Kraken FPSO comes in for inspection and certification stage in Rotterdam

FPSO unit Armada Kraken, meant for the Kraken field development in the UK North Sea, is currently undergoing inspection and certification in Rotterdam prior to its deployment to the field. 

The Kraken field is operated by EnQuest with 70.5% working interest with Cairn as its partner with 29.5% working interest.

The field is a large heavy oil accumulation located in the East Shetland basin, to the west of the North Viking Graben; approximately 125 km east of the Shetland Islands.

The FPSO was named in August 2016 and left Keppel Offshore & Marine’s Singapore shipyard in October, heading to deepwater anchorage to undertake commissioning work. Following completion of the commissioning, the harsh-environment FPSO started its journey from Singapore towards the North Sea on November 23, 2016.

Cairn said in a project update on Tuesday that the Kraken development progressed well in 2016 finishing the year ahead of budget and on schedule for first oil in the second quarter of 2017.

The oil company also reported that, following mechanical completion, and bulk of commissioning activities onboard the Kraken FPSO in the Far East, the FPSO is currently in Rotterdam for inspection and certification.

According to the company, the drilling program on the field made ‘excellent progress’ in 2016 and drilling will continue throughout 2017. Results from the producer and injector wells drilled and completed met or exceeded pre-drill predictions with four producer and five water injectors completed.

Further, subsea installation program completed with all three drill centers fully connected to submerged turret production buoy for hook up to FPSO and last mooring pile and wire/chains were installed.

Armada Kraken is able to handle a peak fluid rate of 460,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), 275,000 bpd of water injection, 20 million standard cubic feet (MMscf) of gas handling and has a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels.

Offshore Energy Today Staff