Agbami Project: People and Partnerships Deliver a World-Scale Field Development

Abstract

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper OTC 20249, "Agbami Project: People and Partnerships Delivering a World-Scale Field Development," by C.D. Bloomer, Chevron Project Resources Company, originally prepared for the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 4–7 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The Agbami project successfully began production in July 2008, 10 years after the discovery of this world-class reservoir. Agbami represents one of Chevron Corporation's largest capital investments of the decade and the project achieved many outstanding results, overcoming various challenges along the way. The full-length paper provides an overview of the project and discusses the key project objectives, strategies used, and some of the lessons learned. Introduction The Agbami field sits 70 miles offshore Nigeria in approximately 5,000-ft water depth. The reservoir is a doubly plunging, thrust-faulted anticline comprising four main reservoirs. The crude is light and sweet, 47°API. The selected development plan includes a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel and subsea well completions. The FPSO has an oil-production capacity of 250,000 BOPD, gas-injection capacity of 415 MMscf/D, and water-injection capacity of 450,000 BWPD. The combined production capacity of the FPSO ranks as the largest in the world. Crestal gas injection provides pressure maintenance for the reservoir as well as preventing routine flaring of associated gas. Peripheral water injection also provides pressure maintenance. An estimated 38 wells eventually will be needed to develop the reserves fully. Nigerian Content The Agbami project made an early decision to achieve a new standard in Nigerian Content. Nigerian Content is a critical government objective to expand the economic benefits of project development and to build capacity in the people and businesses of Nigeria. The Agbami team embraced Nigerian Content as a strategic objective for project success, rather than as a government-imposed mandate. Agbami benchmarked the Nigerian Content of predecessor projects and established a Nigerian Content plan approximately 50% higher than previous accomplishments. These requirements were part of the project contracts, and all contractors understood the importance of delivering this objective. As a result, five modules for the FPSO were fabricated in Warri and Lagos, including the largest FPSO module (weighing more than 1,700 tons) built to date in Nigeria. For the first time in Nigeria, the stainless-steel-clad sub-sea manifolds were fabricated in Port Harcourt. In addition, the offloading buoy and mooring piles were fabricated in Lagos. Significant investment and capacity building occurred across the Nigerian yards to fabricate these facilities. In all, the Nigerian Content exceeded 10,000 tons of fabrication, employing more than 4 million man-hours with zero days-away-from work (DAFW) injuries. The goal was aggressive and led to challenges along the way, but it was successful because it was a reasonable plan that had the support of all partners.