Jacket En Route to Tapis Field for Installation

ExxonMobil Corporation's subsidiary ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc (EMEPMI) together with Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd have completed the construction and loadout of the platform jacket for an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) project at the Tapis field, off Malaysia.

The eight-legged jacket is now en route to be installed at the Tapis field, which is located about 124.3 miles (200 kilometers) offshore Terengganu.

"The 5,500-ton jacket is the substructure for the main central processing facility of the EOR project. Built in Lumut, it's the heaviest jacket that we have installed in Malaysia," Project Executive Douglas C. Smith said as quoted in a report by Malaysia's news agency Bernama.

The jacket, extending 230 feet (70 meters) upward from the sea floor, was fabricated by local company SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, who was awarded the contract in January 2012. The jacket will support an estimated 18,000-metric ton integrated deck with space for gas compression, water treatment and injection facilities, production-processing equipment, utilities systems and living quarters for 145 personnel. Construction of the jacket, which began in April 2012, was completed in March 2013.

The newly initiated enhanced recovery techniques using water alternating gas injection at the Tapis field is expected to boost oil recovery from the field - which has produced about 400 million barrels of oil since 1978 - for at least another 30 years. The project is Malaysia's first large-scale EOR project so far and also one of the largest offshore EOR projects in Southeast Asia.

Co-venturers EMEPMI and Petronas have committed $3.1 billion (MYR 10 billion) for major EOR project activities, rejuvenation of facilities and further development and drilling activities at Tapis and six other fields to ensure reliable and sustainable energy supplies for Malaysia.

Field operator EMEPMI and Petronas Carigali - the upstream unit of Petroliam Nasional Berhad - each has a 50 percent stake in the Tapis Production Sharing Contract.