Project Profile
Value: US$115 million
Location: Orange Basin
Water Depth: 250 metres
Area: 5,000 sq km
Gas Reserves: 1 tcf with 800 bcf certified
Start-up Year: 2014
The project will see the field developed in phases. The first phase is set to produce 115 million cubic feet per day of gas from about 20 wells needed to tap the field’s complex channel sands and at least one mini-TLP. The production will be piped 100 kilometres to a landfall at Island Point in the Northern Cape, where a new gas processing plant will strip out 3,000 barrels per day of liquids, with gas used as feedstock for a 750MW power station to be built by the Ibhubesi partners nearby.
The field lies in around 250 metres of water. The reserves are estimated at 1 Tcf with 800 Bcf certified. The Ibhubesi field lies within production right Block 2A, which covers roughly 5,000 square kilometres in the Orange basin, about 150 kilometres off the coast of the Northern Cape Province. Eight wells have been drilled and tested at the field since 1998, with Sunbird noting the discovery wells flowed at an average of 22.5 million cubic feet of gas per day and 351 barrels of condensate per day from the test of a single zone and up to a high of 72 MMcfd with 1450 bpd of condensate from a test of multiple zones. An independent assessment of the Ibhubesi field in 2009 estimated it held contingent resources of 869 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent.
Operators:
Sunbird Energy: Operator with 76% interest
PetroSA: 24% interest
Contractors:
Alliance Engineering (Wood Group): Topsides and hull contract
Granherne (KBR): Pre-FEED contract for the FPSO
JP Kenny (Wood Group): Pre-FEED contract for the subsea system
IntecSea: FEED contract
Modec Inc. (Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co): Topsides and hull contract
Wood Group Kenny: Provide engineering and project management services to Sunbird Energy to support Ibhubesi gas project