Offshore staff
HOUSTON -- Initial production from the Van Gogh development offshore Western Australia has been delayed by a fire aboard the FPSO Ningaloo Vision at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, according to Apache Corp.
The vessel is owned and operated by Prosafe Production Public and will be leased by Apache when it is delivered to the Van Gogh field.
The fire on April 11 damaged instrument rooms that house the panels for process control, well control, uninterruptible power, and emergency shutdown systems. Many of the systems must be replaced because of heat and water damage, the company says.
No one was injured in the fire, which was extinguished by shipyard firefighting personnel.
A revised schedule for completing the conversion and production start-up will be developed after Prosafe and Keppel determine the extent of the damage and a timetable for acquiring replacement equipment. It is expected to take several months.
Van Gogh is 33 mi (53 km) north-northwest of Exmouth. The moored FPSO will be linked to two subsea drill centers with 10 production wells, two water injection wells, and one gas injection well.
TheNingaloo Vision will have processing capacity of 63,000 b/d of oil and storage capacity of 620,000 bbl of oil. Apache expects the project to boost net production by 20,000 b/d.
04/14/2009
