Su Tu Vang Field

Su Tu Vang is an offshore oil field located in Block 15-1 of the Cuu Long Basin. The basin is located southeast of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province of Vietnam and 6km away from the existing Su Tu Den field (Black Lion).

Also known as the Golden Lion, Su Tu Vang is operated by the Cuu Long Joint Operating Company (CLJOC), a joint venture of PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Company (50%), ConocoPhillips (23.25%), Korea National Oil Company (14.25%), SK Energy (9%) and Geopetrol (3.5%).

CLJOC acquired operating interest in Block 15-1 in September 1998 and discovered the Su Tu Vang filed in October 2001. Production commenced in September 2008.

The $1bn project is designed to produce 100,000bopd and is the biggest oil field to come on-stream in Vietnam. It currently produces an average of 65,000bopd. As of 2010, the field achieved a cumulative production of 2.8 million tons of crude oil.

Geology of Vietnam’s Cuu Long Basin

The Cuu Long Basin is in the southern part of Vietnam and covers an area of 25,000km².

It is a tertiary rift basin formed by rifting of early Oligocene. The setting of Miocene increased the fracturing caused by tectonic activities in the granite basement.

This resulted in the development of Cuu Long as a reservoir.

Su Tu Vang central processing platform

The integrated central processing platform (CPP) of Su Tu Vang includes a 16,400t deck, a 4,340t eight-leg jacket, piles weighing more than 4,100t and associated pipelines, umbilicals and manifolds. It is installed at a depth of 170ft inside water and has a processing capacity of 100,000bopd.

The CPP also houses 17,000t of float-over topsides and 1,323t of living quarters for 66 people. The float-over topside has eight leg mating units (LMU) and deck support units (DSU), stabling cones and sand jack systems. The LMUs and DSUs weigh 2,760mt and 2,830mt respectively.

The produced water treatment system housed in the CPP removes oil from water to below 35 parts per million (ppm) to meet the discharging limitations. The filtration system, which includes fine and coarse filters in the sea water injection system, removes the particulates. The produced water treatment system has a vertical skim vessel, hydrocyclones and dissolved gas flotation equipment to treat the produced water of particulates.

Queensway FSO

Oil produced from the field is exported to the Queensway floating storage and offloading (FSO) which is installed 2.4km away from the CPP.

The FSO is designed to operate continuously for a period of ten years without dry-docking. It is permanently moored 50m deep inside water. It has storage capacity of 1.1 million barrels and a loading rate of 130,000bopd.

The 60” turret mooring piles are installed at 30ft depth below the seabed.

Contractors involved in Su Tu Vang

The engineering, procurement, construction, installation, hook-up and commissioning services contract for the CPP was awarded in 2006 to J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International.

The CPP was built within 22 months, and transported and installed with the help of the I-650 lounge barge. J. Ray McDermott used the ConstructSim technology to monitor, report and control the construction of the CPP. The CPP platforms were fabricated at the company’s upgraded facility on Batam Island of Indonesia.

J. Ray McDermott subcontracted the fabrication, blasting, piping and handrails work to BKM Group. OKI was involved in the design, fabrication and full scale testing of the LMUs and DSUs of the float-over system.

The engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning and operation of the FSO were contracted to Tanker Pacific.

The external turret system with complete mooring legs, driven piles and a pipeline end manifold was manufactured and delivered by SBM Offshore.

The mooring piles were driven and installed by APE Holland.

Thermal insulation of the pipeline joints was done by Forum Energy Technologies for MacDermott. The pipelines measured 50km long and 12” in diameter.

The filtration and produced water treatment system was delivered by Siemens at a cost of $4.6m.

A 300t flare boom contract was awarded to Petroleum Technical Services Company of PetroVietnam.

The optic fibre submarine cables were supplied by Cables International. PFP was subcontracted by J. Ray McDermott for the supply 24” and 10” pipes for the Su Tu Vang Project.

EFE Engineers performed the design and detail engineering of the living quarters. Manpower and workforce support was provided by Air Energi.