Azurite Field Development: Lessons Learned From Industry
Authors: Howard Harry J. , Hampshire Kenneth Christopher , Moore Jeffrey Allen , White Charles , Bayne Kenneth J. 
Published: July 2010

The Azurite field development, installed in the Republic of Congo in 2009, utilized the industry's first Floating, Drilling, Production, Storage and Offloading (FDPSO) vessel to develop the field. First oil was achieved in August 2009 - only 4 ½ years after discovery.

Although the FDPSO concept was talked about for many years, the Azurite project team made it a reality. The team, charged with aggressive cost and schedule targets, turned a " white board concept?? into a producing asset.

This paper will discuss the key decisions made, focus on the reasons why they were made, and describe the challenges, solutions and lessons learned on this pioneering development.

Introduction

The Azurite field development, installed in the Republic of Congo in 2009, represented a first of a kind development utilizing the industry's first Floating Drilling, Production, Storage and Offloading (FDPSO) vessel. While there were many firsts and successes achieved on this project, lessons were learned, that if taken into consideration, could optimize the industry's next FDPSO.

Discovery and Appraisal

The Azurite field lies within the Mer Profonde Sud (MPS) block offshore Republic of Congo, approximately 80 miles offshore from Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo. Water depths across MPS range from 1100 - 2000 meters.

The Azurite field was discovered in January 2005 with the Azurite Marine-1 (AZRM-1) well. The field was subsequently appraised in late 2005 and early 2006 with the drilling of the AZRM-2 and AZRM-3 wells. Each of the latter two wells was sidetracked (ST) to appraise the four fault blocks of the field. AZRM-2ST was also cored and production tested.

Field Description

The Azurite field is located in 1400 meters water depth. It consists of four major fault blocks and two main reservoirs. The reservoirs in the Azurite field were sufficiently deep and had limited areal extent such that they could be developed from a single drill center. This aspect yielded a significant advantage for Azurite, and ultimately impacted the preferred field development scheme.

Development Timing

In March 2006, at the end of Azurite's appraisal program, a small project development team was put in place to confirm Azurite's technical and commercial viability. If the field showed promise, pre-sanction engineering and capital project planning activities would be fast-tracked in order to sanction the project and preserve the possibility of an early first oil date.

After only nine months of technical evaluations and project execution planning by the Azurite integrated project team, the team's preferred development scenario, involving the industry's first FDPSO, was proposed and sanctioned in December 2006. The project team was charged with delivering first oil in 2 ½ years. The challenge was on.

The project team utilized a stage gate system to focus the team's engineering and project management activities. Lessons learned were captured continuously and formally documented after each stage gate was achieved. Some of the more noteworthy lessons learned that were captured along the way are shared in this paper.