Ophir field shut down following FPSO power issue

Australian oil and gas company Octanex has informed that production from the Ophir field offshore Malaysia has been shut down, following a power issue on the FPSO unit.

The Ophir field was developed via three production wells, a well head platform (WHP) and a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The field achieved first oil in November 2017 following the start of production on October 20.

On Monday, January 8 Octanex informed that the Ophir field was experiencing a non-routine production shutdown.

Production was shut-in following a power trip on the MTC Ledang FPSO which triggered a process shutdown on both the wellhead platform and the FPSO. Weather conditions delayed access to the wellhead platform for several days after rectification of the FPSO power issue.

Personnel were then mobilized to the wellhead platform to normalize the wells. However, start-up of production has thus far not been successful, Octanex said.

The company also added that trouble-shooting activities were underway in order to identify the cause and restore production as soon as possible.

The Ophir field has been developed pursuant to a Risk Service Contract granted in 2014 by Petronas to Ophir Production Sdn Bhd (OPSB) as contractor. Octanex holds a 50% interest in OPSB and its joint venture shareholders in OPSB are Scomi with 30% and Vestigo Petroleum Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas, with 20%.

Petronas introduced the RSC as a petroleum arrangement designed with the objective of intensifying upstream Malaysian oil and gas activities and developing smaller, stranded oil and gas resources. Under the terms of the Ophir RSC, the contractor (OPSB) is the service provider and operator of the field, while Petronas remains the resource owner.