ExxonMobil unit awards Technip-Coflexip pipeline job off Equatorial Guinea

May 15, 2002
Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc. awarded a contract to Paris-based Technip-Coflexip for the procurement, fabrication, and installation of more than 48 km of flexible and rigid subsea pipelines for the Zafiro Southern Expansion development project off Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea.

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, May 15 -- Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc. (MEGI), subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., has awarded another contract in its Zafiro Southern Expansion field development project off Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Paris-based Technip-Coflexip was tapped for the procurement, fabrication, and installation of more than 48 km of flexible and rigid subsea pipelines.

The contract is the latest award toward the $900 million production expansion project, which is under way and expected to see first production in September 2003. A contract for subsea systems were awarded last month (OGJ Online, Apr. 30).

The Southern Expansion area of Zafiro fieldlies on Block B, about 65 km northwest of Malabo in 1,400-2,800 ft of water. The Southern Expansion project will recover about 150 million bbl of oil.

New development will consist of subsea wells tied back to a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel capable of processing 110,000 b/d of oil and having about 2 million bbl of storage capacity. A total of 19 subsea wells are planned, and drilling is expected to continue until 2004.

Technip-Coflexip's pipeline contract covers the project management, engineering, procurement, transport, and installation of:
- Six 8-in. production pipelines extending 22 km.
- A 4-km, 12-in. water injection line.
- A 4-km, 6-in. water injection line.
- An 8-km, 6-in. gas-lift line.
- An 11-km 14-in. export pipeline.

Technip-Coflexip will also procure and install 17 flexible jumpers and two flowline sleds. The flexible pipes will be manufactured at the firm's plant in Le Trait, France, and the Evanton spoolbase in Scotland will fabricate the rigid pipeline to be installed by the CSO Apache pipelay vessel.

The CSO Constructor vessel will perform layout survey, install the flexible lines, and assist the CSO Apache during installation of the rigid line.

Current production in Zafiro, which began in late 1996, is 150,000 b/d effected from a fixed platform, an FPSO vessel, and both platform and subsea wells.

In addition to operator MEGI (71.25% interest), participants in Block B are Houston-based Ocean Energy Inc. (23.75%) and the government of Equatorial Guinea