FPSO currently located in Conception Bay for new turret cover plate
The Suncor-operated Terra Nova floating production, storage and offloading vessel is set to anchor at a quayside in Newfoundland, Canada for maintenance after the Covid-19 pandemic put on ice plans for life extension work to be carried out this year at a Spanish drydock.
Last week, Suncor said it made the decision in the second quarter to disconnect the FPSO from the Terra Nova oilfield off eastern Canada and dock shoreside in Newfoundland.
The Canadian integrated added that it was evaluating alternative options for a return to operations and the Terra Nova asset life extension project.
The company operates Terra Nova with a 38% stake and is partnered by ExxonMobil, Equinor, Husky Energy, Murphy Oil, Mosbacher Operating and Chevron.
On Monday, a company spokesperson confirmed that the FPSO was in Conception Bay for installation of a new turret cover plate. The equipment has been successfully retrieved, the spokesperson added.
“It will anchor there until proceeding to a Newfoundland quayside location later this summer,” the spokesperson said.
“The location and duration are being determined. The current scope of work for activities that will be completed quayside focus on maintaining the FPSO and its operating systems.”
She added that the company is developing specific protocols for the quayside work with regards to Covid-19 restrictions. The protocols will be finalised once the location is determined.
Terra Nova offline
The field has been offline since December, when regulators found fire water pump systems on board the vessel did not meet safety standards.
In November, the month before Terra Nova was shut in, production averaged about 29,800 barrels per day.
Suncor had previously announced that the Terra Nova asset life extension project aims to prolong the life of the FPSO by about a decade to 2031 and produce an additional 80 million barrels. The FPSO came online in 2002.
Earlier this year, Murphy said Terra Nova was forecast to remain down throughout this year to address safety equipment updates and complete drydock work to be carried out in Navantia’s yard in Ferrol, Spain. The work was scheduled to start in the spring of this year and take about four months.
However, the company announced in March that it was evaluating alternative options for the work as the planned drydock in Spain was no longer available due to that country’s Covid-19 response.
In May, Suncor downplayed media reports that the Terra Nova oilfield off the eastern province of Newfoundland & Labrador would remain shut-in through 2022.
The company told Upstream at the time that “no decisions” had been made to shut down the oilfield until 2022.(Copyright)
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Source: Upstream| This text was excerpted from the media outlet cited on July 28, 2020 and is provided to Noia members for information purposes only. Any opinion expressed therein is neither attributable to nor endorsed by Noia.
