First steel cut for KrisEnergy’s Apsara wellhead platform

A ceremony to mark the cutting of first steel for the KrisEnergy’s minimum facilities wellhead platform for the Apsara oil field in Block A, offshore Cambodia, was held on Friday, December 6, 2019.

The development of the Apsara oil field is the nation’s maiden hydrocarbon development, KrisEnergy said on Monday.

KrisEnergy made a final investment decision (FID) to proceed with the first phase of development for the Apsara oil field in October 2017. In November 2019, KrisEnergy signed a Letter of Award with Profab for the supply of a minimum facilities wellhead platform for the Apsara.

Under the deal, Profab, a National Oilwell Varco company, is responsible for the procurement, and the fabrication and construction of the jacket, topsides, and other related accessories for the Mini-Platform, including full pre-commissioning and loading onto a barge for transportation.

KrisEnergy said on Monday that the steel-cutting ceremony, held at the PT Profab facility on Batam Island, Indonesia, was attended by a delegation from the Royal Government of Cambodia led by Meng Saktheara, Secretary of State, Ministry Mines and Energy (MME); Cheap Sour, Director General of Petroleum, MME; and Siek Sopheak, Deputy Director General, General Department of State Property and Non Tax Revenue of the Ministry of Economics and Finance.

KrisEnergy was represented by Kelvin Tang, Chief Executive Officer and President of Cambodian operations, and Brian Helyer, VP Operations.

First oil in 1H 2020

The Apsara field in Cambodia Block A lies over the Khmer Basin, an unproduced geological basin in Cambodian maritime waters of the Gulf of Thailand. Due to the unproven production performance of the basin, development of the Apsara area will be in several phases to mitigate risk and provide time for the collection and analysis of critical data to be applied in future phases.

This development phase, Mini Phase 1A, comprises the Mini-Platform and five initial development wells connected to the Ingenium II production barge for oil, gas and water processing. Shuttle tankers will transport crude oil from the barge. Apsara oil is scheduled to flow in the first half of 2020 and the field is expected to reach a peak rate of 7,500 barrels of oil per day.

Upgrading and refurbishment of Ingenium II started in November 2018 in Keppel Shipyard’s Benoi facility in Singapore. Installation and integration have been completed for all main new packages – power generation, central control room, electrical switch room, living quarters, pedestal crane, electrical transformers and produced water processing package – and mechanical completion of all systems is scheduled for December 2019 before commissioning in January 2020.

Bids were received in November 2019 for the drilling rig tender, which is expected to be awarded shortly.

Meng Saktheara said: “Producing Cambodia’s first oil in our offshore waters will be a major step along our road to economic development and national prosperity and is aligned with the Government’s key development goals.”

Tang commented: “The cutting of first steel is cause for celebration. It signifies that after years of planning, construction of the main structure is underway.

“However, we must not forget that a lot of work has been, and continues to be, carried out on other areas of the Apsara development. As well as the refurbishment of the production barge, we have completed the acquisition of 1,200 sq. km of 3D seismic data and a geophysical survey at the platform location.”