Gene Kliewer, Houston
Contracts issued for BC-10 fields
Shell Brasil Ltd. as operator for development of the BC10 fields in the Campos basin offshore Brazil has contracted Subsea 7 to install 10 steel pipelines totaling 109 km (69 mi), to fabricate and install six steel lazy-wave risers totaling 18 km (11 mi), to transport and install three dynamic and two static umbilicals totaling 50 km (31 mi), to install four client-supplied manifolds, and to fabricate and install 25 rigid jumpers.
Subsea 7’sSeven Oceans.
The BC10 fields are 120 km (75 mi) southeast of Vitória in water depths between 1,600 m and 2,000 m (5,249 ft and 6,5621 ft).
Subsea 7’s new pipeline installation vessels theSeven Oceans and the Seven Seas will undertake the offshore installation. The Seven Oceans deepwater rigid pipelay vessel is due to be delivered to Subsea 7 in 2007, and the Seven Seas deepwater flexlay and J-Lay vessel is scheduled for mid-2008 delivery. Both vessels are under construction in Holland.
Floating production system orders jump
Since July 2006, there have been 20 orders for floating production facilities, according to International Maritime Associates (IMA). There are 62 on order for delivery in the next two years to join the 188 in service or available at the end of 2006. The backlog consists of 47 FPSOs, 9 production semisubmersibles, 2 TLPs, and 4 spars
Floating production facility demand growing.
The current inventory is 115 FPSOs, 39 production semis, 20 TLPs, and 14 spars. There also are an additional 70 floating storage vessels without production capability.
IMA has identified 105 more projects currently in bidding, design, or planning that might use floating production or storage systems.
“This is by far the highest order backlog of floaters in the 30-year history of floating production systems,” says Jim McCaul, head of IMA. “The number of floaters now on order is about the same as the total number in operation 10 years ago.”
Shell awards umbilicals for Perdido fields
Shell Offshore Inc. has awarded a contract to Technip subsidiary Duco Inc. for the umbilicals to develop the Gulf of Mexico’s GreatWhite, Tobago, and Silvertip fields which will produce through the Perdido project.
The contract is for engineering and manufacturing of four dynamic and three static umbilicals, two steel-tube flying leads with topside and subsea hardware, and a prototype.
Total umbilical length is 53,466 m (33 mi). The prototype is for qualification testing to prove the design.
Great White, Tobago and Silvertip fields are scheduled for development via a Perdido regional host in Alaminos Canyon, 322 km (200 mi) south of Freeport, Texas, in about 2,438 m (8,000 ft) of water. The direct vertical access spar will be the deepest spar production facility in the world. This spar was the subject of a contract already awarded to Technip for construction at its yard in Pori, Finland.
First production from Perdido is expected around the turn of the decade.
Subsea Tieback Forum provides answers, defines future
The big news recently has been in deepwater discoveries. If those discoveries are going to contribute to the world’s oil supply, some big news in production technology will have to follow. The 7th Annual Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition (SSTB) directs industry attention toward that side of the equation.
From Feb. 27 through March 1 at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, the SSTB will feature practical and up-to-date presentations on the status and issues involved with subsea tiebacks. The event will address the current status of related technology and look ahead toward future solutions to deepwater production. TheOffshore Magazine sponsored event is designed to permit operators and contractors with an opportunity to discuss common problems and individual solutions in a private setting.
From the opening keynote speech scheduled to come from Ryan M. Lance of ConocoPhillips through to the closing panel discussion about the challenges of completing projects on time and on budget, the Forum will address practical, field-oriented systems, procedures, and hardware. Individual sessions are scheduled around the “big hub” development concept and execution, long-distance tiebacks, maintaining reliability in deepwater and with difficult wells, real problems and how they were attacked, operation case studies, and subsea boosting.
Scheduled participation is coming from such operators as Anadarko, Shell, Total, BHP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and Petrobras, plus subsea equipment and engineering suppliers such as Aker Kvaerner, Technip, Vetco, Intec, TDW Offshore, Oceaneering, and FMC. In addition, there is the individual contact between sessions and on the exhibit floor with other people involved in the same business.
There is also information to be gleaned from the 100 or so exhibits that will parallel the Forum. Representatives will range from small valve manufacturers to turnkey system suppliers.
ConocoPhillips is the show host, and the Society for Underwater Technology is the supporting organization. Forum sponsors are Aker Kvaerner, Cameron, Cross Group, CorrOcean, FMC Technologies, Helix Energy Solutions, Oil States Industries, Technip, Vetco, and the UK Subsea pavilion. PennWell is the conference organizer, and the flagship media sponsors areOffshore, Oil & Gas Journal, and Oil, Gas & Petrochem Equipment.
For more information, up-to-the-minute schedules, speaker topic details, or for registration, look online atwww.subseatiebackforum.com.
