SUBSEA SYSTEMS

Gene Kliewer • Houston

Subsea market target of studies

Two market data research companies recently addressed the condition of the subsea market. Douglas-Westwood examined the world’s deepwater market and Infield Energy Analysts took a look at the global subsea market.

Deepwater:The World Deepwater Market Report 2009-2013 forecasts oil and gas spending over that time will total $162 billion.

“Overall, despite more moderate levels of expenditure during 2009 and 2010 relative to 2008, the deepwater sector is forecast to continue its growth trend, with annual expenditure reaching over $35 billion by 2013,” says Steve Robertson, Douglas-Westwood’s Oil & Gas manager.

“The ‘golden triangle’ of deepwater, namely Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, will account for nearly 75% of global expenditure,” concludes analyst Thom Payne. “For Africa, a large number of world-class developments are under way or planned for the forecast period and valued at $60 billion. North America, which in deepwater terms means the US Gulf of Mexico, is set for substantial spend with $29.3 billion forecast for the 2009-2013 period. Latin American activity (also $29 billion) is dominated by Brazil and, given the potential of the country’s presalt reserves, this is likely to remain the case for some time. The emergence of Asia as a significant region should not be overlooked, with expenditure over the 2009-2013 period increasing by 90% when compared to 2004-2008 and accounting for 9% of forecast global spend.”

Global subsea: From 2009 to 2013, total global subsea equipment, and drilling and completion spending will exceed $80 billion, estimates Infield Energy Analysts. Some 3,222 trees are expected for startup within the next five years. The biggest players are expected to be Petrobras (374), Shell (244), Total (237), Chevron (236), BP (229), ExxonMobil (215), and StatoilHydro (194).

Now with limited access to financing and a lower price outlook there are questions regarding the viability of future projects. It is smaller single-well tiebacks that can have sanction rates up to $65/bbl whereas larger floating projects can be sanctioned at as little as $23/bbl. The smaller projects in Europe and in Southeast Asia are most at risk and could see potential delays and cancellations, says the report.

Latin America:Petrobras is going all-electric at its Roncador Module III project. It has awarded a $75-million contract to FMC Technologies to engineer and manufacture four subsea manifolds and controls for the project incorporating FMC’s all-electric technology. FMC’s scope of supply consists of two, six-slot subsea manifolds to distribute gas lift injection to 12 wells. These manifolds also are to contain 12 subsea control modules to provide electro-hydraulic functions to operate the manifolds and subsea trees. The company also will supply two additional manifolds for water injection using All-Electric actuators for the operation of the chokes. The equipment will be engineered and manufactured at FMC Technologies’ facility in Rio de Janeiro with deliveries expected to start in 2010.

Europe: StatoilHydro has contracted Trico Marine Services Inc.’s DeepOcean AS to conduct inspections of production platforms in the North Sea using Edda Fonn. StatoilHydro will use the vessel for a scheduled four-months starting in April for survey work. The same vessel is scheduled to conduct surveys for Enagas off Gibraltar. DeepOcean will perform a survey of gas pipelines from Spain to Morroco.

Asia/Pacific:Trident Australia has awarded CTC Marine a contract through August for diving support, installation, trenching, burial, and riser installation services at Longtom. This covers installation and trenching of more than 20 km (12 mi) of umbilicals.

Africa: BP has signed an $80-million contract with FMC Technologies for manufacture and supply of subsea equipment for ongoing projects offshore Angola. Under the agreement, FMC would supply six subsea trees, control systems, wellheads, tubing hangars, well jumpers, and flow bases for delivery this year from its facilities in Kongsberg, Norway, and Dunfermline, Scotland.

Gulf of Mexico: Knowledge Reservoir has contracted to provide project direction and technical services for a project awarded under the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) Ultra-Deepwater Program (UDW).

The project will report on and establish a characterization database of deepwater and ultra deepwater assets in the Gulf of Mexico focused on incentives, needs assessment analyses, and concepts identification for the application of improved recovery techniques (IOR/EOR) in deepwater. The project will be directed by Knowledge Reservoir, with primary project participants Louisiana State University and Anadarko Petroleum.

The project aims to identify improved recovery opportunities in the early stages of field development planning so facility and well designs can be optimized to take implement those opportunities.

The project will include characterization of deepwater and ultra deepwater reservoir assets, and will compile and categorize key causes of trapped and remaining hydrocarbons in such reservoirs. The prioritization of technology gaps in improved recovery methods will also be addressed as relates to deepwater and ultra deepwater reservoirs, with the aim to identify leading concepts for future research, investment, development, testing, and deployment/application. A thorough and comprehensive review of IOR/EOR techniques, experience and best practices, both on- and offshore, will be conducted.

Subsea Boosting & Processing Poster

This issue of Offshore contains the second-ever collection of subsea boosting and processing equipment and projects from around the world. The poster is updated from last year and contains new features along with the new data.