Test Of Submerged Production System
Authors: Burkhardt Joseph A. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 48th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1973. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

Exxon's submerged production system (SPS) has successfully completed land tests. The SPS is a cluster of subsea wells and associated production controlling, separating and production controlling, separating and pumping equipment mounted on a subsea template pumping equipment mounted on a subsea template structure. The produced fluids are transported to surface processing facilities via pipelines to shore, to a platform or to a production riser which connects to a floating vessel. The subsea equipment is remotely controlled and monitored from the surface facilities by an electro-hydraulic supervisory control system. Pump down tools are used to service wellbore Pump down tools are used to service wellbore equipment and a manipulator operated from the surface is used to replace non-operative subsea equipment. All elements of the system have been designed and land tested. Work is in progress to perform an offshore test of the progress to perform an offshore test of the complete system.

The final suite of land tests on a prototype, 3-well, subsea production manifold prototype, 3-well, subsea production manifold and a maintenance manipulator were performed in a water-filled pit where the underwater production equipment was automatically operated production equipment was automatically operated to control well streams simulating liquid, gas-liquid, and sand laden production. In this testing, the prototype equipment met or exceeded design specifications. In addition, the maintenance manipulator was deployed from a surface vessel to a mock-up installation in 425 feet of water to demonstrate its ability to land on its track which surrounds the underwater equipment. This deployment test, when coupled with the pit test, proved the manipulator to be capable of performing the maintenance tasks. Results of tests on the SPS wellbore equipment and on a pre-prototype pump/separator subsystem have indicated the utility of these equipment subsystems in performing their functions. Tests simulating operating conditions have permitted an evaluation and selection of pressure swivels and hoses for the production riser. Land tests of line-up techniques production riser. Land tests of line-up techniques and remote pipeline connectors have permitted the design of prototype pipeline connecting equipment needed for the SPS. The planned offshore test of the SPS will provide a comprehensive evaluation of equipment and procedures and, hence, demonstrate the potential utility of the SPS in deepwater applications.