Although there are situations where this is possible, it is certainly not always the case. Identification and understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the main deepwater provinces of the world were discussed. These included the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and west Africa, where the key focus existed for the majority of the oil-producing companies. Problems and concerns with dealing with flow assurance issues in shallow water were repeated in ultradeepwater applications. Better prediction tools are needed, especially where benchmarking opportunities exist in shallower-water applications.
Intervention is key for any deepwater processing applications.
Significant experience already exists in drilling operations, which are already targeting water depths toward 10,000 ft. Size and experience are vital to the success of subsea separation equipment. Small, modular, flexible, and retrievable separators are the most appropriate in this deepwater environment. However, more work certainly is necessary for the appropriate packaging of this equipment for the new hostile marine environment. Subsea transportation experience to date suggests that significant promise lies ahead, and that existing technology is appropriate when we extrapolate its use to deeper water.