Installation, Hookup, and Commission Phase of Ghana's Fast-Tracked Jubilee Project

Abstract

This article, written by Editorial Manager Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper OTC 23456, ’Jubilee Development Installation, Hookup, and Commissioning and Ready for Startup,’ by Laurent Culembourg, Kosmos Energy, Cory Weinbel, SPE, Anadarko Petroleum, Keith Mutimer, Tullow Oil, Frederic Chauvin, Technip, and Andrew McDonald, consultant, prepared for the 2012 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 30 April-3 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The Jubilee Field Development, 60 km offshore Ghana, began Phase 1 production just 3.5 years after field discovery. Here is highlighted the successful execution of the in-country installation, hookup, and commissioning (IHUC) phase of the project in conjunction with operations readiness and assurance activities to bring the production system safely to an on-time ready-for-startup (RFSU) condition. Success was found through integration of a multipartner project team and the management of critical interfaces. Introduction The Jubilee partners, along with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), decided to develop the field using a phased approach. The integrated project team (IPT) developed a plan to target just less than 300 million bbl in Phase 1 with a 17-well subsea system and a 120,000-BOPD floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit. Phase 1 was approved in Au-gust 2008, and first oil was achieved in November 2010. The overall project schedule was aggressive, with critical path activities occurring primarily within the IHUC phase of the project. Despite efforts to plan and meet the aggressive schedule, the IPT still encountered some significant challenges onshore and offshore Ghana during the IHUC phase. The key to resolving these issues successfully was linked with the execution strategy and the experienced team’s ability to develop a response plan and implement it successfully. IHUC Planning, Organization, and Execution Strategy The Jubilee Leadership Team (JLT) recognized that the IPT organization and interfaces with the unit operator needed to evolve with the progression of the project. As such, the development activities were divided into the following four phases, with governance models designed for each: Phase 1—FPSO construction and subsea procurement Phase 2—IHUC Phase 3—Startup Phase 4—Steady state Contracting Strategy and Resources A contracting strategy was put in place to favor IPT control over schedule imperatives with the following elements: Selecting world-class contractors with records of delivering on-time projects with excellent engineering Incentives for meeting, and penalties for failing to meet, critical milestones Separating the scope of umbilical, riser, and flowline (URF) activities that could be performed off the critical path from those that had to be done on the critical path and negotiating different incentives/penalties for each