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Girassol FPSO

Girassol FPSO is a purpose-built, ship-shaped floating production, storage and offloading vessel handling oil and associated gas from Angola’s Block 17. First oil was achieved in December 2001. Spread-moored in approximately 1,350 metres of water, about 210 kilometres north-north-west of Luanda, it processes subsea production, stores stabilised crude and exports oil through a remote loading buoy.

Operator: TotalEnergies

Status: Operational

Girassol FPSO platform photo

Image Source: Facebook: Oil and Gas World. (All rights belong to the original owner.)

Production: Oil & Gas

Operations start: 2001

Water depth: 1350 m

Country: Angola

Block: Block 17

Type: FPSO

Field

Girassol lies in the deep-water Lower Congo Basin and was Angola’s first commercial Block 17 development. The giant accumulation is hosted by Oligocene deep-marine turbidite sandstones arranged in laterally complex channel systems associated with the Congo Fan. Development uses seabed production and injection wells connected to a central FPSO, which subsequently became the host for the Jasmim and Rosa satellite fields.

Facilities

The original Girassol development were installed on standalone guidebases and connected through seabed gathering equipment, approximately 45 kilometres of production flowlines, around 29 kilometres of injection lines and an extensive electro-hydraulic umbilical network. Production and injection services reach the FPSO through bundled riser towers and flexible jumpers, an architecture selected to manage deep-water riser loads and flow-assurance requirements. The topsides separate oil, gas and produced water, stabilise crude for storage, compress associated gas and support both gas and water injection. Treated seawater supplies the reservoir-pressure-maintenance system. Produced water from Girassol and its established Jasmim and Rosa tie-backs is treated and reinjected. Permanent facilities also include production and injection manifolds, chemical injection, metering, electrical generation and distribution, flare and pressure-relief equipment, firewater, process control, emergency shutdown and subsea-control systems. The newbuild hull measures approximately 300 metres by 60 metres and stores about two million barrels of crude. Sixteen spread-mooring legs hold the vessel at a fixed heading. The normal export route transfers oil through subsea lines to a dedicated single-point loading buoy positioned roughly two kilometres from the FPSO. Tankers load at the buoy; a direct tandem-offloading arrangement provides an alternative export route.

Girassol FPSO layout

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