Popeye Project: ROV Interface
Authors: States C.R. , Hernandez D.A. , Hickok D.D. 
Published: October 2008

This paper discusses the Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) Interface with the Popeye Project Subsea System. It describes the ROV-related plans, design philosophies, intervention tasks, tooling equipment requirements, testing activities, and offshore installation experiences. Early identification and continuous consideration of the ROV interfaces significantly improved the overall efficiency of equipment designs and offshore operations. The Popeye Project helped advance the technology and standardization of ROV interfaces for deep water subsea production systems.

Introduction

During the early conceptual design and system selectionphase of Popeye, it was recognized that the ROV Interface with the subsea system would be critical to the success of the project. The use and reliance upon ROV systems for support of deep water drilling and installation operations had significantly increased during the previous 10 years. Shell Offshore Inc's (SOI) confidence in this increased capability was an important factor in many of the design decisions which characterized the innovative Popeye subsea system. Proper application of the ROV Interface was considered essential to the development's cost-effectiveness, installation flexibility, and risk management.

The ROV interfaces were a major focus of the Popeye Project from conceptual design through the final offshore installation and in-situ testing of the subsea References and Figures follow paper equipment. An ROV interface plan was developed and used as a basic design and execution guide. The plan was monitored and updated as the project equipment designs and requirements progressed through the natural evolution of project change, Numerous ROV operations were successfully carried out offshore during installation and completion, including some first-of-it's-kind activities.

Interface Plan

Prior to design of the subsea equipment, an ROV interface plan was developed to provide early project identification and consideration of ROV intervention philosophies, design details and preparation activities. The intent was to improve the overall efficiency of the offshore operations. The plan emphasized [he need for managing the intervention interfaces and associated ROV tools required throughout the subsea system execution. A technical specialist was included on the Project Team for this purpose, This effort involved providing assistance to other team members on all ROV-related issues, providing testing, installation and maintenance procedures, and providing organization and monitoring of ROV-related interface tests. The effort also provided for the evaluation of alternate methods and proof-of-concept tests on major ROV tasks.

System-level ROV accessibility analyses were performed on all major subsea equipment to that the ROV could satisfactorily perform all intended functions and to identify any significant access or functional limitations related to the OV. The intent of this work was to check existing quipment and ROV tooling designs, and to recommend odification of these designs only if ROV accessibility or tool unctionality was impossible, highly impractical or highly estrictive