Girassol: Two Years After First Oil Active Development Activity With Record Production
Authors: Idelovici Jean-Louis , Zundel Jean Pierre 
Published: October 2008

Production began from the GIRASSOL deepwater field, offshore Angola, in December 2001. Since that time, further development of the field has been actively pursued including the tieback to the floating production storage and offloading system (FPSO) of the nearby JASMIM satellite field while overall production has been brought to a record level. The initial production target of 200,000 b/d has been reached only two and a half months after first oil, already allowing production of 92% of the field's nominal capacity in the first year. The Girassol and Jasmim fields together are currently producing in excess of 230,000 b/d. The production operations have been concurrent with drilling and construction activities during this period which has been a major challenge to overcome.

This paper describes the field development activities carried out in 2002 and 2003 which included the drilling and tie-in of new wells, installation of flowlines and umbilicals and new tie-in works on the FPSO. It also presents the main production challenges faced and the overall performance of the facilities. In addition, the paper explains how the parallel production and construction activities have been managed and coordinated to achieve minimum risk, safe operations and efficient construction works with minimum impact on production.

Objectives and strategy

The start-up of production at Girassol in December 2001, just five and a half years after discovery and only 41 months from project sanction, was the first ambitious objective to be achieved. With the field facilities in place and in operation, the next objective was to continue the development of the field and increase the production rate to the actual capacity of the facilities while optimising oil recovery.

To reach this objective, the following strategy was implemented in 2002 and 2003:ramp up early production to its initial target;complete the development of the main reservoir complex;develop other reservoir complexes included in the Girassol Development Area to maintain production potential beyond mid-2003 (hereafter referred as Girassol phase 2);develop the Jasmim satellite field, west of Girassol, to provide, in the short term, additional well fluids to keep the FPSO processing system working at full capacity and extending the production plateau period. (Figure 1)

Planning and coordination of activities

The implementation of this strategy has required in-depth planning and coordination of the various activities during these two years in order to:achieve timely execution of the construction activities and delivery of the new facilities by the expected dates;minimize the risk to the existing installations and the impact on production during the construction activities; andavoid interference between heavy construction vessels, drilling rigs and seismic survey vessel programmes all working in the same area.

Overall timing

Production start up from Girassol phase 2 was required in July 2003 to maintain the overall field potential.

Production start up from Jasmim field was planned for September 2003 as the earliest feasible date for the delivery of the project considering that it was sanctioned by all parties at the end of January 2002.