical and hydraulic flying leads are
No matter how good the modeling may have been , an individually retrievable. For each SCM there are two
extensive testing program was been conducted in parallel , to independent control paths, both electrical and hydraulic. No
provide confidence in the model results and to finally prove two trees share the same two lines.
with full scale cool down tests that all subsea equipment meets
the specifications. The engineering, procurement and supply of the SPS facilities
are undertaken and managed by CAMERON from their
During the qualification stage, the insulation material and a manufacturing plant in Leeds.
model were tested for performance and longevity. In
particular, a cool down pilot test was done to benchmark and The development of the SPS facilities implies the ordering of
qualify the design model. several thousands of line items which are assembled at many
CAMERON locations worldwide.
Validation tests were performed to ensure that critical The main locations includes the wellheads being manufactured
individual components behave as designed (in particular, in Singapore, Xmas trees and connectors in Leeds (UK),
valves, MPFM and pipes were tested in cool down Manifolds in Berwick (USA) and Wari (Nigeria) and the
conditions). Internal coating of the gas export line was also control system in Celle (Germany).
tested to validate the roughness performance and confirm
maximum gas export rates. Altogether a very complex supply chain which required
constant high quality levels at all stages.
Chemicals selection
The high temperature of AKPO fluid meant that chemical The implementation of strict Quality Control processes and
products to be injected subsea (mainly corrosion / scale procedures during the manufacturing stages is paramount. The
inhibitors i.e. low viscosity products) retained their efficiency cost to the project of discovering and rectifying defects during
at this temperature, the manufacturing stage is considerably less than having to
deal with failures in service.
Once a chemical has been found to be efficient, it also need to Once the equipment has been manufactured to the correct
be shown that it would be compatible with any other fluids standard, the final step in the process is to test it in a manner
present in the subsea network (hydraulic fluid, methanol, and which is as complete and as representative as possible.
pre-installation fluids) and with any material used as for Each component is subjected to a series of Factory Acceptance
valves, flex joints or meters. Tests, similarly each assembly such as a complete tree or a
complete manifold to an Extended Factory Acceptance Test.
Finally a one off Site Integration Test of a representative part
of the complete Tree-Manifold-Controls system is carried out.
SUBSEA PRODUCTION SYSTEM SOLUTION It is only after all these tests are completed satisfactorily that
you can say with confidence that the equipment will perform
AKPO subsea production system links a complex arrangement as intended in service.
of Trees, Wellheads, Subsea Manifolds and Subsea Controls
with the FPSO and the well intervention equipment. WELL ARCHITECTURE & DEVELOPMENT
DRILLING STRATEGY
Basic Engineering studies identified that a horizontal
connector system had several operational advantages over the Well philosophy
more common vertical system. It enables the various spools The reservoir development plan is based on multi-zone
and jumpers to be configured to maximize the efficiency of reservoir targets intersecting several channel complexes or
methanol packing during a cool down scenario, and that it lobe compartments to optimize the number of wells. This
6 OTC 18816

strategy calls for selective completions in producer and gas leg severity is maintained below 3 deg/100 ft and the
injector wells, allowing monitoring and control of production inclination of the slant section is maintained when possible
from sub reservoirs with different dynamic behaviors. below 50 deg, to allow wire line intervention. Horizontal
drains are 1200 m long and are drilled with horizontal
Well Completion departures up to 3000 m.
The reservoir sands are unconsolidated and heterogeneous,
requiring three different sand control technologies: stand alone Sub Sea positioning
screens, expandable screens and Frac Pack depending on well The well head positioning tolerance circle of 2.5 m radius
types and trajectories. requested by flowlines installation constraints and Subsea
Selective zone isolation in open hole at the reservoir/well bore Production System for well connections calls for advanced
interface is provided by open hole packer run with the sand and reliable sub-sea positioning system.
control systems. Innovative Annulus Barrier Tools have been Akpo strategy includes the use of Long Base Line (LBL)
specifically developed for Akpo applications. positioning system in combination with a pre-installed
The selective completions will include down hole valves calibrated transponder stands sub sea array, which is the
remotely actuated from the FPSO with hydraulic lines. This common reference used by all the offshore installation spreads
intelligent completion design will help to minimize costly well and drilling units working on Akpo field.
interventions in the deep offshore environment.
Thirteen selective completions are planned in the AKPO Rig specialization
development. The main challenges are The AKPO development wells will be drilled & completed by
two 5th Generation Dynamically Positioned drill ships, which
The integration of completion design and equipment with have been contracted to perform Akpo development drilling.
the intelligent hardware in each type of sand control.
The qualification and development of the completion The Transocean Deep Water Discovery spudded the first well
equipment and their successful installation to assure their of AKPO development in early August 2006 and is dedicated
reliability during field life in Akpo pressure & temperature to drilling operations only, the wells being temporarily
conditions. abandoned after the drilling operations. To further optimize
the operations riserless phases are drilled in batches of 5 wells.
Well architecture
The well architecture is based on the lessons learned from the The Jack Ryan from Global Santa Fe is planned to mobilise on
explorations wells drilled in OML130 and takes into account AKPO field in mid 2007 after an upgrade to accommodate the
the constraint of the well completion designed to meet the Akpo specific drilling equipment and tools. This drilling rig
production objectives. will be in charge to complete the wells drilled by the Deep
AKPO development architectures include four casings 36” Water Discovery.
CP, 20” surface casing, 14” technical casing and the
production liner. The main benefits of such a specialized rig strategy are several
The production liner is 10 ¾” OD for oil producers and gas folds:
injectors to accommodate selective completions and 9 5/8” Savings on costly rig upgrades as only one rig will be
OD for water injectors. modified to run the completion and trees Progressive start
The 20” surface casing is set above the top gas occurrence. up of drilling operations to efficiently set up all human,
The 14” casing is set where a sufficient FIT can be obtained to services and logistic supports.
drill through the reservoir. Better learning curve on each specialized rig
The liner is run to TD in the Frac Pack wells or to the top Improved efficiency of offshore crews who will rapidly get
targeted reservoir in wells completed with open hole sand familiar with a reduced number of complex operations.
control
High casing specifications have been selected to resist the All above shall contribute to improved drilling performance
loads generated by high pressure & temperature conditions. and deliver the planned 22 wells at start up of Akpo facilities.
In addition pressure mitigation means are integrated in the
architecture of the well producers and gas injectors to limit the
loads created during production/clean up by the Annuls
Pressure Build up (APB) in closed casing annuli. UMBILICAL FLOWLINES & RISERS
The pressure mitigation means includes, the choice of a
production liner to minimize the number of close annuli, As an integral feature of the development and at the onset of
syntactic crushable foams around the 14” casing and pressure the project, the Subsea Catenary Riser (SCR) concept was
burst disk in the 20” casing. All of them have been through an selected.
extensive qualification and testing process to match AKPO The basis for the selection was to implement a proven
pressure & temperature requirements. technology sufficiently generic to attract competition for its
implementation.
Well trajectory However, the SCR technology requires careful design in
The wells have 3D trajectories and are “J” shape, “S” shape or particular with respect to fatigue life of the riser sections and
horizontal depending on reservoir target inclination. The dog more specifically for the flexjoints connecting the risers to the
OTC 18816 7

FPSO and the touchdown section on the seabed. measuring 300m long, 61m wide and 31m high (keel to hull
Not surprisingly, the fatigue life of the SCRs is very much deck) The hull has 13 off cargo tanks (dispatched in three
influence by the hydrodynamic behavior of the FPSO to which rows along the hull) to store the stabilized Akpo condensate in
they are connected to. It is for this very reason that the addition to the usual storage for diesel, methanol and
engineering, procurement and installation of both the FPSO ballasting requirements. Total displacement weight is in
and the offloading buoy mooring was included in the scope of excess of 400,000 tons at full capacity.
the UFR contractor.
The UFR Package was awarded in April 2005 to SAIPEM of The accommodation module has capacity for up to 240
France. The complete scope of the work included the persons on board and comes complete with helideck.
Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation and
Commissioning of the following Subsea facilities: The hydrocarbon production facilities and support systems are
encapsulated in 15 topside modules. Because of the large
Production & Injection Flowlines (approximately 110
inventory of AKPO high pressure gas, the topsides process
kilometers)
equipment is heavier than other FPSOs of similar size.
14 Steel Catenary Risers
Consequently this has resulted in the need closely control the
Production & Injection Umbilicals (approximately 65
weight, Center of Gravity, floatability and stability of the
kilometers)
FPSO during the project.
Offloading Buoy with 2x16” Offloading Lines
Mooring System (12 mooring lines, plus all deck
The topsides processing facilities are large but relatively
equipment)
conventional. They include a single train of four stage
Gas Export Line (16”, approximately 150km) tied back to
separation and an electrostatic dehydrator to meet the BS&W
the Amenan AMP2 facilities in shallow water.
specification. The unstabilized condensate is heated (using hot
The SAIPEM scope also included the actual mooring water produced from waste heat recovery units) between the
operation of the FPSO, and the installation of 10 Manifolds 1st and 2nd stage of separation to achieve the RVP of 10 psia.
provided by Subsea Production System (SPS) Contractor. The reservoir water, extracted from the production separators
and electrostatic dehydrator is treated to achieve oil-in-water
The main technical challenge has been the qualification an content of less than 30 ppm
Automatic Ultrasonic Testing (AUT) advanced and accurate
enough to satisfactorily inspect the line pipe field welds during Although the production separators operate at high pressures
the offshore installation campaign. (1st stage @ 80 bara,2nd stage @ 24bara, 3rd stage @ 8bara, 4th
stage @ 2bara), these pressures and the size of the separators
The benefit of such Automatic Ultrasonic Testing is that it will (e.g. 1ststage 4.4m I.D x 15.8m Long) have resulted in the
allow fast and accurate assessment of weld defects, accumulation of large inventories of hydrocarbon gas and
minimizing the risk of false calls and their associated condensate on the FPSO.
slowdown of the pipe laying process. The safety design called for the need to install passive fire
protection insulation on the large separators to extend the
Because of the achieved accuracy of the automated process, depressurization period in ESD situation. Similarly, the
weld procedures can be developed more efficiently and greatly application of heat shielding is required on selected areas
increases the confidence in achieving the predicted fatigue life around the FPSO to cope with radiation from the flare. Indeed
of the completed pipelines. one notable feature on Akpo is the vertical flare stack. At
128m high, the stack is one of the tallest structures to be
Actual offshore construction will start in 2007 and will be installed on any FPSO.
completed in 2008. Many efforts are dedicated to prepare for
the offshore first, aiming at maximizing the pre-FPSO arrival There is a dedicated Test separator to perform well testing. A
works and second to reduce the SCR and umbilical connection notable feature is that it is designed to operate in either high
time to the FPSO. pressure (HP) or low pressure (LP) mode to provide
operational flexibility.

The associated gas from separators is compressed and

FPSO dehydrated via a Glycol (TEG) Contactor in order to minimize
the risk of hydrate formation in the gas export pipeline and in
The FPSO is at the heart of the Akpo development. the 8” subsea gas injection pipeline.
A consortium of TECHNIP France and Hyundai Heavy The offloading of condensate to the waiting oil tankers is
Industries (HHI) were contracted to perform the detail design, achieved via a buoy located about 1 nautical mile from the
engineering, procurement and construction of the FPSO. FPSO connected by two 16” offloading flexible lines. The
TECHNIP has the responsibility for the detail engineering of condensate can also be exported to smaller tankers via tandem
the topsides and HHI those for the detail engineering of the loading method as back-up to the buoy offloading mode.
hull and the FPSO fabrication in their yard in Ulsan, Korea.
An “all electric” option for rotating machineries was selected
The hull is a purposed built vessel of impressive dimensions based on lower CAPEX, centralized power generation (six
8 OTC 18816

Rolls Royce RB211 dual fuel turbines with total electrical the bid price at actual award date.
output of over 100MW) to give greater availability and to
facilitate commissioning prior to FPSO sail away from Through this application of reservation provisions the major
construction yard and offshore start-up. surface facilities packages contracts were all successfully
awarded within days of project sanction in April 2005.
All the process gas compressors on Akpo are driven by fixed
speed electric motors. The gas export compressor is coupled to Such reservation agreements have not been possible for
a 14MW motor, certainly one of the largest electric motors in securing the 2 required deep offshore drilling rig units.
existence to be started “direct-on-line”.
In 2004 and 2005 the deep offshore rig unit market remained
AN EVER CHANGING ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT extremely tight with rocketing daily rates owing to a limited
number of available units.
The Akpo project calls for tenders were sent out the end of
2003, just at the time when the world construction market The Call For Tender process for rig units was maintained alive
became very buoyant. Contractors had full order books, until project sanction when the opportunity was taken to
shipbuilding market was booming and steel prices were secure the Deep Water Discovery and the Jack Ryan, albeit at
soaring. the very high ongoing daily rates, to provide the nearly 2,000
It was not the best time for an Operator to launch a global rig days necessary to complete the Akpo development drilling
deep offshore project program.

The buoyant construction market was manifested by: A TRULLY INTEGRATED PROJECT
A reluctance of all the bidders to accept the risk of steel
price fluctuations, unwillingness to price in Throughout this paper, it is apparent that all main components
of the development from geosciences to the future start up and
A potentially weak US Dollar and the refusal of bidders to routine operation of the facilities are fully interdependent.
accept a level of financial risk which had traditionally been
The development team organization reflects this situation and
commensurate with their influence on the design and
truly integrates the actions of the various teams in charge of
construction work.
geosciences studies, development drilling, SPS, UFR, FPSO
and Field operations.
These factors inevitably put pressure on the development
budgets. It was therefore important to define and limit the risk To reinforce this integration the management of certain
in order to quantify the potential for cost increases. disciplines is centralized in the Paris project headquarters.
These disciplines encompass HSE, Quality, Risk management,
For Akpo we decided to include steel price escalation planning/reporting, human resources and cost control. This
formulae, and to allow multi currency pricing which would approach ensures consistency throughout and impose the same
then be converted to US Dollars by means of fixed forward standards at all project locations.
currency purchases.
In order for the 300 or so Akpo team members to operate
worldwide, specifically developed procedures, tools and
The unwillingness of bidders to accept a realistic level of risk
could not be overcome without accepting unreasonable price means of communication have been put in place.
increases. As a consequence it has been necessary to shoulder For each team, activities are taking place at many locations
this risk by accepting negotiated caps on liability. worldwide. To coordinate their actions, an Akpo worldwide IT
and telecom network has been set up. From any location, any
As with most projects today, the tender process commenced member of the management team has a secured access to
prior to formal sanction by the Nigerian national authorities. exchange and share up to date information through a dedicated
This created its own problems as bidders were naturally intranet.
reluctant to maintain offers for an extended period of time. A
means of locking in the selected contractors had to be All the project documentation is managed electronically for
established. issue, review, comments and approval but as well for access
and retrieval. Similarly, all exchanges of information with all
This was achieved by developing reservation agreements with the Akpo contractors ere performed electronically through
the selected bidders on completion of the Call For tender DMZ servers.
process. To manage the numerous technical interfaces between
The principle for such reservation agreements were: packages, the Akpo development has set up an effective
Guarantee for the selected bidder of a contract award at interface management system, which provides ease of
project sanction communication and full traceability. This tool, based on a
The payment of a consideration to reserve construction query system has proven to be essential in the resolution of
facilities such as a dry dock slot for the FPSO hull or the interfaces between the Akpo contractors.
marine spread for the UFR contract.
Agreed indexed and escalation formulae to be applied to Altogether, AKPO development is big even on a world class
OTC 18816 9

scale. It requires large capital investment, leading edge

technology and commensurate sound project management
expertise to make it viable.

AKPO is a truly global project which warrants such a world

wide project control organization to achieve its goal of starting
oil production and export before end of 2008.

ARTISTIC VIEW OF AKPO DEVELOPMENT