Abstract

Marathon Petroleum Indonesia Ltd. (MPIL) will develop the Kakap KRA field by installing an offshore platform in the Natuna Sea, 750 miles North of Jakarta. KRA crude will be partially processed on the platform. The crude will be transported to an existing KF platform via a 10-inch, 7.8 mile subsea pipeline for final processing and subsequent shipment to the existing Kakap Natuna FPSO for storage and offloading.

Crude oil samples from the KRA reservoir have shown that the crude has a relatively high pour point and paraffin wax content. These crude properties have offered many engineering challenges during the design. Flow characteristics and rheological properties of the crude were determined and various options were evaluated to overcome waxing and gelling in the topsides facilities and in the pipelines. This paper summarizes the tests carried out and discusses the engineering solutions selected to process and transport the crude.