Eldon Ball • Houston
India is working on a five-year, $5-billion oil and gas exploration and development spending program through 2012, boosted by renewed efforts to further lease out concession acreages to draw the world’s deepwater technologies for increasing supply of indigenous hydrocarbon resources.
In a recent presentation on the prospects of mining petroleum resources, India,’sDirector General of Hydrocarbons V.K. Sibal highlighted the country’s efforts to promote deepwater exploration, where at least one discovery has underlined the potential of further discoveries. Don’t miss this future-looking analysis from Contributing Editor Gurdip Singh beginning on page 54.
OTC keeps growing and growing…
In case you thought it wouldn’t keep growing…with oil moving at more than $100/bbl and global demand showing no signs of abating, the Offshore Technology Conference attendance this year most likely will surpass last year.
Last year’s attendance topped 67,000, an increase of more than 13% over 2006. Expect this year’s program to set a new high during May 5-8 in Houston. Reflecting industry interest, the technical program has been expanded to include Thursday afternoon to deliver more information.
Special Correspondent Pam Boschee previews this year’s OTC technical program and special events beginning on page 70.
Record installation
This month’s cover photo shows the float-over installation of the 18,739-ton (17,000-metric ton) Arthit Process Platform (APP), built for PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd. (PTTEP) at the J. Ray fabrication facility at Batam Island, Indonesia. McDermott also performed the installation – the largest integrated deck in Southeast Asia. Float-over was in the Arthit field in 262 ft (80 m) of water in the Gulf of Thailand, approximately 398 mi (641 km) south of Bangkok. The substructure (jacket) was fabricated by J. Ray’s Batam facility, transported and installed at Arthit.Alp Kocaman of J. Ray McDermott Inc. gives the full story, beginning on page 96.
More advances in drilling technology
Most of managed pressure drilling (MPD) practices have their origins in land-based drilling operations, and these over-balanced or under-balanced operations are emerging offshore in new and effective ways.
While most of the recent applications of MPD techniques have been focused on mitigating specific drilling challenges related to wellbore pressure environments, a number of efficiency enhancing benefits have been recognized which are applicable to all drilling operations. These benefits include the capability to quickly and accurately distinguish between wellbore ballooning and influx or loss events resulting in quicker and better informed decisions with respect to managing the wellbore pressure profile. As part of this month’s report on drilling technology,John Kozicz of Transocean discusses the advantages in his article beginning on page 36.
New tieback flow control solutions
Tieback of new fields to existing facilities can be a viable method to develop offshore fields. Long subsea tiebacks, however, come with challenges. Most notable are the flow assurance issues associated with production shutdown, blowdown, and restart – the major concern being hydrate formation.
Advances in modeling and simulation techniques have made it possible to identify and to mitigate hydrate risks. As a result, detailed technical screening of possible mitigating options can select the approach that strikes the right balance between cost and risk.
G. B. Falope and O. A. Aluko of PetroFlow Integrated Consultants discuss the solutions in their article on page 134.
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