OTC 18544

Dalia Development - The FPSO Story and Package Challenges

G. Mouillerat, G. Regnault, Total E&P Angola; J. Leroux, Technip (DMP)
Copyright 2007, Offshore Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference held in
Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 30 April-3 May 2007.
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Abstract
This paper will review the hull design together with topsides
process modules and functions.
It will also focus on the schedule challenges during
construction in Korea, the steel crisis and the yards workloads.
The global supply chain and management of the contractors
and main subcontractors will also be addressed.
Designed and built by Dalia Mar Profundo (DMP), a
consortium of Technip / Saipem / Stolt in the TSS joint
venture together with Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) and
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in
Korea, the FPSO is 300 metres long and 60 metres wide
capable of 2 millions barrels oil storage at an average
production capacity of 240,000 barrels per day. It has a total
liquid handling capacity of 405,000 barrels per day and a gas
compressing capacity of 8 million sm3 per day. A special
seawater treatment for sulphate removal module is
incorporated. SHI undertook the task of building the 55,000
tonnes double skinned hull and about half of the topside
modules. DSME completed the remaining modules and
undertook the installation and integration of all the topsides
modules before sail away. TSS had the responsibility for
onshore pre and final commissioning.
The FPSO is moored with a 12 point chain spread linked to 17
metre high, 106 tonnes suction anchors and attached to the
vessel by 120 mm diameter, sheated cables 1,800 metres long,
with 100 metre chain segments at either end. Weight control
was very effective maintaining the weight within the original
targets.
Dalia Field Overview
For more details refer to Dalia paper OTC 18538.
Refer to Figure 1 for the general field layout with the FPSO and
its mooring lines, above the subsea production facilities.

Figure 1 - Dalia Development Layout

General Introduction to the FPSO

The 300 metre by 60 metre new build FPSO, weighs over
85,000 tonnes dry and with a surface area of more than four
football pitches, was designed and built by the DMP
consortium. With storage for up to eight days at the average
plateau production of 240,000 barrels per day, the twin train
process system has two stages for oil separation. Each train is
designed for 55% of the total capacity, to give better reliability
of the separation system. After dehydration and desalting, also
undertaken in two phases, the oil is cooled down to 50C
before storage.
Produced water is treated and re-injected into the reservoir for
pressure maintenance. Seawater is treated to complement the
total injection capacity of 405,000 barrels of water per day.
Produced gas is used as fuel and the balance is re-injected in
the reservoir until export to the future Angola LNG plant.
Three 24 MW Gas turbines generate the power on the FPSO.
These gas turbines are dual fuel and run on high quality diesel
at start-up and during periods when gas is not available.
Anchored in the Dalia field in September 2006 by the 12
mooring lines spread, the FPSO is built to remain in place for
the design life of 20 years.
The living quarters, designed for up to 190 personnel (120 crew in
normal operation), are located at the stern of the vessel above the
hull, but facing the prevailing wind for safety
reasons. The structure weighing 2,500 tonnes was lifted by a giant
Japanese crane barge. In total, the living quarters are made up of
seven levels with the accommodation area located above five levels
of machine space in the hull, where the

electrical, hydraulic and HVAC equipment as well as office

space are located. In all, there are 137 rooms with the lower
levels comprising of technical workshops, offices and
changing facilities. One full level is dedicated to the kitchen
and a restaurant. There are also relaxation areas including a
main lounge, library, television rooms, cinema and a gym.
Four personnel, who manage everything on the vessel from
the subsea production facilities, the topside processing and
other marine activities and utilities, also in the same block,
man the control room. The helideck (for Super Puma
helicopters) and telecommunication tower are installed on the top
deck. The accommodation block is also the ultimate
refuge, being gas tight and built to resist hydrocarbon fires or
even explosions. In case of evacuation the personnel will
board the four self propelled, free fall, survival craft, with a
capacity of 240 seats. Two davit launched lifeboats are located at
the bow, with a capacity of 70 seats and two more marine
evacuation systems are also available.
Detailed design began for the FPSO work package when the
project was given the green light end April 2003. The first
steel was cut at the SHI shipyard in January 2004 and
construction began immediately after for the 450 blocks
forming the hull. The main hull equipment, such as the
electrical power generators, cargo oil pumps, ballast pumps,
hydraulic power units and firewater pumps were installed
before the hull was launched in August, a major milestone
achieved only eight months after first steel was cut. The hull
then floated along the quay whilst the main accommodation
block was installed together with some structural supports (to
receive the process modules) and the central piping rack. On
completion, the hull was towed to the DSME yard on the other
side of the Koje Island, where the topside modules were
installed. The modules have been fabricated at both SHI and
DSME shipyards. SHI supply included the crude oil
separation, power generation and oil offloading export
modules, whilst DSME supplied amongst others, the water
injection and gas compression together with the flare, pipe
racks and manifolds. All the topside modules were installed
between mid May and mid June 2005. The next phase saw the
integration of the piping connections and cabling between
modules. FPSO Dalia receiving not less than 50,000 pipe
spools, 1,300 km of cables and approx 600,000 m of paint.
Onshore commissioning was the final work performed on the
FPSO prior to sail away from DSME in March 2006.
At the peak of the construction activities, nearly three and a
half thousand personnel were working together at both SHI
and DSME yards. From January 2004 until sail away, nearly
8,000,000 person-hours were spent within a creditable HSE
performance.
FPSO Dalia left Korea 34 months after contract award and
within days of the original schedule date and arrived in the field
on the 2nd of September 2006.

OTC 18544

Displacement: 416,000 tonnes

Hull light ship: 54,380 tonnes
Topside operating weight: 37,940 tonnes Mooring
loads: 2,340 tonnes
Riser loads: 4,450 tonnes
Oil Offloading Lines: 360 tonnes
12 Cargo tanks with a total capacity of 2,000,000 barrels
2 slop tanks, 12 ballast tanks, 5 diesel oil tanks, 2 methanol
tanks, 4 fresh water tanks and 2 bilge tanks.
The main tanks are equally distributed portside and starboard, with
cofferdams installed between the methanol and cargo tanks and
between the machinery space and the cargo tanks. Cathodic
protection of the hull is performed by sacrificial anodes in the tanks.
All ballast tanks are painted and the hull exterior is protected by an
impressed current system.
An aerial view of the Korean yards is shown in Figure 3
together with hull construction views in Figures 4 and 5.
Hydraulic Power Units
2 sets of 5x700Kw

Fire Pumps
1448 kW 2120
m3/h

2 Essential & 1 Emergency Generators

3 MW; 11kV 50hz

4 Freefall
life boats

Fire Pumps
1448 kW 2120
m3/h

2 Davit launched life boats

4 Methanol Pumps

2 Ballast Pumps

12 Cargo Oil Pumps

2 Slop Pumps + 2 Skimming Pumps

Figure 2 - FPSO Hull - Main Equipment & Location

Figure 3a - SHI Yard

Hull Design and Construction by SHI (Figures 2 to 5)

The hull is of a double skinned design, with side ballast tanks
over the full length of the cargo tanks, two fore and two aft peak
ballast tanks. The main characteristics and capacities are: L x
B x D: 300 metres x 60 metres x 33.2 metres
Design draught: 24.3 metres
Figure 3b - DSME Yard

OTC 18544

Produced
Mechanical
power

Produced
Electrical
power

Produced
Heating
power

fuel gas
System

Sulphate
Removal

Offloading
booster pumps

Gas
Compression

Cooling

lifting

gas
sea water

Water
Injection

lifting

Separation

oil

Oil production
Sea Water

Figure 4 - FPSO Hull - Construction Views

Figure 5 - Hull - Construction Views and Launch

Process Design by TSS and Topsides Modules

construction in Two Korean Yards (Figures 6 and 11)
The general layout of the topsides is governed by safety
considerations with the most hazardous equipment being
arranged away from the accommodation and control areas.
The process system is designed (Figure 6) for the following
main functions:
Well stream processing and oil stabilisation
Gas dehydration and compression, gas lift for the IPB
risers and gas injection
Produced water treatment, seawater sulphate removal and
filtering for water injection
Storage of stabilised oil, export oil metering and pumping
for export to the offloading buoy
Chemical and methanol injection
Monitoring and operation of the wells, the subsea
production system and the topside process facilities from a
central distributed control system ICSS
Utility systems.

Cooling water

Water injection

Oil storage

To gas injection
and gas lift

Figure 6 - General Process Description

The operating philosophy has been developed and equipment

selection has been performed inline with Reliability, Availability
and Maintainability (RAM) studies completed during detail
design, in order to achieve the following availability targets for the
main functions:
Oil production and treatment ...
..98%,
Gas re-injection and risers gas lift... .97%,
Water injection ...
...95%
Offloading failure...
..1 failure out of
300 off-loadings
The simplified process schematic shown in Figure 6 and
the key processes are further detailed in the following
section. The positioning of the main 12 modules on deck is
shown in Figures 7, with an indication of the split between
the two yards.

DSME Modules
SHI Modules

Figure 7 - Topsides - Construction

Four long lead items were purchased directly and assigned to

DMP:
Hull by SHI
Turbo Compressors and Turbo Generators from
Thermodyn and Nuovo Pignone
Water injection pumps from Sulzer and Solar The ICSS
system from Foxboro.
All main processing equipment was procured by TSS and delivered
to the yards for construction, assembly and deck installation. The
various stages are shown in Figures, 8 and 9, together with the
integration and completion stages shown in Figures 10 and 11.

OTC 18544

P32, P41 & P42 Module erection status Dec. 2004

Figure 10a - Topsides - Hull Deck before Module Installation

Figure 8a - Topsides - SHI Construction

P32, P41 & P42 Module erection status Feb. 2005

Figure 8b - Topsides - SHI Construction

Figure 10b - Topsides Heating Medium Module - Installation

P32, P41 & P42 Module erection status March 2005

Figure 8c - Topsides - SHI Construction

Figure 11a - Topsides Completion

Gas Compression Train A - P52 module complete

Figure 9 - Topsides - DSME Construction

Figure 11b - Topsides Completion

OTC 18544

Innovative Process to Manage Dalia Heavy Oil

Crude separation and treatment
Fluids from each production header are routed to two
identical trains, which consist of a first stage separator, a
dehydrator, a second stage separator and a desalter. Each train is
designed to produce 55% of the average production capacity of
240,000 barrels per day.
The first stage separator is a three-phase separator
operating at 10 bars. Due to high emulsion forming tendency of
the crude, the phase inversion process achieves oil and
water separation, by re-circulating the produced water at the inlet
of the separator. In addition there is a heater in the
recycle line to maintain the separator inlet at 50C. Under
pressure control, the flash gas from the separator is routed to the
HP gas manifold. The water from the separator is routed to the
water treatment system. The water is removed under
pressure because of the potential of naphthenate deposition. The
retention time is 5 minutes for oil and water.
The water/oil emulsion from the first stage separator is
pumped to the crude/crude exchanger, which exchanges heat
with the hot crude to storage. The crude is then heated further
to 60C in the heating medium exchanger and routed to the
dehydrator which achieves an outlet BS&W of 0.5%. The
produced water is routed back to the inlet of the first stage
separator.
The crude is then flashed at 1.6 bars in the second stage
two phase separator with gas routed under pressure to the
suction of the LP compressor. The retention time is 3minutes
for oil only.
The crude is pumped to the desalter. Wash water is added
upstream of the desalter inlet at 90C. The produced water and
wash water is pumped back to downstream of the crude heater.
The oil is first cooled down in the crude/crude exchanger
and the crude rundown cooler to 50C. The crude then mixes
with the crude from the second separation train prior to
entering the cargo tanks below deck.
Sand Jetting
Online sand jetting is provided to the first stage and test
separator and the dehydrator. The second stage separator and the
desalter are provided with offline sand jetting.
Slug Handling
The slug management is primarily based on riser gas lift
and chokes in the production manifold on top of the risers.
The first stage separator is designed to handle 50 m of
hydrodynamic slugs, based on coincident slugging from the two
flowlines in a production loop.
Provision is made for deck mounted slug-catchers, as a
contingency plan, in case of higher than expected
hydrodynamics slugs.
Topside Production Manifolds
The topside production manifolds interface the subsea IPB
risers (eight risers serving the four loops) with the two
production headers and with the test header. They also
integrate pigging facilities with permanent provision for
spherical pigs and temporary provisions for intelligent pigs. The
manifolds can also be used to direct dead crude from a

cargo tank into any production loop to prevent hydrate

formation in case of shut down.
Integrated Control and Safety System
The simplified Integrated Control and Safety (ICSS) System
schematic and its principal functions are show in Figure 12.
Workstation

ICSS Bus
Foxboro

-Process Control System

Controller

-Process Shutdown System

-Hull Control System
-Subsea Control Unit
-Hydraulic Power Unit
-Marine functions including
storage, ballasting, offloading
-(not PDCS)

Direct I/O
Remote
modules

Triconex
Controller

596 SSS
1688 FGS
Safety Bus
DALIA I/O:

Traditional direct I/O

2226 PCS
1794 PSS

-Package interface using 63 serial links

-Fast OPC ethernet links between ICSS and subsea

6304 total direct topsides I/O

17560 total hard I/O incl package
18927 serial I/O package
100000 raw subsea data of which
15000 subsea data sent to ICSS
1750 displays (70% for subsea)

Figure 12 - Dalia ICSS fully distributed across 6 Technical Rooms

Mechanical Completion and Yard Commissioning

The final stages of mechanical completion and commissioning
included connecting all the piping, terminating the electrical
cables and performing the final tests, notably all the hydrotests
to confirm all the pressure containments. After clearing all the
major items on the various punch lists, the efforts were
concentrated on the commissioning phase. Additional
personnel were mobilised to cover several tasks
simultaneously, requiring some night work for leak testing &
hydrotests, to ensure the sail away delivery dead line. The
minor commissioning activities remaining were completed
during the voyage.
Weight Control to Meet Original Targets (Figure 13)
Management of the topside weight was specified in the lump sum
contract awarded to DMP.
Penalties covering special events and weight control were
agreed by DMP, based on issuing a first weight report two
months after contract award. This report was based on Total
specification with estimated dry and gross weight and centre
of gravity position together with stability curves according to
ICLL based selected hull and selected hull contractor. The
ICLL stability curve was not to exceed conditions based on:
Net and gross values issued from weight reports, checked
and accepted by Total, inclusive of all weights identified
for itemised and bulk items, live loads, futures and
operating fluids.
A mutually agreed allowance for centre of gravity position
and weight based on the weight report result. Exceeding
these values carried a DMP agreed penalty clause.
Between contract award and July 2005 control of the
various modules was closely monitored with 13 revisions
of the weight report.
Ultimately, with the close control and cooperation between
all parties, weight control was effectively managed, as
shown below.

OTC 18544

o Management of the steel crisis in 2004 and

2005 together with increased energy costs and
currency exchange rates
o Management of the topsides weight
- Management of the schedule, the FPSO being on the
critical path from day one

Figure 13 - Total Operation Weight (tonnes)

Global Supply Chain Management and Lessons

Learned
The contracting strategy and the break down of the various
contracts and subcontracts are shown in Figure 14.

FPSO
Hull + Accommod.

Detailed

Integration

Transport

Design Procurement Fabrication

Onsh. Com.

Install.

offshore

Operation

Commiss.

DMP Dalia Mar Profundo (Consortium) (EPC+I)

Foxboro

WIP

hook up &

SHI Samsung Heavy Industries

ICSS
TG / TC

Geographical Distribution of Main FPSO Suppliers

(Figure 15)
Coordination of worldwide suppliers was not a simple task. This
was mainly the responsibility of Technip from the main project office
in Paris, with the project common strategy to all vendors for the
common supply of all key items ensuring consistent selection of
materials, such as cables, electric
motors, instruments and switch gear, in all modules.

Technip
by UFL

DFA

TEPA

Thermodyn
Sulzer Pumps

----assigned Contracts to DMP

Figure 14 - Contracting Strategy + Breakdown

Consortium Management
The nominated Consortium leader was TSS for the
consortium and Technip for TSS.
Three engineering competitors; Technip, Stolt (now called
Acergy) and Saipem all based in Paris, and two fabrication yards
also competitors for offshore facilities and FPSOs, SHI and
DSME in Korea.
A steering committee was also nominated and composed of
managers of each company who were not involved in the day to
day business for the project.
A single set of procedures was agreed to cover all phases to
coordinate the consortium partners, but using local systems and
practices where acceptable.
Team building and interactive workshops were extensively
used to understand and benefit from the different cultures.
Management of the two yards was performed by onsite
Total and TSS project teams, working in full coordination.
Project Management Challenges
Project Management Challenges can be summarised as
follows:
- Management of the consortium relationships
- Management of a very large scale project with different
work locations
o Up to four major project team locations, 3 in
Korea and 1 in France
o Large
multinational
workforce,
all
implementing core project HSE values
o Global supply chain management
o Significant interface management
- Management of a large budget

Figure 15 - Geographical Distribution of FPSO Main Suppliers

Towing and Mooring in the Field (Figure 16 and 17)

The FPSO Dalia left Korea on the 8 th of March 2006 for its 10,500
Nautical mile journey, with an unscheduled stop in Cape Town in
July and August, waiting for the offshore
installation activities to be sufficiently complete to permit the FPSO
arrival on site.
Cape Town harbour was selected based on good quay facilities and
the existence of active local petroleum industry facilities. Time was
used to install the gas generators, remove some sea fastening,
continue the commissioning and refine the
preparation of the remaining offshore work. On the 2nd of
September the FPSO arrived in the Dalia field to be rapidly aligned
in its final position and to start mooring operations.

Figure 16 - Mooring System

OTC 18544

Figure 18 - FPSO in the Field during HUC Operations

Conclusions and Operational Feedback

Dalia first oil flowed on December 13th 2006. Operational feedback
will be reported during the Conference.
Figure 17 - Mooring System Fairleads

FPSO Dalia is moored with 3 lines in each corner, 2,000

metres long with 100 metres of chain at each end and 1,800
metres of 120 mm sheated cable in between.
They are connected to 12, 106 tonnes suction pile anchors with
the proven Ball Grap system. If required re-tensioning of the
lines can be done from the main deck where four 400 tonnes
winches, are located forward and aft of the vessel. The fairleads
(also 3 in each corner) are located below sea level. One of the
main differences with Girassol in the mooring
system is the novel connection positioned below water for safety
reasons in case of surface fire.
Hook-up and Commissioning HUC (Figure 18)
HUC operations started on the 15th of September immediately
after mooring completion. HUC consisted of the following tasks
requiring around 250 people in the field, accommodated on the
FPSO and in the flotel:
Pull-in of all the risers and control umbilicals in their
respective I tubes
Installation of the seawater lift pumps 90 metres below sea
level
Start-up of the turbo generators
Laying and connection of the two Oil Offloading Lines
Commissioning of all process system before first oil
An aerial view of the Dalia field taken in December 2006 is
shown on Figure 18, with the Smit Orca, in the foreground,
assisting with riser pull-in and the Pride Angola drilling in the
background.

Acknowledgements and Thanks

The Dalia field is operated by Total under a Production
Sharing Agreement awarded by Sonangol to the Block 17 Contractor
Group including Total, Esso Exploration Angola Block 17 limited,
BP, Statoil and Hydro.
Total would like to thank Sonangol and its Partners for their
support in the preparation of this paper and their permission to
publish.
Total also thank DMP and their subcontractors for all their efforts in
the realisation of the Dalia development.
Many thanks also to JL Chasserot from Azur Offshore Ltd for the
assistance given in the preparation of this paper.
References
OTC 14172 Girassol; The FPSO Presentation and challenges by
P. Bang / Total Fina Elf
OTC 18538 Dalia - Dalia Development
OTC 18539 Dalia - Subsurface, Drilling and well Completions
Engineering
OTC 18540 Dalia - System Design and Flow Assurance for Dalia
Operations
OTC 18541 Dalia - Subsea Production System OTC 18543 Dalia Flowlines, Risers and Umbilicals OTC 18546 Dalia - Offloading
export System

Nomenclature
FPSO : Floating Production Storage & Offloading HSE :
Health Safety & Environment
RAM : Reliability, Availability, Maintainability HVAC :
Heating,Ventillation & Air Conditioning