Commissioning the Heating and Cooling Systems on an FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility)

Abstract: The project under discussion is the FPSO Ichthys. The FPSO is a ship comprising the offshore production facility for an oil&gas field, financed by INPEX/Total. An oil platform extracts the product received via the flexible risers and separates it into gas and condensate. The condensate is transferred to the FPSO, which processes it, and separates it between natural gas and oil. The oil is stored in the FPSO and then exported via a tanker. The gas is transferred via a pipeline. An FPSO is a complex installation in many respects. It is a condensate treatment factory, installed on a 450-metre-long ship. It should have the capacity to store one week’s condensate production. The FPSO is self-sufficient in terms of energy production (electricity, heating and cooling). Owing to the proximity of the hazardous production area to the living quarters, strict safety regulations are applied. For instance, all equipment has to be designed with redundancy (2x50% or 3x33% for critical equipment); the heating and cooling systems are managed with the help of emergency logic diagrams. These enable vital functions to be maintained even in cases of extreme failure. Despite its complexity, the FPSO has to be constructed within a short period of time. However, safety issues are important, and maintenance of defective equipment is expensive since the ship will be located 300km away from the coast. This is the reason why the constructor contracted Actemium, a part of VINCI Energies. Actemium commissions the FPSO. The commissioning mission has to prove that the systems function in accordance with the designs. Commissioning occurs right after the pre-commissioning (de-energized verifications). Commissioning is divided into three main activities: functional tests (which prove that individual pieces of equipment work in accordance with the designs); operational tests (which prove that all subsystems work in accordance with the designs of different modes); and piping and vessels pressurization (which prove that there is no leak). This master thesis describes the requirements of such projects and focuses on the operational tests. A description of the installation is detailed. Secondly, the subcontractor for the commissioning of the project, Actemium, and the method used for the commissioning are presented thereafter. Finally, the operational test procedures of the cooling and heating systems are examined in detail.