Typhoon Koppu displaces FPSO Nanhai Faxian mooring system

Sept. 23, 2009
Typhoon Koppu hit the Huizhou oil fields on Sept. 14, displacing the FPSO Nanhai Faxian's single point mooring (SPM) system, according to the CACT Operators Group, consisting of CNOOC, Eni, and Chevron.

Offshore staff

HONG KONG -- Typhoon Koppu hit the Huizhou oil fields on Sept. 14, displacing the FPSO Nanhai Faxian's single point mooring (SPM) system, according to the CACT Operators Group, consisting of CNOOC, Eni, and Chevron. ROV examinations revealed that four anchors and the delivery hose to the FPSO were broken.

The group is currently evaluating technical solutions for the disconnection, and plans to tug the FPSO to a safe area as soon as possible. Temporary recovery plans for the oil fields are also under way.

Before Koppu, production capacity from the fields was approximately 41,000 b/d of oil and over 33 MMcf/d of natural gas.

"Thanks to this long-standing effort and full preparation before Typhoon Koppu, no casualties have occurred on the Huizhou oil fields,” says Yang Hua, president of CNOOC. “We will be working closely with the partners to establish appropriate measures to settle engineering issues and to insure the oil fields are back to production as early as possible."

09/23/2009