Project Profile
Location: northwest corner of Block 15, northwest of Luanda, Angola.
Reserves: 100 million barrels of oil equivalent
Start-up Year: 2005
Water depth: 1,480m
ExxonMobil\'s Xikomba deepwater development in Angola, West Africa, is located in the northwest corner of Block 15, approximately 230 miles (370km) northwest of Luanda in water depths of up to 4,850ft (1,480m). The field was discovered in 1999. The recoverable reserves have been put at around 100 million barrels of oil equivalent. Xikomba\'s development is divided into two parts - Xikomba A and B. First oil from Xikomba A was achieved in 2004, with a production plateau of around 80,000 barrels a day. First oil from Xikomba B was achieved in 2005.
In addition to Esso (operator, 40%), other participants in Block 15 are BP Exploration (Angola) (26.67%), Agip Angola Exploration (20%) and Statoil Angola (13.33%). Sonangol is the concessionaire.
Xikomba has been developed by subsea wells tied back to a combined floating production and storage ship. FPSO Xikomba has deadweight of 257,000dwt and a storage capacity of 1,700bbl. The FPSO is owned by Sonasing, a joint venture between SBM and Sonangol. It is based on the conversion of the former VLCC tanker Mosocean. The oil is stored in twelve crude oil tanks, although the vessel also has two slop tanks for the cleaned produced water, as well as three water ballast tanks. Crude is transferred every three to four days to a shuttle tanker approaching the FPSO from the stern, where the two vessels are connected by floating hose.
Topside processing modules linked to ExxonMobil\'s deepwater oil development
The topsides consist of 16 main modules varying in weight from 170t to 1,100t, all of which were fabricated in the UAE. These include the HP separator (module 1) and the low pressure and electrostatic treater (module 2). Module 4 is the gas injection / gas lift facilities and the gas is dehydrated in module 6. The water is treated in module 9 and then pumped out at high pressure by two dual fuel turbine driven water pumps on module 10, before being routed through the swivel path to the water injection wells. Module 11 has the heating cooling and electricity services. The heating uses steam from the vessel\'s boilers. Cooling is by seawater. Other services are the chemical storage (module 14), flare scrubbers (module 16) and methanol storage and pumping equipment (module 19). Module 4 contains the test separator.
Operators:
Esso: Operator with 40% interest
BP Exploration (Angola): 26.67% interest
Agip Angola Exploration: 20% interest
Statoil Angola: 13.33% interest