The total liquids capacity of the Liza Destiny floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel exceeds 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) with gas capacity of 190 standard cubic feet per day, company officials told reporters on Monday.
In explaining the production process, Production Manager, Mike Ryan said it is a series of systems and equipment that is used to separate and process the oil, water, and gas.
“We bring fluids from the reservoir up to the topsides, and we separate the three streams into the oil, water and gas. We process the oil to make sure it meets specification, we publish the Liza Destiny crude for the marketers…we store it in the FPSO, and then we offload to tankers,” he said.
The gas is cleaned, some of which is used to power the FPSO, while the rest is compressed and injected at high pressure back into the reservoir.
“The oil processing modules can handle a total capacity of liquids of up to 158,000 barrels per day,” he stated, pointing out that optimization testing that was being conducted at the time a challenge was encountered with the gas compressor, did not approach this threshold.
Liza Destiny gas compressor en route to Germany for repairs – ExxonMobil
“People have referenced that we were doing capacity testing. We were above 120,000 bpd but nowhere near the full capacity of the system,” Ryan explained. He said because the reservoir life cycle is at the early stages, most of the liquids that come up are oil, with not much water. “That’s why we have capacity early in life to be able to test and optimize.”
The 334 meters long FPSO, built and operated by SBM Offshore, is spread moored in water depths of 1,800 meters, producing oil 193km offshore the South American country.
