Conoco builds offshore gas production unit

Conoco builds offshore gas production unit

JAKARTA (JP): When Conoco needed flexibility to move fast to
develop several large natural gas discoveries in the West Natuna
Sea, it developed a completely new technology that provides
considerable operational efficiencies and cost savings.

The solution to capture the clean-burning fuel is a
technological marvel: a movable offshore gas production unit, or
MOgPU, for use in Indonesia's Block B fields.

Conoco will be able to relocate the unit at a relatively small
cost as older reserves are depleted and new fields are brought
onstream. Construction on the MOgPU began in Korea earlier this
year and production will begin in mid-2001.

The MOgPU was created after Conoco led negotiations to bring
about the first export sale of pipelined gas from Indonesia to
another country -- in this case Singapore. Last January, workers
began laying a new, 300-mile subsea pipeline to Singapore, which
when completed will be the longest natural gas supply and
delivery system in Asia-Pacific.

"Conoco plans to make Southeast Asia a major area of
operations for our company by building a multi-billion dollar
business in the region by 2003," said Archie Dunham, Conoco's
chairman and CEO in a press release.

"In 1999, Conoco made five discoveries offshore Indonesia
that doubled our Indonesian gas reserves. We have produced oil in
Indonesia since 1979, so we knew that to economically capture the
gas and deliver it to the growing Asian market would require us
to truly think creatively and develop new solutions," Dunham
said.

"The biggest advantage of the MOgPU is mobility," said John
Hopkins, Conoco vice president for exploration production
technology.

"Basically, we can pick it up off the seabed and quite easily
move it to another location and ultimately it can be abandoned
with minimal effort and cost," Hopkins said.

Traditionally, offshore platforms require heavy construction
equipment with large barges and cranes for installation, plus
extensive hook-up and commissioning efforts.

"The MOgPU can be built onshore where labor and other costs
are cheaper than assembling it in water. Then it can be towed
offshore and is almost immediately ready to go. In fact, the same
vessels that tow it out can be used to position and install the
platform," Hopkins added.

Once this new steel gravity platform reaches its destination,
it will be floated off its transportation vessel to essentially
become a barge capable of floating on its own buoyancy. To lock
it in place, the MOgPU utilizes a set of very simple cable strand
jacks that lower the base structure and pull the platform up on
the legs. The jack-up system can be rented, then returned,
providing significant cost savings over traditional heavy
construction equipment and barges.

Another advantage of the MOgPU is the elimination of motion
problems usually associated with comparable floating facilities.

"Barges are subject to waves and movement, and traditional
floating platforms need expensive flexible risers," Hopkins
explained. "Since the MOgPU is a fixed platform, we eliminate
both motion and the need to employ expensive risers and mooring
systems."

Along with that stability comes another advantage: when the
unit is installed, it can continue normal operations in 100-year
storms with waves of up to 30-feet high.

"The MOgPU concept proves that once the market opens up,
Conoco can move quickly to deliver energy to customers," said Rob
McKee, Conoco executive vice president for worldwide exploration
and production.

"The West Natuna Group has signed a 22-year sales contract
with Pertamina to sell gas to Singapore. Conoco is poised for
similar growth in other Asian markets in the near future," said
McKee.