Shipyard Fire Delays Apache's Van Gogh Development
HOUSTON, April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apache Corporation (NYSE, Nasdaq: APA) said today that initial production from the Van Gogh development offshore Western Australia will be delayed after a fire aboard the Ningaloo Vision floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel at the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore.
The vessel is owned and operated by Prosafe Production Public Ltd. of Limassol, Cyprus, and will be leased by Apache when it is delivered to the Van Gogh field.
The fire, which occurred Saturday morning, damaged instrument technical rooms that house the panels for process control, well control, uninterruptible power and emergency shutdown systems. No one was injured in the fire, which was extinguished by shipyard firefighting personnel. Many of the control systems must be replaced because of heat and water damage.
A revised schedule for completing the conversion and commencing production will be developedafter Prosafe Production and Keppel determine the extent of the damage and a timetable for acquiring replacement equipment. Acquisition and installation of the new equipment is expected to take several months.
The Van Gogh field is located 33 miles (53 kilometers) north-northwest of Exmouth. The moored FPSO will be linked to two subsea drill centers with 10 production wells, two water injection wells, and one gas injection well. The Ningaloo Vision will have processing capacity of 63,000 barrels of oil per day and storage capacity of 620,000 barrels of oil. Apache expects the project to boost net production by 20,000 barrels per day.
Apache owns 52.5 percent of the field; Tokyo-based INPEX Corporation owns 47.5 percent.
Apache Corporation is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, Canada, Egypt, the United Kingdom North Sea, Australia and Argentina. Apache posts announcements, updates and investor information, in addition to copies of all recent press releases, on its Web site, www.apachecorp.com.
This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, without limitation, expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives regarding production and exploration activities. Any matters that are not historical facts are forward-looking and, accordingly, involve estimates, assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed in our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, on our Web site and in our other public filings and press releases. There is no assurance that Apache's expectations will be realized, and actual results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We assume no duty to update these statements as of any future date.
