Image: Aker BP SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION REMOTE CONTROL: The Ivar Aasen platform off Norway incorporates a high degree of digital technology, allowing Aker BP to monitor and operate the installation remotely. technology, for example its work with the Barcelona rail network to ensure on-time train services and the imaging techniques developed within the Siemens health care division. Those technologies have applications in the upstream business, he says. This is the package we are providing to the oil and gas industry, he explains. We can take a much greater scope on a vessel such as an FPSO and apply the existing solutions from other industries, integrating them and bringing in digitalisation. Project design in a virtual environment avoids redundancies by allowing engineers to predict how systems will work together, make necessary adjustments and determine the optimal topside design. We have, to a certain extent, already applied these technologies to existing platforms, Sparks says, citing Aker BPs Ivar Aasen platform We can take a much greater scope on a vessel such as an FPSO and apply the existing solutions from other industries, integrating them and bringing in digitalisation. Thomas Sparks, Siemens on the Norwegian continental shelf. The fixed platform, which came on stream at the end of 2016, is monitored and controlled remotely from an operation centre in Trondheim. Reducing manpower on the platform has had a huge impact, he says. If you can reduce manpower on the platform, there are significant cost savings associated with that. Offshore platforms are the most expensive hotels on earth. Taking full advantage of the Topsides 4.0 offering is best achieved with collaboration from the outset. That means sharing data at the earliest stage possible in a projects life cycle, he says, ideally in the concept phase. Siemens is targeting the FPSO market for an opportunity to prove the Topsides 4.0 concept and the benefits of greater digitalisation. Its a journey, he says of the digital revolution. Some companies have adapted to it. Photo: Siemens UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 4 2017 35 technology The magazine for oil & gas innovators Issue 4 2017 Signs of life Charting a new course for floating production Joint efforts: Pipelay giants tackle the tough jobs Subsea solutions: Tapping technology to improve tie-back economics Produced and distributed by ready for the resource revolution Meet our e Booth 13250 Hall 13 www.upstreamtechnologymagazine.com 42017 EDITORIAL OFFICES UK: Upstream Technology, 7th Floor, 125 Wood Street London EC2V 7AN. Editor: Russell McCulley Tel: +44 (0)20 76452331 russell.mcculley@upstreamonline.com Photo: Bardex technology AGENDA All eyes on the energy future US Editor: Jennife CONTENTS 36 Spotlight FLOATING PRODUCTION SUBSEA Smooth finish How to deliver a tie-back ahead of schedule. 10 Standard issue Betting big on a fast-track FPSO concept. DOWNHOLE 43 04 17 48 Track record Expandable technology comes to the proppant fore. Castorone racks up S-lay successe PIPELAYING Photos: Allseas STARTING OFF: First pipe comes down the stinger from Pioneering Spirits firing line. The vessel began deep-water pipelaying on TurkStream on 23 June. A fitting debut The first contract to call for Allseas mighty new vessel to work in pipelaying mode is now into its four PIPELAYING ACROSS THE DEEPS: Most of TurkStreams 930 kilometre route from Anapa to Kiyikoy falls in the Black Seas abyssal plain, in waters up to 2200 metres deep. RUSSIA ANAPA - BULGARIA - KIYIKOY ISTANBUL Map: SST TURKEY presents a wide variety of other challenges. The seabed drops steepl CHANGE OF ROLE: TurkStream sees Pioneering Spirit in pipelaying mode for the first time, with underwater stinger and its transition frame now suspended in bow slot while the heavy-lift beams on either side mostly take it easy. The power to connect Supporting the International Offshore Energy Indust PIPELAYING BIRDSEYE VIEW: On the vessels huge deck up to 27,000 tonnes of pipe single-joints can be stored, ready for feeding to the double-joint factory and then on to the main firing line below. SMOOTH TRANSITION: Pipe reaches a near vertical departure angle by the time it gets to the end of the TIGHT GRIP: The line of four mighty tensioners offer a combined maximum pipe-holding power of 2000 tonnes. ON THE FIRING-LINE: At the molten heart of the matter is Allseas Phoenix welding system. the pipes life is at the seabed sagbend during installation across the Black Seas deep-water plain. He Spotlight FLOATING PRODUCTION Deep offshore pushes on GULF STAR: The Turritella FPSO at Shells Stones development. Photo: Intermoor 10 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 4 2017 FPSOs remain the floating production option of choice in an overview of new and upcoming deep-water projects, writes Marshall DeLuca. 11 SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION GHANA GIANT: The Professor Evans Atta Mills FPSO at Tullow Oils TEN complex. Photo: Tullow Oil T he deep-water floater market is certainly down, but it almost just as certainly is not out. In the 18 months since Upstream Technology last published its report of globa SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION FPSO the year and an order for a similar unit for the Itapu field in 2018. All other deep-water FPSO activity on the books, excepting ExxonMobils first unit for the Liza field off Guyana, is offshore West Africa, where new players have been entering the mix. Over the Photo: Shell SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Deck space: Shells Malikai tension-leg platform off Malaysia. end engineering and design of its Ghana development now that the boundary dispute with Ivory Coast has been cleared, and Cairn is reportedly beginning a dialogue with suppliers for the SNE SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION SEMI-SUBMERSIBLES SPARS Kiewit facility in Ingleside, Texas. BPs Mad Dog 2, once planned as two spars, resembles the companys Atlantis floater. It is being fabricated entirely at the Samsung facility in South Korea. More semisubs appear to be on the way, particularly SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION PLANNED being delivered by a consortium of TechnipFMC, JGC and Samsung and scheduled for startup in 2022. Elsewhere in Africa, Ophir reportedly is getting close to sanction on its Fortuna FLNG development in Equatorial Guinea. The operator has contracted with OneLNG, Images: SBM SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Advancing a fast-track FPSO With construction scheduled for a newbuild generic hull, SBM Offshore is aiming to prove that its standardised approach to FPSO design offers operators a cost-saving lifeline in a turbulent market, writes Russell McCulley. L SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION TURRET MOORED Fast4Ward hull with external turret and outfitted with complex topsides weighing 25,000-30,000 tonnes. The same design hull and topsides but with an internal turret would be suitable for harsh environments such as Australia. catalogue approach to moori SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION LOOKING FORWARD: Fast4Ward hull, spread moored and outfitted with complex topsides weighing 35,000 tonnes. Such high capacity production FPSOs are likely to be required for fields offshore South America and Africa in the future. into the topsides layout, he notes. Th SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION EARLY FPSO: Oceaneerings Ocean Producer was installed in Amocos Gombe Beta field off Gabon in 1991. It had 25,000 bpd of processing capacity and 500,000 barrels of storage. The evolution of floating solutions A lower-forlonger oil price is prompting some fresh thinki Photo: Anadarko SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION A secondary issue is what to do with associated gas. If a gas export pipeline is necessary it may make sense to lay an oil pipeline at the same time. Gas to liquids (GTL) is still in the early days. If we can find a way to deal with the gas so it can Photo: Exmar Offshore SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION ON REPEAT: LLOGs Who Dat and Delta House (pictured) semisubs reflect the use of a single scalable design. type of production solution selected for a field comes down to whether the operator requires dry trees. Dry trees are possible with spars Images: BP SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION NEWBUILD: The Glen Lyon FPSO started production earlier this year at BPs Quad 204 development. Harsh sea floater steps up technology Earlier this year, BP celebrated first oil from its giant Quad 204 project on the UK Atlantic margin, an achievement made p SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION IN DEPTH: A graphic depicts Glen Lyons mooring and riser systems. HIGH CAPACITY: Glen Lyons 94-metre tall turret is one of the largest ever built. 24 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 4 2017 one of the largest in the world and contains a number of firsts. The turrets 94-metre SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION was installed. One advance in mooring technology has been the use of double-articulated chain stoppers to connect the mooring lines to the chain table. Historically, mooring lines on floaters have suffered failures as a result of out-of-plane bending, says Nookala, re SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Images: INTECSEA ON THE LEVEL: INTECSEA says the Low Motion FPSO concepts rectangular design and free-hanging solid ballast tank offer advantages over conventional FPSO designs. Steady at sea An innovative floating production, storage and offloading vessel design ai SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION OPTIONS: Its designers says the LM-FPSO will be compatible with both dry tree and wet tree production systems. SCRUTINY: An LM-FPSO model undergoing tank tests. stored on a separate floating platform to await offloading. To address the high cost of FPSO risers, engi SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION exhibits sufficiently low motion characteristics in all sea states, says Mansour, to allow operators a full range of field development options. Developers may safely choose wet tree completions with SCRs or dry trees that are connected to the vessel by TTRs. Either Photos: Bardex Corporation SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION TIED DOWN: The deck-mounted mooring equipment at the Ichthys Explorer. Meeting Explorers mooring challenges Mooring the worlds largest semi-submersible platform required innovative strategies to help reduce weight on the platform, writes J SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Vicinay a major challenge, Caldwell says. Its stuff nobodys done before. It went really well. The deployment system Bardex used for Ichthys allowed them to use 102-millimetre messenger chain instead of 178-millimetre chain, saving nearly 64 tonnes per messenger chain SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION OFFSHORE BOUND: The Bardex BarLatch Underwater Fairlead Stopper in sea tow position. No room for error As with all projects, safety claimed a lot of attention. The Ichthys installation was Bardex first project offshore Australia, which has different regulations and r SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Photo: Teekay REPURPOSING: The Teekay Varg. Cheviot plans call for no-frills FPSO 32 UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY 4 2017 With many operators seeking new and more advanced technology to provide the solution to field development issues, private equitybacked independent Alph SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION CUTAWAY: A rendering of the Cheviot project with FPSO, subsea architecture and the Peel and Cheviot reservoirs. Image: Alpha Petroleum including decommissioning costs, of below $40 per barrel, and the project is on track to meet that target under this approach. Alpha SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION Image: Siemens DIGITAL DOUBLE: An illustration of a Topside 4.0 virtual twin. Project planning in the virtual world Spotting an opportunity in a challenging offshore market, Siemens is drawing on its wide technology portfolio to help the upstream oil and gas busines Image: Aker BP SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION REMOTE CONTROL: The Ivar Aasen platform off Norway incorporates a high degree of digital technology, allowing Aker BP to monitor and operate the installation remotely. technology, for example its work with the Barcelona rail network to ensure on-time t SUBSEA Distilled lessons smooth subsea tie-back Careful planning, efficient drilling and construction operations and a break in the weather helped Total bring the Edradour and Glenlivet satellite fields West of Shetland on stream early and well under budget. Russell McCulley gets the details. L Subsea Wells Glenlivet Edradour Laggan Tormore Pipeline to Shetland Gas Plant Shetland Gas Plant Lerwick Pipeline from Shetland Gas Plant to UK mainland Atlantic Ocean North Sea The subsea industry will have to be innovative from now on to remain competitive TIE-IN: The Glenlivet manifold dur SUBSEA COM-OPS: The Edradour manifold and a foundation bottom structure onboard Technips Skandi Africa vessel. Accelerating the development schedule meant development and drilling operations had to be carefully co-ordinated. WESTERN SKIES: The Shetland Gas Plant receives gas from the Greater Laggan SPOTLIGHT: FLOATING PRODUCTION TAKING COVER: Glass-reinforced plastic covers protect a 1200-metre aluminium-coated section of the Edradour production flowline. of the pipeline coated with thermally sprayed aluminium to enhance cooling. The cooling section is protected by ventilated glass reinforced Tech Talk Steering expert takes the wheel The head of European operations at merged Baker Hughes and GE Oil & Gas discusses an automated, digitalised future and how the new company is drawing on two centuries of innovation to make it a reality, writes Russell McCulley. T he merger of Baker Hughes I believe collaboration is needed to bring automation to a new level, connecting the entire ecosystem downhole equipment with the surface equipment. Zvonimir Djerfi, BHGE Photo: BHGE made Troll one of the Norwegian continental shelfs most productive fields. And the experience led Djerfi to other a precise, fast rotary steerable system that could drill some wells that could not be drilled before. In Brunei, there were some really challenging profiles that could not be drilled with conventional directional drilling systems. And in Malaysia, there were tri-laterals drilled, and rotary steerab SUPERHIGHWAY: An expandable proppant, wider and more pressure-resistant than sand, could extend the fracture network. Images: Terves DOWNHOLE Horizons expand for proppants An innovative combination of materials could lead to the next stage in proppant technology. Jennifer Pallanich talks to the d DOWNHOLE or hydration or carbonation or carboxylation reaction, depending on the chemistry and temperature of the fluid. The proppant is engineered to take one to two days to fully expand, although other coatings and formulations can be applied to reduce or accelerate swell times. Terves is manufac DOWNHOLE What were able to do is offer an expansion, on demand, to deliver a force, apply pressure, and change shape. Andy Sherman, Terves network development and recovery to answer questions such as: Can we address the natural fractures and extend those at high angles to the main fracture? Can we Photo: Dow Corning SUBSEA TECHNOLOGY TIGHT SCHEDULE: Dow Corning supplied the XTI-1003 silicone system for insulation on the manifold for Murphys Medusa field in the Gulf of Mexico. Taking the heat Extreme operating conditions provide an opening for materials that can stand up to them. A new sili Photo: Dow Corning Photo: MWCC SPILL RESPONSE: The Marine Well Containment Companys HPHT capping stack includes silicone rubber components. insulating properties for longer cooldown times, increased joint strength and high heat capacity, and long-term flexibility and resistance to extreme pressur Spotlight PIPELINES Laying down a track record Images: Saipem Saipems flagship pipelay vessel sailed out of the shipyard five years ago with a docket of high-profile jobs in its sights. Russell McCulley takes stock of the Castorones work to date, the lessons learned, and the mighty vessels next c A t 330 metres from stem to stern, Saipems Castorone immediately joined the ranks of the worlds largest pipelay vessels upon delivery in 2012. Its current topsides equipment, installed at the Keppel Offshore & Marine yard in Singapore, includes an S-lay system with three tensioners for an overall p SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES stinger, adds 120 metres to the vessels overall length during S-lay operations. Roberto Faldini calls Castorone a real offshore factory that integrates state-of-theart technology, automated interconnected machines and live data analytics. Faldini, an installation engineer at SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES JOINT EFFORTS: Saipem used lessons learned in Castorones first years of operation to improve pipeline fabrication and other systems. abandonment, holding its position brilliantly and encountering a limited time loss, Faldini says. Saipem uses data collected from such operation Images: NOV SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES FULLY LOADED: An illustration shows how the subsea automatic pig launcher (SAPL) may be integrated into a subsea development. Out of the loop The race is on for technologies that help operators cut development spending or operating expenses. Engineers working on an SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES NOWHERE TO HIDE: NOV designed a magnetic pig tracking system for a major North Sea project, technology that will be applicable in a development equipped with the SAPL. pigs, and electrical jumpers or batteries provide power. The system may be installed in three configurations SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES INGREDIENTS: A sketch shows the SAPLs individual modules, from bottom: pipeline end manifold (PLEM), control and instrumentation, and cassette with replacement frame. SAPL tests are under way, NOV is laying the groundwork for further research and development. Now we are plannin Photo: Reuters/Scanpix SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES RISING DEMAND: Output is on the increase from the Permian basin in the US. Increased capacity in the Permian Using drilling and completion techniques honed over the past decade, operators are significantly increasing oil and gas production in the Permia an average 2 million barrels per Photo: AFP/Scanpix SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES day of oil. The same report said the agency expected the basin to produce an average 2.5 million barrels per day in 2018. Production and drilling activity levels in the Permian, as elsewhere, have historically tracked oil pr Images: RBN Energy SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES order to accommodate new production. But major long distance, high volume pipelines between the Permian and the US Gulf coast require significantly more time to plan and execute and it is shaping up to be a close race between the growths of capacity demand a SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES Photos: Clock Spring GOOD FIT: Composite sleeves are pre-formed and fabricated with shape memory that allows the product to conform to the circumference of the pipe, simplifying installation and reducing the amount of time required on site. Sending in reinforcement Composite SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES WRAPAROUND: Each layer of Clock Spring adheres with acrylic-based glue. When the installation is complete, the composite repair is tightened with a torqueing bar. pipe. Together, the composite and pipe wall structurally reinforce the pipe to control pressure within the pipe. T SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES installation practices, Powers says. This is critical in rope access situations for risers. The goal is to limit the amount of time and number of personnel required on site for repairs. Less time is safer, he says. Clock Spring sleeves were recently used to repair a dented subs SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES PUMPED: Injected elastomer creates a protective barrier in TGS Marines pipe repair system. Sandwich solution for damaged pipe A dvances in composite materials have enabled numerous applications for oil and gas infrastructure repair and maintenance. Add to the list TSG/Pipe Rep SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES BOLTED DOWN: When bolted in place, the clamshell covering provides equal or greater pressure containment capacity as the original pipe. response to common pipework corrosion problems, he says. The industry requires efficient and effective asset life extension options. We are SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES CORROSION CONTAINED: The SPS technology creates a sandwich when elastomer is injected between the corroded or damaged pipe and a metal clamshell covering. ADD-ON: Standard one-metre sections may be bolted together to repair longer sections of pipe. Each clamshell section is aff SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES Democratising the science of multiphase flow modelling A new software programme uses analytical fractional flow models to quickly and reliably simulate multiphase flow through pipelines, finds Jennifer Pallanich. B uilt for the digital and analytical world, the PipeFractional SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES If youre not modelling the leak at the local level, you dont have any idea of how large your problem really is. Anand Nagoo, Pipe Fractional Flow BUILT FOR INTEGRATION: PipeFractionalFlow was designed with workflows integration in mind and for merging with existing tools. The SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES LEAK DETECTION: Elevation profile of the Middle East hilly-terrain wet gas pipeline used in the leak detection case history. SLIGHT INCLINATIONS: In comparison to the Flow Scanner Imager production log of a Permian basin gas-condensate-water horizontal well, PipeFractionalFlow SPOTLIGHT: PIPELINES LEAK LOCATION: Results for the high rate leak at 40,000 feet and 80,000 feet from the Middle East hilly-terrain wet gas pipeline outlet. for the low rate leak case if the observed pressures deviated by 2% at the intermediate station and by 4% at the inlet. Different leak signa Anchor issues A new joint industry project is exploring methods to mitigate pipeline walking and cut anchor installation costs. Russell McCulley gets a quick lesson in the walking phenomenon and the related design challenge of lateral buckling. L ong subsea pipelines, never laid in a perfectly str Photo: Bladt Industries Image: Crondall Energy TRIGGERS: Pipeline engineers use three main methods to instigate lateral buckling: snake lay, sleepers and local weight reduction. buckling involves a good understanding of pipe-soil interaction and the properties of the sand or clay where the pipe i & Power couple Bits Bytes W ith the acquisition of JDR Cable Systems, Polands TFKable, already well established in the wire and cable manufacturing sector, is making a significant investment in the subsea umbilical and power cable business. The combined companies will have around 4000 employees wo Image: IKM Photo: JDR Wider circulation James Young, JDR Cable Photo: Russell McCulley What they [TFKable] gain is access to the offshore cable and umbilical business. We give them that access. IKM Cleandrill will enter the Caspian Sea offshore market early in 2018 with a contract for riserles Photo: Weatherford BITS&BYTES The make-up artist A new automated pipe make-up and connection evaluation system eliminates human error from the physical make-up and connection validation processes, according to Weatherford International, maker of the new AutoTong system. The service company say BITS&BYTES Power cut Photo: Archer Photo: Webtool UK cutting systems specialist Webtool has introduced what it says is the offshore industrys first electro-hydraulic power pack. The lightweight, battery-powered power pack, called EHP350, is designed to be used with Webtool wire rope and softlin BITS&BYTES Photo: Nexans AmerCable In the loop Nexans AmerCable has launched AmerLink, which the Houston company deems a new category in top drive services loops. 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Taken during Ragnarok Online Photo Shoot at Anime Expo 2009 on Saturday, 4 July 2009 at 6:58 p.m. by SpookyElectric