Offshore staff
(Calgary)-Canadian oil and gas firm Petro-Canada has shut down production at its Terra Nova field off Canada's east coast, citing mechanical failure of a gear box attached to the starboard main power generator on the FPSO.
Terra Nova is located 350 km east-southeast of St. John's, Newfoundland.
In a company statement, Petro-Canada said that both main power generators are out of service for gear box repairs, making it unlikely that production will resume at Terra Nova until the fall.
While the FPSO continues to operate with power from two standby generators, they are not sufficient to support production. Repairs to the two main generators add four to five weeks of shut down to the already scheduled turnaround commencing in mid-June and ending in September.
This unscheduled shutdown comes after production was restarted just last week following repair of a leak that was discovered April 21. At the time of the leak, Terra Nova was producing about 65,000 b/d.
In light of the leak and generator failures, Petro-Canada has revamped its 2Q production forecast to an average of 21,000 b/d. This compares to a March 10 estimate of 83,000 b/d, which reflected reduced production due to the port side gear box being out of service for repairs since February 2006.
The total production capacity for the FPSO is 125,000 b/d.
Petro-Canada is the operator of Terra Nova, and holds a 34% stake in the field, which has been operating since 2002. Other stakeholders in the project include ExxonMobil, Norsk Hydro ASA, Husky Energy, Murphy Oil Co., Mosbacher Operating Ltd., and Chevron Corp.
5/9/2006
