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I N N O V AT I O N S • A P R I L - J U N E 2 0 1 4
he phone rang one morning in the spring
of 2013. After Syamsu Alam, Pertamina EP’s
President Director, hung up the phone, he
knew he would have to make a quick and difficult
decision that could affect employee safety, the
citizens of West Java, and energy supply.
The Lima Flow Station, located off the coast of Jakarta
in the Northwest Java Sea, was at risk of structural failure.
The flow station, acquired by Pertamina EP in 2009 when
they purchased BP West Java, was starting to sink into
the seabed.
Seabed subsidence in a fixed offshore platform isn’t
uncommon – especially in a flow station like Lima, which
has been around since 1973. The sinking is caused by a
release in pressure in the reservoir’s porous rock after years
of oil production. This pressure
reduction causes the rock
T
Technology Helps Fix a Flow Station in Double Time
