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BP Cusiana Field Development

BP Cusiana Field Development

Historic Project: Groundbreaking Work From Earlier in Fluor’s History

Client: British Petroleum Exploration

Location: Cusiana, Colombia


Business Segment: Energy Solutions

Industry: Fuels

Map showing the location of BP Cusiana Field Development

Executive Summary


British Petroleum engaged Fluor for the initial planning for the Phase II Facilities Development of the Cusiana Oil Field in Central Colombia. Discovered the previous year, the Cusiana field was a significant oil field in the Llanos foothills containing light, compositionally variable oil with associated gas.

The Early Production System (EPS) and associated infrastructure were installed at the Cusiana Field on the eastern slope of the Andes. The EPS was a fast-track project designed to achieve early commercial production. It consisted initially of two production trains and had provisions for two additional trains. Each train was designed to produce 40,000 barrels per day of pipeline-quality oil, compress and inject 80 million standard cubic feet per day of associated gas and treat and inject 8,000 barrels of water per day.

Client's Challenge


Given the opportunity for a new, significant reserve discovery, BP had fast-tracked the Cusiana field development investment. The site's remote location, lack of existing infrastructure and limited local supply chain imposed logistical difficulties to access and construct the project.

Fluor's Solution


Our scope of work included basic engineering for the production facilities, power generation and other process related utilities.

Additional responsibilities included:

  • Procured multiple lightweight reciprocating compressors to reduce schedule and achieve rapid first oil and return on investment for BP

  • Optimized equipment design to allow for transport across the Andes

  • Staged development in order to achieve rapid first oil

  • Provided engineering and project management support at the engineering, procurement and construction contractor's offices during design, procurement and construction

  • Facilitated transportation of materials to Barranquilla to facilitate local content and logistics enhancement

  • Performed inspection at vendor shops

Conclusion


EPS was a follow-up scope of work to Phase I, which was engineered by Fluor for Distral, a Colombian contractor. The BP Phase II conceptual engineering work was successfully completed in September 1993, and preliminary engineering completed in 1994.