Temporary production at Xijiang field with a DP FPSO

The paper describes the successful mobilization of the FPSO Munin on the Xijiang field, offshore China, to continue production in the interval that the field’s permanent FPSO was in dry dock for maintenance. The project is unique in that the FPSO Munin relies solely on its Dynamic Positioning (DP) system for station keeping. The paper describes the background to the project and goes into detail on the challenges overcome in order to make it a success. By using the original riser system and by utilizing the FPSO Munin’s DP capability a fast and cost efficient mobilization was achieved that made the project worthwhile for all parties involved. The qualification of the DP system, the offshore installation and the production operation on Xijiang are described in detail. Other applications for DP production are addressed in order to demonstrate the potential of such operations.