Floating Production Storage and Offloading facilities (FPSO) and deep offshore projects are demanding and very sizeableinvestments that have to be optimized and protected. The design and operation of FPSO’s face technical challenges that require numerous and detailed process, control, safety andflow assurance simulations to secure investments and maximize production. Such calculations rely on a global understandingof production processes that an integrated model from well-bore to topside facilities can supply. This paper focuses on key engineering issues that an FPSO project team needs to address as part of the overall development.Dynamic simulation is an essential part of the engineering process. This will be demonstrated with a review of dynamicprocess and flow assurance simulations applied to FPSO projects. A life-cycle simulator is a virtual plant that is usedthroughout the different engineering and operational phases. One dynamic process model is developed and leveraged throughthe entire project cycle from conceptual, Front End Engineering and Design (FEED), through commissioning phases all theway to operations and long-term operations support. From the early design stage, the models constitute a virtual field to determine the best production scheme. Based on the chosendesign, this virtual plant is used to develop and validate reliable, safe and optimal operating procedures long before the actualplant comes on line. To aid in safe and effective commissioning, the virtual plant is employed to verify control & safety logic,pre-tune instrumentation, and train operations personnel. Once the plant comes on line and normal operations begin, the virtualplant is then used in a variety of ways to improve day-to-day performance. This is accomplished by testing, validating andinstructing the operators in basic good operating practices and optimization theories, for anticipating upcoming productionchanges, and testing various operating strategies. Dynamic simulation benefits for FPSO projects will be highlighted, from FEED stage, stand-alone equipment, holisticsimulation models and support to operation. The simulation domain may vary from a single compressor to design validation,from sequence and control parameters to the entire FPSO topsides and associated sea lines to examine the impact of liquid slugoccurrence on the compression section. RSI is currently involved in five on-going FPSO projects for West Africa, Brazil and Norway. This paper presents lessonslearned from previous and current life cycle dynamic simulation projects, most particularly for FPSO and offshore platforms.This paper explains different applications of dynamic simulation based on most recent FPSO and offshore projects usingINDISS~(TM), the RSI dynamic simulation platform.
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