Drilling & Completion

Trident updates Okume overhaul progress offshore Equatorial Guinea

June 22, 2022

Trident Energy has issued details of its current $57 million program to convert 15 gas-lift wells at the Okume complex fields off Equatorial Guinea to accommodate electrical submersible pumps.

Use of ROVs allow for essential maintenance and optimization in Equatorial Guinea.

Offshore staff

LONDON — Trident Energy has issued details of its current $57 million program to convert 15 gas-lift wells at the Okume complex fields off Equatorial Guinea to accommodate electrical submersible pumps (ESPs).

The fields are stratigraphically trapped deepwater channel-levee complexes confined within the Elon and Okume canyons.

The Ceiba Field and Okume complex are located in the Gulf of Guinea in water depths ranging from 50 m to 800 m.

To prepare for the ESP conversions, which will take place later this year, Okume's central processing facilities (CPFs) have been upgraded to maximize the production capacity.

Trident’s work has included

Extending and upgrading the structure of the CPFs platform to support new equipment with cantilevers;
Adding two new power turbines to allow additional ESPs and injection capacity;
Connecting the Echo and Foxtrot platforms with high-voltage subsea cables to supply power;
Upgrading the separation process to handle the incremental produced fluid; and
Further improvements to the water injection system to support the reservoir pressure.

Horizontal pumping systems (HPS) are efficient alternatives to positive displacement, split-case and other surface pumping options, according to Halliburton.

Two new water injection pumps are said to be the most powerful ever delivered by Halliburton HPS, with capacity for 37,000 bwi/d at 200 bar.

Trident has been working on the complex’s instrumentation and telecoms, upgrading the control system to connect new equipment, and allowing remote control of tension leg platforms via optical fibers in subsea power cables.

Local contractors involved included Sotrasub for construction and installation, Prezioso EG for scaffolding and painting, and EGBS for electrical works and commissioning,

All the structural extensions were built on one platform (Bravo), while the electrical and processing modules were designed onshore in compact and lightweight pieces that could be assembled on site; processing units were designed to suit the lifting capacity of the existing cranes.

As a result, the automated update of the field involved a shutdown of less than 36 hours.

06.22.2022