Powering demand for increasing capacity

ABB power equipment, automation systems and lifecycle support care programmes are being deployed across four new floating storage units (FPUs) that are scheduled to, or have recently come on stream, tapping into the huge new production capacity in the North Sea.

Among the most recent FPUs to come on stream are Armada Kraken Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Bumi Armada Berhad, a Malaysia-based international offshore oilfield services provider and the Western Isles Development Project (WIDP), operated by Dana Petroleum. Other FPUs being supplied are set to operate in the Greater Stella Area, located in the heart of the Central Graben area of the Central North Sea and within the Mariner field, both on the UK Continental Shelf.

For the Armada Kraken FPU, ABB supplied medium and low-voltage switchgear, transformers, medium-voltage variable speed drives (VSDs), uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) and electrical monitoring and control systems. All are packaged within a prefabricated e-house to protect from the extreme weather conditions encountered in the North Sea. ABB’s scope also includes the automation system, controlling process and marine systems that control the vessel’s routine operations, providing real-time feedback and diagnostic information to its operators.

The vessel was delivered to the oil company EnQuest UK, which began operations at the Kraken field in the East Shetland Basin of the North Sea earlier this year, (2017). The Kraken oil field is the biggest subsea oilfield project in the North Sea with an expected capacity of 140 million barrels of oil and a life of 25 years.