Ultra-deepwater, step-change in technology
The concept of venturing into ultra-deepwater, 10,000 ft and beyond, needs a step-change in technology to bring reserves that lie farther from existing infrastructure into production. Uri Nooteboom, Intec Engineering’s vice president offshore field development, introduced this topic at a panel discussion at the 2005 the Offshore Technology Conference in May.
Panelists participating in the long-distance delivery system (LDDS) discussion included David Hartell, project manager-deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Marathon Oil Co.; Mike McEvilly, facilities and construction worldwide deepwater facilities manager, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; and Ron Bass, senior staff engineer, Shell Oil Co. Tom Choate, Intec manager of Systems Engineering, moderated the panel.
“As an industry, we need to go beyond existing, conventional technology to bring remote, ultra-deepwater offset wells into production. To do this, we need to innovate, using optimum, full-system engineering design techniques that manage risk and improve profitability,” Nooteboom said.
INTEC and industry panelists agree that long-distance delivery management will help facilitate frontier technology development while making long-distance delivery systems possible
A projected $15.3 billion global market for subsea hardware over the next five years, as forecast by Quest Offshore in February, encourages industry leadership for step-change technology to bring stranded hydrocarbons into production, Nooteboom added.
“We need collaborative efforts to bring more reserves into economic reality while enhancing the value of existing deepwater floating facilities.”
LDDM technology
The industry panelists agreed that a concept called long-distance delivery management (LDDM) will help facilitate frontier technology development while making long-distance delivery systems possible.
“Today’s exploration and development limits can effectively address technology demands in the Gulf of Mexico. Significant frontiers ahead, however, include the Arctic Sea and West Africa, where there’s minimal infrastructure,” Hartellsaid.
Nooteboom advised that LDDM technology development will bring within industry grasp the installation of production facilities in 15,000 ft of water, the deepest threshold in the GoM. The installation of production flowline systems over 300 mi from the infrastructure,which was recently achieved in the Mediterranean Sea, exceeds current records of 70 mi from wellhead to shore in the Gulf.
“Importantly, LDDM is expected to facilitate the economic development of ultra-deepwater fields using very long offset or pipeline systems with a minimum of surface-piercing structures that incorporate expensive topside facilities,” Nooteboomsaid.
Tom Choate added that industry is challenged to develop systems that can reliably deliver produced fluids over ever-longer offset distances to remote processing facilities and even onshore in some cases.
“For such systems, it’s important to emphasize delivery rather than production, which has been industry’s traditional focus, and, hence, LDDM,” Choatesaid.
Some of the attributes or goals of LDDM, Choate added, include optimizing capital expenditures (CAPEX); reducing costs associated with locating facilities offshore; and optimizing delivery of associated waste fluids, such as produced water.
“These attributes increase industry focus on traditional system engineering functions, including production system design, subsea production/transportation equipment application, and systems integration,” Choatesaid.
All facets of equipment design and development techniques, McEvilly added, are impacted to create an optimum system design that incorporates the mechanical, flow assurance, installation, and operational issues of development.
Hub-and-spoke concept
“Anadarko is tackling these issues with its Independence Hub and Independence Trail project in deepwater GoM using a hub-and-spoke field development concept,” McEvilly said.
McEvilly explained that Anadarko has worked collaboratively with its partners and Enterprise Products Partners LP to develop Independence Hub and Independence Trail, which is the world’s deepest development incorporating a floating production system and a long-distance export pipeline in over 8,000 ft of water. Independence Hub, on Mississippi Canyon block 920, is a bulk gas-gathering facility for an initial nine fields in water depths ranging from 8,000-9,200 ft. The Independence Hub and Independence Trail project, McEvillysaid, provides an industry model for LDDM systems.
“The hub-and-spoke concept allows offset prospects to become more economically attractive while creating increased opportunities for new step-out prospects to be developed in a much shorter time frame,” McEvillysaid.
“The Independence Hub facility and Independence Trail export pipeline will extend GoM limits both to the east and the south while creating new avenues for continued deepwater development,” McEvillysaid.
One of industry’s big challenges for deepwater floaters such as Independence Hub, McEvillysaid, is to design the facility to support riser systems impacted by fatigue due to vortex-induced vibration and wave impact.
“We have limited frontier data. That means we need to monitor actual conditions against analytical and theoretical data and adjust the design accordingly,” McEvillysaid.
“Oil companies, with the support of qualified engineering firms and contractors, need to work collectively rather than attempting to tackle deepwater challenges alone. The sharing of knowledge and the sharing of risk brings great rewards, as we have seen with our Marco Polo project, and now Independence Hub,” McEvilly said.•
