The Piranema field lies in the Sergipe / Alagoas basin off the coast of Aracaju in the state of Sergipe, Brazil. It is operated by Petrobras using Sevan Marine’s SSP300 platform.
With depths varying between 1,200m and 1,600m, the Piranema development consists of several small oil and gas accumulations discovered by wells SES-142, SES-143, SES-147, SES-149 and SES-154. This gives recoverable oil volumes of 76 million barrels. The oil density is between 41° and 43° API.
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Production from the field began in October 2007. In March 2010, Petrobras announced it would a conduct major exploratory drilling campaign in the Sergipe / Alagoas basin after the preliminary estimations indicated the presence of light oil.
Cylindrical FPSO
The most characteristic aspect of the Piranema development is the production system – a novel cylindrical FPSO. The cylindrical design provides improved motions, higher stability reserves ae higher deck load capacity than conventional units.
Called the Sevan Stabilised Platform (SSP) or the Sevan Piranema, the FPSO was chartered to Petrobras in 2005 for 11 years with a five-year option. The Sevan Piranema is the world’s first cylinder-shaped FPSO and is based on Sevan’s patented technology.
Eksportfinans, the Norwegian Institution for Export Financing, provided $60m for the construction of the FPSO, which is installed in a water depth of 1,100m.
The FPSO is interconnected to three production wells and three gas injecting wells.
Piranema contracts and capacity
The hull and accommodation block was constructed in the Yantai CIMC Raffles Shipyard in China and skidded out onto the dry tow vessel Kang Sheng Kou. It was taken in a 35-day tow to the Keppel Verolme Shipyard in Rotterdam, Netherlands, for the topsides facilities to be installed on the hull.
The contract included receiving, temporary storing, pre-assembling and installation of process skids, pressure vessels, piping and valves. In addition, there was also the fabrication and installation of steel structures and the hook-up of marine systems including cranes and an offloading station.
The Sevan Piranema project received spares and associated equipment from Norwegian exporters Norsafe, Grenland KSI, FMC Technologies, NLI Engineering and Marinetek.
Piranema SSP is designed for use in ultra-deep water, ranging from 1,000m to 1,600m. The FPSO has an oil storage capacity of 300,000 barrels and is equipped with an oil process capacity of 30,000bpd and a gas compression capacity of 3.6 million cubic metres a day.
It has a diameter of 64.3m and can accommodate approximately 60 employees.
Sevan Piranema arrived on location in June 2007 where it was attached to the mooring system, which was pre-laid by Petrobras.
Sevan Piranema arrived on location in June 2007 where it was attached to the mooring system, which had been pre-laid by Petrobras.
