Industry News - Asian Oil & Gas Reports - Processing prototype lands in LummutProcessing prototype lands in Lummut
from: Asian Oil & Gas
by: David Morgan
Friday, October 27, 2006
The first working module of a plug-and-play type seabed
separation and processing system recently arrived in
Malaysia where it will be used to demonstrate the
AlphaPrime system's innovative technological features to
field operators in the region. David Morgan reports.
The 95t AlphaPrime system module
and its test rig were transported from
Malmo, Sweden, to Lummut in
Malaysia as deck cargo aboard a general
cargo ship. In so doing, observed system
developer Alpha Thames Subsea's
managing director David Appleford, the
Beluga Independence demonstrated, for
the first time, 'the ease with which
AlphaPrime modules can be deployed
offshore by using its own derrick to lift it
aboard'.
The system module arrived in Malaysia
in early September and is now being setup
for operational display. A fully
working prototype, it was built to
demonstrate the AlphaPrime principle of
seabed separation and processing. It has
already been shown extensively to oil and
gas industry personnel at Malmo and its
move to Malaysia will now make it
accessible to industry executives in the
region.
The transportation was financed by
Alpha Perisai in response to the 'intense
interest' this technology is generating in
Asia and the Far East. Alpha Perisai last
year became the first company in the
world to purchase a licence to
manufacture and deploy AlphaPrime oil
field technology. The company is 70%
owned by Perisai Petroleum Teknologi of
Malaysia and will market the technology
which is aimed at reducing production
costs and capital expenditure for offshore
oil and gas producers.
AlphaPrime is an all-electric incremental
field development system claimed
capable, ultimately, of enabling offshore
operators to monitor and control an
entire oil and gas field in real time via
communication links from anywhere in
the world. It centres on the use of system
modules that are deployed on the seabed
where they contain all of the well's
control, pumping and separation
requirements that would normally be
provided by an expensive offshore
platform.
The system modules are installed on a
plug and play basis which means that,
unlike other seabed systems, they can be
easily recovered for modification or
upgrading at any time in the life of the
field. 'This substantially reduces the
technical difficulties associated with
subsea processing while also enabling
operators to capture early production and
increase hydrocarbon recovery,' explains
Appleford.
'By transferring key functions to the
seabed in a safe and manageable way,
AlphaPrime can solve flow problems
while significantly increasing reservoir
draw down and providing important
savings in capital and operating
expenditure. The unique benefits of the
system have been acknowledged as being
particularly valuable by enabling small
and marginal oil fields to be exploited
more economically.'
Alpha Perisai was created to
exclusively market and deploy
AlphaPrime technology within the Asia
Pacific region, targeting in particular
Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Brunei, the Philippines and also India.
Field operators elsewhere in the world
will also be able to obtain licences from
Alpha Thames Subsea in the UK and use
the technology on a field by field basis.
Shell, which was closely involved in the
development testing and field readiness
qualification of AlphaPrime, retains the
right to purchase a licence should the
need arise. AOG
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