PetroSA moves to extend life of its deep-sea rig

PetroSA is looking to extend the life of its FA Platform, the fixed offshore gas and condensate production facility off Mossel Bay.

The platform, built about 30 years ago, is South Africa’s primary offshore oil and gas processing facility. It processes gas and condensate, piping it ashore to the Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery.

The facility is a core asset for the sustainability of PetroSA. It has been in operation for about 33 years, which is longer than the envisaged initial life of the field’s production reserves, forcing PetroSA to call in consultants for advice.

The advisers will evaluate the integrity of the structure and revert to PetroSA with a report on how many economical life-extension years are achievable.

The consultants will be expected to assess the remaining fatigue life and strengthening requirements of the facility and identify the critical equipment and systems needing repair, replacement or upgrade.

PetroSA, in its invitation to bidders, said it intended to operate the platform and its associated subsea infrastructure “for as long as possible” while maintaining high health, safety, environment and operability standards.

To this end, PetroSA said it was seeking an engineering assessment of the remaining life of the platform as a whole and insights into how its life could be extended as long as practically possible.

“The output … must include the recommended critical upgrades and repairs required to support the life extension, as well as the recommended minimum manning levels required to support the life extension and to ensure safe operations,” reads the request-to-bid document.

“The study must also include a review of operations, maintenance and engineering organisational structure and skills required to support the life extension/future operations, as well as applicable management and monitoring systems.”

The study should also take into consideration compliance with health, safety and environmental legislation and standards, it said.

PetroSA’s Mossel Bay refinery produces synthetic fuels and petrochemical products from offshore gas, supplying about 7% of South Africa’s liquid fuel needs.

The company has been marred by leadership instability for close to a decade. The entity, which reports to the department of mineral & petroleum resources, has since 2011 had several CEOs, with about seven holding the position in an acting capacity.

PetroSA did not respond to questions on the timelines and costs associated with the project. The platform is said to have cost in the region of R15bn to construct.

The minister of mineral & petroleum resources, Gwede Mantashe, has been strongly in favour of repositioning PetroSA as a cornerstone of South Africa’s energy security.

He favours revitalising PetroSA’s idled gas-to-liquids refinery in Mossel Bay and merging state energy assets into a new overarching corporation. This has seen the creation of the South African National Petroleum Company, which will eventually lead the merger of PetroSA, the Central Energy Fund and the Strategic Fuel Fund.

Mantashe used the inaugural fossil industry indaba in Johannesburg this week to urge the department of forestry, fisheries & the environment to accelerate its process to lift the moratorium on fracking.

“We need regulation for shale gas so we can lift the moratorium,” he said. “Those who are interested can go and drill for shale gas. And technology has improved; we no longer have the fear of water and breaking the rock. Modern technology makes it efficient to access shale gas.”

Mantashe last year forged ahead with plans to conduct South Africa’s first large-scale seismic survey in five decades in the south-central Karoo, a process that could lead to fracking activities in the area.

Business Times