Wärtsilä Corporation has been awarded a contract to supply a 31.5 MW diesel power plant for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Mutineer-Exeter field of Santos Ltd off the north west coast of Australia.
The plant has been ordered by MODEC Inc of Tokyo, Japan, a leading designer and supplier of FPSO vessels, floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessels and tension-leg platforms for the world oil and gas industry. MODEC is converting an existing Suezmax tanker, of about 150,000 tdw, into a turret-moored FPSO vessel for Santos Ltd of Australia. It will be operated by MODEC on the Mutineer-Exeter field (WA-191-P) which is located approximately 150 km due north of Dampier on the north west coast of Australia.
FPSO vessels combine full production facilities – process equipment, control equipment for remote wellheads, crew accommodation and crude oil storage capacity – into one unit. The Mutineer-Exeter FPSO vessel will have a storage capacity for 930,000 barrels of crude oil and will be moored in 156 metres water depth. The turret mooring will allow the vessel to be disconnected easily when a cyclone approaches so that it can temporarily leave the field. The vessel will be capable of processing 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day, and can treat 125,000 barrels a day of produced water. The first oil from the field is planned for mid 2005.
The Wärtsilä power plant comprises five diesel generating sets, each powered by a Wärtsilä 16V32LNE engine. Diesel engines were selected because the Mutineer-Exeter oil field has no gas which could be used as fuel. The engines will run on treated crude oil.
The Wärtsilä plant will supply electrical power for subsurface electric submersible pumps, subsea multiphase pumps, seawater injection pumps, process plant and general electrical services on board the FPSO vessel.
This order for the Mutineer-Exeter FPSO follows on from the considerable experience with Wärtsilä engines in the offshore oil and gas industry. Some 95 Wärtsilä 32 engines are in service or on order for oil and gas applications. They have demonstrated excellent reliability, availability and operating economy, and are operating in almost every major offshore oil and gas field around the world.
Marit Holmlund-Sund
Public Relations Manager, Ship Power
Wärtsilä Corporation
Direct tel: +358 10 709 1941
Direct fax: +358 10 709 1942
e-mail: marit.holmlund-sund@wartsila.com
Internet: www.wartsila.com
