New SIM outpaces MODU
Exxon Mobil Corp. has developed a new technology that it says significantly reduces the cost and time of downhole logging, acidizing, and other interventions in deepwater oil and gas wells.
The Subsea Intervention Module (SIM) system is expected to perform these activities up to three times faster than a mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU), the company says.
Initially, cost savings of the SIM system compared to a MODU could be up to 50%. The expected lower operational cost of the SIM system will lead to improved production rates and accelerated reserve recovery benefits to operators and host nations, ExxonMobil says.
The patented SIM system, which ExxonMobil has been developing for several years, consists of a 380-ft-long vessel designed to accommodate a specially designed intervention tool that is lowered to the sea floor and latched onto the subsea well.
The SIM tool is functional to 6,500 ft water depth. It can accommodate well depths of up to 13,000 ft below the sea floor. ExxonMobil designed the system for use in wells employing horizontal subsea trees with 36-in. structural casings.
To commercialize this new technology, an ExxonMobil affiliate has licensed the SIM system to a joint venture formed by BJ Services Co., a provider of pressure pumping, coiled tubing, and well-intervention services, and Otto Candies LLC, a specialty offshore vessel operator. This venture will operate the SIM system when design and construction are complete.
“We envision the system will help to maximize production from subsea wells and aid the economics and potential development of deepwater offshore fields,” Rex Tillerson, president of Exxon Mobil Corp, says.
Exxon Mobil Corp. has developed the Subsea Intervention Module (SIM) system to reduce the cost and time of downhole logging, acidizing, and other interventions in deepwater oil and gas wells.
According to Bill Stewart, chairman and CEO of BJ Services Co., “The SIM system represents a tremendous advancement in coiled-tubing technology, which will allow us to deploy many of our existing world-class remedial well-intervention technologies in the expanding deepwater market.”
The SIM vessel is a dynamically positioned ship, which is about 1.5 times the size of a standard offshore stimulation vessel, Otto Candies Jr., president of Otto Candies LLC, explains. The ship features a large moonpool for deployment of the SIM tool, a mission control center, and accommodations for more than 100 crew personnel. It is outfitted with all the fluid tanks, pumps, work areas, and other systems needed for the SIM subsea intervention work.
Contracts
FMC Technologies Inc. has been on a hot streak lately with three contracts announced in May (seeOffshore, June, page 18) and three more in June. The company recently signed a $28-million contract with Statoil ASA to supply a subsea system for Statoil’s existing Norne field project in the Norwegian Sea.
The agreement is in conjunction with a new-build Norne Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) - Template K, which includes two subsea trees, a manifold, a template, and two subsea control modules. The agreement also includes retrofitting an electric subsea control module, which operates eight electric gate valves and one electric pig valve for the control of manifold functions for an existing template, also in the Norne field.
This is a further development of FMC Technologies’ all-electric subsea production system technology, which began with installation of an all-electric choke system on Statoil’s Statfjord field in 2001-2002. This system incorporates 16 all-electric production chokes.
Norne Template K is the most recent Statoil development undergoing the IOR program. In January 2005, Statoil received the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s IOR prize for its Gullfaks field. The Norne field, 125 mi off the Norwegian coast in approximately 1,250 ft of water, began production in 1997.
“The Norne system will be the first conversion of a production manifold to all-electric operation,” Peter D. Kinnear, executive vice president, FMC Technologies, says. “This is an important advancement of our all-electric subsea production system technology.”
FMC Technologies also has signed a technology advancement agreement with NATCO Group Inc. to develop a next generation, compact liquid/liquid separation system. The agreement will combine FMC Technologies’ compact, cyclonic separation technology with NATCO’s electrostatic coalescer technology to develop a new compact separation system for subsea and surface processing applications.
The initial application for the compact separation system will be in subsea separation and processing studies FMC is conducting for Petrobras. The studies involve exploring different subsea separation concepts and constructing a prototype separator for Petrobras’ requirements.
Future plans for the technology include both surface and subsea compact separation applications.
FMC plans to market the new compact separation system for subsea and surface applications, and NATCO plans to market it for surface applications.
The company also has signed a subsea systems frame agreement with Petro-Canada for offshore developments off the East Coast of Canada.
The frame agreement covers the supply of subsea systems and equipment for the potential expansion of and new developments in the Terra Nova field, which is the second largest field off Canada’s East Coast, and other potential developments in the area. This agreement is for three years, with options for three additional years.
The revenue from this agreement will be based on call-off work orders for specific subsea trees and associated equipment. If all the subsea trees that are contemplated under the agreement are actually ordered, FMC Technologies estimates that the total revenue will approximate $100 million over a three-year period.
The Terra Nova field is 218 mi off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, where icebergs are commonly encountered. Production from the field began in January 2002.•
