Opus to Study Apache Energy’s FPSO (Australia)

Specialist oil firm Opus has secured a £70,000 study contract in Australia to help a major oil company maximise its operations while meeting environmental targets.

Opus, with headquarters in Guildford in Surrey and test/development facilities in Flotta in Orkney, has been given the go ahead to carry out a process review for Apache Energy’s floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Ningaloo Vision, off Western Australia.

The 12-week Opus study will include a general overview of various process vessels including an evaluation of the efficiency of its first stage separator and IP separator – pressure vessels used for separating fluids produced from oil and gas wells into gaseous and liquid components – and provide recommendations for possible improvements.

Theoretical assessments using innovative Opus analytical techniques will be performed by staff in Guildford, while colleagues in Flotta will perform the scaled physical modelling of the vessels to assess the existing internals and further support the recommendations.

Peter Randall, Opus projects manager, said: “The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate the current internals arrangement of the selected separators and assess their suitability for the future process cases which have been agreed with the client.

“The study will then consider any improvements to the internals configuration to optimise performance. “Our specialist knowledge and understanding, gained over years of experience, provides a comprehensive approach to problem solving.”

Any internals modifications would be carried out during a shutdown planned for next year.

[mappress]
Press Release, January 16, 2013