Santa Barbara SALM - A Prototype Deepwater Production Riser and Floating Production System
Authors: Wolfram W.R. , Law T.E. 
Published: December 2007

The Hondo offshore storage, oil treating, and off-loading system in the Santa Barbara Channel contains most of the essential features of a deepwater floating production system. This paper discusses the design concept, including dynamic analysis, earthquake design, fatigue analysis, and the high-pressure flow system. A current status report and future plans for the project are given. plans for the project are given.

Introduction

The Hondo field, located in the Santa Ynez Unit in the Santa Barbara Channel offshore Southern California, will begin production using an 850-ft (260-m) drilling and production platform and an offshore storage and treating vessel (Fig. 1). Once the wells are drilled and production is initiated, oil/gas separation will be performed on the platform. Moored to a single anchor leg mooring (SALM) 8,120 ft (2475 m) away, the floating storage tanker will perform oil/water separation, off-loading to a tandem-moored shuttle tanker, and electric power generation for the production platform. The SALM will form the vital link for transmitting crude oil and fuel gas to the tanker, while returning produced water and electric power to the platform. The SALM design has been developed from proven components and technology to achieve a highly reliable and efficient system.Floating storage facilities have been used in a number of locations around the world over the past 10 to 15 years. The first moored storage vessel was used at Shell's Idd-el-Shargi field offshore Iran in 1964. The tanker was moored to a catenary anchor leg mooring system using a nylon bow hawser and was loaded via a floating hose string. In 1973, the first rigid-yoke mooring system was installed in the Gulf of Gabes offshore Tunisia by SNPA. Attached to a catenary anchor leg mooring through a rigid yoke, this vessel functioned as both a storage tank and an off-loading point for shuttle tankers, which periodically moored alongside to receive the periodically moored alongside to receive the produced crude. Several similar systems have been produced crude. Several similar systems have been installed recently in the Southeast Asia area.In 1974, Esso Production Malaysia Inc. first applied the single anchor leg mooring concept to production operations with the installation of a production operations with the installation of a SALM in the Tembungo field offshore Sabah, Malaysia. Designed to permanently moor a 100,000-deadweight-ton storage tanker using a hawser and floating hose, it presently is being used as a mooring point for direct shuttle tanker loading only. All of the point for direct shuttle tanker loading only. All of the previously mentioned systems simply transferred previously mentioned systems simply transferred low-pressure produced crude oil from the platform to storage and then onto shuttle tankers. Structural articulations were bypassed using standard marine hose.More recently Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. constructed a buoyant tower mooring for a permanent storage vessel in the Garoupa field offshore permanent storage vessel in the Garoupa field offshore Brazil. Flexible pipe is used as the high-pressure flowline from a Lockheed submarine wellhead chamber. The storage tanker will be moored by a rigid yoke. Future application of the tower concept probably is restricted to relatively shallow water, probably is restricted to relatively shallow water, however, due to structural considerations.

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