CNOOC orders Liuhua 4-1 subsea equipment

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 25 -- China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) placed an $85 million order with FMC Technologies Inc. for the manufacture and supply of subsea production equipment for the Liuhua 4-1 oil field development in the South China Sea.

Liuhua 4-1 field lies in 850-1,000 ft of water about 130 miles from Hong Kong and 150 miles from Shenzhen. FMC expects equipment deliveries to commence in this year’s fourth quarter.

Intecsea, a unit of WorleyParsons Group, described the Liuhua 4-1 development as having eight subsea trees clustered around a central manifold and an 11-km pipe-in-pipe flowline tying back to the existing Liuhua 11-1 field, which has a Sedco 700 submersible production unit and a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel.

Both the Liuhua 11-1 and the Liuhua 4-1 have low reservoir pressure and require downhole electric submersible pumps for artificial lift. Each Liuhua 4-1 well will have dual ESPs, with one pump in standby mode. Switching from one pump to the other will be done remotely. Three 5 kv power cables will supply power to the ESPs.

Intecsea said Liuhua will have a permanently moored drilling rig available to service the wells Control, monitoring, and chemical injection will be via a 14-km umbilical. The control system is electrohydraulic.

First oil from the field is expected in 2012, according to Intecsea.