Project Profile
Value: US$1,370 million
Location: Timor Sea, 550km northwest of Darwin
Reserves: 200 million barrels of oil
Water Depth: 50m to 300-400m near Laminaria and 400-500m over Corallina
Start-up year: December 1999
Laminaria / Corallina is located in the Timor Sea, 550km northwest of Darwin. Water depths increase from 50m to 300-400m near Laminaria and 400-500m over Corallina, before deepening to over 2,000m further north in the Timor Trough. Laminaria was discovered in October 1994 by the Laminaria-1 exploration well. This was followed by appraisal drilling and the acquisition of an extensive 3D seismic survey over Laminaria and most of AC/PO. Corallina, located about 10km north-west of the centre of Laminaria, was discovered by the Corallina-1 exploration well during December 1995. The Laminaria field extends into the neighbouring Laminaria East licence, WA18L Petroleum, held by BHP Petroleum and administered by WA. The initial development plan consisted of three subsea production wells on Laminaria and two production wells on Corallina. Surplus gas is re-injected through a dedicated gas-injection well (East Corallina-1). The fields have eight wells developed on reserves of about 200 million barrels. The wells, connected to the Northern Endeavour the floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), consist of vertical, deviated and horizontal well bores, with single-chrome completions. These have been designed to allow flow rates producing in excess of 50,000bbl of oil per day. Production from the US$1.37bn Laminaria / Corallina fields began in late 1999. It is thought that the field was around 89% depleted (as of February 2008). A subsea flowline repair and replacement programme to improve production, initiated in the first quarter of 2008, was completed in April 2009. A sidetrack well, Corallina-2 sidetrack-2, was also drilled and connected to the FPSO for providing supplementary production in the Laminaria / Corallina fields from Q3 2009.
Until March 2005, the ownership of the Laminaria site was 44.9% in Woodside\'s favour, with Paladin and Shell owning 32.6% and 22.5% respectively. After a buyout of Shell\'s stake by Woodside, this changed to a controlling share by the firm of 55.9%. Likewise, at the Corallina site, Shell sold its share in the field, which was divided between Woodside and Paladin, with post-sale stakes standing at 66.67% and 33.33% respectively. Paladin was bought out later in the year by Talisman Energy for US$2.52bn in a friendly takeover. The fields are operated by the Woodside and Talisman joint venture. The operator Woodside owns a 59.9% stake and 66.67% in Laminaria and Corallina, whereas Talisman owns a 40.1% and 33.3% stake in the fields respectively.
In 2016 Northern Oil and Gas Australia Pty Limited (NOGA) entered into a conditional agreement to acquire a 100% interest in Production Licences WA-18-L and AC/L5 which contain the producing Laminaria and Corallina oil fields and associated infrastructure, including the Northern Endeavour Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility (NE FPSO).
Production facilities:
The production facilities consist of hydrocarbon separation, stabilisation and testing, and are designed to handle a maximum oil production rate of 27,000m³/day (170,000bbl per day). The stabilised exported product will have a maximum C4 content of 4.0% vol, with a corresponding RVP of approximately 8psia. In addition, facilities are provided for produced water treatment, gas compression, gas lift, power generation, water cooling and fiscal metering. A stabilisation column is required to reduce LPG content and to improve crude value. In September 2007, Woodside shut in the Corallina field due to a gas leak in the riser. The Corallina gas lift riser was temporarily converted to a production service in March 2008, restoring production to around 11,000bbl per day. The Corallina riser was then replaced and the firm has estimated that production could increase to around 18,000 a day once flow line replacement is achieved.
Development
The development consists of subsea wells tied back to the NE FPSO through a system of subsea manifolds, flowlines, umbilicals and dynamic risers. Oil, gas and water are separated on the FPSO and stabilised oil is offloaded to trading tankers for export.
Operators:
Northern Oil and Gas Australia Pty Limited (NOGA): Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI): Hull contract
Joint Venture for design, procurement, construction and installation of the subsea facilities:
Coflexip Stena Offshore
JP Kenny (CSK)
Upstream Production Solutions: Contracted to operate the Northern Endeavour floating production storage and offloading facility (FPSO) in the Timor Sea. Under the contract, Upstream PS will provide offshore and onshore operations and maintenance services to NOGA. The contract is expected to provide revenue of around US$30 million per year. (April 2016)
Subcontractors:
Kvaerner-SBM Offshore (KSC): Hull construction services