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O C T O B E R 2 0 0 4

www.offshore-mag.com

DOT technical preview • Hybrid mooring systems • Chloride stress corrosion cracking

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Just A Small Sampling

Of Our Capabilities.

Geotechnical
For more than 50 years, Fugro has been a leader in foundation
engineering and geotechnical services worldwide.
Fugro has a large fleet of geotechnical vessels, vehicles and specialized
tools to perform geotechnical site investigations –onshore, nearshore
and offshore.
Fugro operates dedicated drillships in all the major field
development areas of the world with capabilities to work in
water depths ranging from 20 to 3,000 meters (10,000 feet).
Fugro’s new geotechnical vessel, the Fugro Explorer, allows
the entire suite of Fugro's deep water tools and technology
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and features onboard lab testing.
Downhole tools and seabed equipment provide sampling,
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clay to hard rock. Fugro's proprietary Deepwater Seacalf™
system provides unmatched cone penetrometer technology
(CPT) offshore.
Additionally, Fugro provides research, development and engineering for the design of foundation elements
under the most extreme deepwater conditions.
From first exploration through abandonment and decommissioning, Fugro and its core
companies provide a full range of data acquisition and analysis services. Click Today!

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International Edition
Volume 64, Number 10
October 2004

C O N T E N T S

DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

WEST AFRICA SUBSEA
DOT – Aligning technology
Sonangol lays groundwork for growth ....26 with changing reality ............................48 Prototype AUVs prove capability for
Exploration and development dollars continue subsea inspection and intervention........80
The Deep Offshore Technology
to pour into West Africa, and much of that ECA’s Alistar autonomous underwater vehicle
conference scheduled for Nov. 30 –
money is going to Angola. National oil com- (AUV) undertook its first significant autono-
Dec. 3 in New Orleans offers attendees
pany Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de mous pipeline inspection task offshore Toulon,
a look at frontier technology for
Angola (Sonangol E.P.) is seizing the opportu- southern France, tracking a pipeline and recor-
deepwater operations. The papers sum-
nity to lay a solid foundation for growth. ding video images over a distance of 500 m.
marized in this issue of Offshore are a
ExxonMobil forges ahead off Nigeria......30 sample of the technology mix that will Rocket-fuel process applied
ExxonMobil Corp. has risen to the challenge be available at DOT 2004. successfully for Kuito anchors ..............87
in West Africa and is making progress toward IHC Hydrohammer in The Netherlands has
bringing its discoveries into production. Erha developed the Pyrodriver tool, which uses
will be the company’s next field to come rocket propellant fuel to push anchors or piles
Thiocyanate corrosion inhibitors suspected
onstream offshore Nigeria. into the seabed.
in chloride stress corrosion cracking ......64
Dana to probe further off Mauritania Recent analyses of catastrophic packer fluid- CONSTRUCTION
following Pelican swoop ........................32 related failures suggest that discontinuing the
use of thiocyanates in non-zinc brines can mit- Menck seeks to double depth record
Mauritania could join the league of African for underwater pile-driving ....................90
deepwater producers by early 2006. The 120- igate the problem.
When field development moved to water
MMbbl Chinguetti development is well under
Driller recalls 35 years of change ..........68 depths of 500 m and beyond, changes in plat-
way, and three more positive finds have
Robert J. Scott, senior vice president of opera- form designs required the piles to be driven
resulted from only a small number of
tions for Transocean Inc., has seen a lot in his underwater, leading to development of the
deepwater wells.
35 years in the offshore drilling industry. In hydraulically driven hammer.
New seismic data reveals unusual this interview, he talks about how the industry
deepwater Ghana plays ..........................37 has changed and what might lie ahead. Spar technology meets Atlantic
Canada’s deepwater challenges ............92
Seismic data show an unexpected and unusual
structural history of the marginal ridge of PRODUCTION Deepwater spar technology is ideally suited to
develop one of the most difficult regions in
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Total increases output the world – Atlantic Canada’s Orphan basin. A
from the marginal Otter field ..................72
OFFSHORE CANADA new disconnectable design allows the spar to
Stepping out with existing technology in elec- move off station in the case of iceberg threat.
CNG could be the solution trical submersible pumps (ESP) and linking The spar also offers about 1 MMbbl of storage
to Newfoundland’s stranded gas ............42 with the longest tieback to a platform in the and the ability to drill, complete, and perform
Work is under way to commercialize the North Sea, Total has demonstrated the value well intervention and production from the
nearly 72 tcf of stranded gas the Canada- of marginal field developments and the bene- same platform.
Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board fits of using ESP systems as an artificial lift
(CNOPB) believes lies offshore method. Decommissioning awards imminent for
Newfoundland and Labrador. Government, giant MCP-01 compression platform......96
Hybrid mooring systems Total E&P UK has opened consultations over
academia, and industry have taken on the
enter Gulf of Mexico ................................78
challenge of making CNG an option for off- the future of its redundant 386,000-tonne
The industry-accepted way to moor a drilling MCP-01 platform in the North Sea.
shore gas development.
rig requires eight or more equal lengths of Decommissioning was originally planned for
DRILLING & COMPLETION mooring lines around the vessel. Delmar 2024, but the company has opted for an early
Systems Inc., an offshore anchoring and decommissioning, possibly starting in 2006.
Riser concept designed mooring company headquartered in Houston,
to reduce platform loads ........................58 is rethinking balancing methods for mooring PIPELINE &
SEAL Engineering, a subsidiary of Technip, is systems.
developing a new riser concept for ultra-
TRANSPORTATION
deepwater applications. The new system is Seismic analysis used
designed to reduce loads transmitted by the in pipeline design ..................................100
riser onto the floating production platform. Seismic waves can cause damage to unburied
pipeline systems. Several seismic analysis
approaches for pipeline design have been
developed to predict pipeline behavior in
response to differential ground movements.

Offshore (ISSN 0030-0608) is published monthly by PennWell, 1421 S. Sheridan Road, Tulsa, OK 74112. Periodicals class postage paid at Tulsa, OK, and additional offices. Copyright 2004 by PennWell.
(Registered in U.S. Patent Trademark Office.) All rights reserved. Permission, however, is granted for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive,
Danvers, MA 01923, Phone (508) 750-8400, Fax (508) 750-4744 to photocopy articles for a base fee of $1 per copy of the article plus 35¢ per page. Payment should be sent directly to the CCC. Requests
for bulk orders should be addressed to the Editor. Subscription prices are USA and N. America $75.00 per year; all other nations by surface mail; $99.00 per year; airmail subscriptions, $175.00 per
year. U.K. and overseas, £50, Airmail overseas, £110. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: P.O. Box 1632, Windsor, ON N9A 7C9. Back issues are available upon request. POSTMASTER
send form 3579 to Offshore, P.O. Box 2895,Tulsa, OK 74101.

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Superior Energy Services

Extended Reach Coiled Tubing Capabilities

Unplugged 14,800’ World Sales Line

Record Achieved Pressure
Situation: The pipeline Restored
was completely plugged Situation: A sales pipeline
with what was thought from a production platform
to be paraffin. was transferring 500 BOPD
via a LACT system when the
Pipeline ID: 3.826” SUPERIOR
Working Pressure: 6,000 PSI
line began to plug. Previous
ENERGY SERVICES
Pipeline Length: 14,800’ attempts to clear the line COMPANIES
Water Depth: 1,177’ with pressure and chemical
Ace Rental Tools
only increased pressure on
Solution: On site, the the line by compressing Blowout Tools
pipeline was brought to the plug. CSI Technologies
surface and hung off in the
Pipeline ID: 6.06” Concentric Pipe
moon pool. The CoilTAC & Tool Rentals
Working Pressure: 1,440 PSI
Thruster was engaged
Pipeline Length: 15,000’ + ConTech
and jetted to a distance
Water Depth: 140’
of 14,800’ – a world record Environmental

CoilTAC
™
Treatment Team
for the longest single contin- Solution: Using heated
uous pipeline intervention. crude and paraffin solvent, F&F Wireline Service

CoilTAC™ is a trademark of Superior Energy Services. © 2004 Superior Energy Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Samples from the line the CoilTAC Thruster jetted Fastorq

Eliminates included sand, scale

and a paraffin with 43%
asphaltenes. The line
to a distance of 4,500’. At
this point the crude became
HB Rentals
International

Blockage
saturated and was changed Snubbing
was returned to full out for diesel. The Thruster Services
service. then jetted to 9,188’ and Oil Stop

Guesswork
Previous technologies to remove pipeline blockages
cleared the line. Production
was restored and is now
transferring 1,000 BOPD.
Sales line transfer pressure
Premier
Oilfield Rentals
Production
Management
required cutting the line, sometimes more than once, has been reduced from 900 Industries
to clean intervals less than 5,000’. Superior Energy Services psi to 400 psi. SPN Resources
takes the guesswork out of pipeline intervention with the
Stabil Drill
CoilTAC extended reach Thruster system.
The CoilTAC system provides a jetting action ahead of the Sub Surface Tools
Thruster with treatment chemicals, while applying thrust force as Superior Inspection
it moves down the pipeline. It is designed for pipelines with a 3” inside Services
diameter or more, to distances over 40,000’ – even through a bend radius Superior
as small as 5D. Capable of removing paraffin, hydrate plugs, asphaltenes, Plant Services
scale and more, CoilTAC operations can be performed from liftboats, deep- Wild Well Control
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CoilTAC™ systems are protected by one or more of the following: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,343,657; 6,561,280; 6,651,744;
International Publication No. WO 03/067016; and other patents pending.

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International Edition • Volume 64, Number 10 • October 2004

Supercharge
your drilling. COVER: The Kizomba A
FPSO is part of a $3-billion Esso
Exploration Angola (block 15)
Ltd. development. The develop-
ment includes a combination of
an ABB-designed 58,000-ton dry
tree TLP and subsea comple-
tions tied back to Kizomba A, the
world’s largest FPSO. Kizomba
lies in block 15 in one of the first
tranches of deepwater acreage
offered by the Angolan govern-
ment. Construction began on the
project in 2001. Expected recov-
ery from the Hungo and
Chocalho fields is 1 Bbbl oil.

Put more power SWEDEN

downhole. Buchan lifts refurbished with little disruption to field operations...........................107
Intervect UK solution saves the client significant expense and time on the project.
The PowerDrive vorteX* high-perform- Surfactant prevents aggregate build-up in multiphase wellstream ........................108
ance rotary steerable system (RSS) has A new application for Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistry’s anti-agglomerate is its adsorption
a fully integrated high-torque power on ice crystals that form in multiphase flow.
section that converts mud hydraulic
Swipe card system improves monitoring of offshore crew movements .................108
power to additional mechanical power
Entry Systems product meets IMO standards for safety and security in marine and
at the bit for fast drilling and reduced onshore environments.
nonproductive rig time. An inclination hold
function allows the drilling of a tangent Phased treatment is first to satisfy IMO water regulations......................................110
New bilge water treatment requirements can be met through new Marinfloc cleaning system.
or horizontal section, without intervention
from the directional driller. Moorlink chasing repeat Kizomba deliveries............................................................111
A Gulf of Mexico operator using a Swedish company is building on the success of projects for Esso Exploration off Angola.
PowerDrive vorteX RSS drilled a well 21 Survey reports good reliability for heat exchangers ................................................112
days faster than the best time previously Alfa Laval study provides neutral documentation on the reliability of its plate heat exchang-
achieved. Average rate of penetration ers as used in offshore topsides production processes.
was 32.3 ft//hr—more than four times Polyolefin-based solutions for deepwater pipelines ................................................114
faster than in the comparable offset well. Demand is increasing for the pipeline applications of Borealis following successes with
Contact PowerDrive vorteX@slb.com Statoil and Bredero Shaw.

to learn more. Norne turret machined without halting production ..................................................115

Meatlock Engineering repairs a critical FPSO link without requiring shutdown of
www.slb.com/oilfield production at the Norne field.

Pressure mounts for routine drug/alcohol tests among offshore crews.................116

One of the first offshore assignments for Marconova, a Swedish specialist in substance
testing, was in the Gulf of Mexico.

Couplings ensure safer transfer of liquid cargoes ...................................................117

Breakaway coupling developed by Todo to ensure no spillage in the event of unintended or
emergency disconnection are attracting interest.

Oxidation technique eliminates bacteria in water treatment systems ....................118

Advanced oxidation technology (AOT) is a patented process from Stockholm-based
Benrad that can solve offshore water purification problems.

Gullfaks degassing consignment ..............................................................................120

Berglunds Rostfria, which produces pressure vessels, heat exchangers, and similar prod-
ucts in corrosion resistant materials, has its sights set on Statoil’s Snøhvit project.
*Mark of Schlumberger 04-DR-145

4 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Devices improve personnel tracking, emergency response.....................................120

Ascom’s wireless products, in service on 90% of platforms in the Norwegian sector, facili-
tate response to production breakdowns and accidents to personnel.

Merger expands options for offshore contractors....................................................121

Electrolux Marine, a specialist provider of galley and laundry equipment for the offshore
sector, now trades under the Loipart name.

Countering legionella outbreak .................................................................................122

Operators need to be more vigilant to prevent outbreaks of legionnaires’ disease on their
installations, according to E.C.T. Offshore Service.

Fireproof/waterproof doors .......................................................................................122

Electrically operated doors have been introduced by Hellbergs International that are both
fireproof and semi-watertight.

Dalia mooring chain ...................................................................................................122

Chain-maker Ramnäs has been hauling in new orders since it was rescued from bank-
ruptcy earlier this year.

Airborne surveillance .................................................................................................122

Swedish Space Corp. has launched MSS 6000, a maritime surveillance system used for oil
spill tracking, search and rescue, ship traffic control, and other offshore uses.

Volvo extends engine range.......................................................................................122

Volvo Penta has extended its marine diesel engine range for the offshore sector through a
recent agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING

Deepwater fiber rope deployment system ................................................................123
Traditional materials used as lifting or mooring lines in deepwater exploration and
production are steel chain and wire. Substantial testing has resulted in the development of
a new type of rope braid optimized for bending (BOB), which is made up of a blend of
Honeywell’s Spectra fiber and Vectran fiber from Celanese.

Coiled tubing compensation system for deepwater operations ..............................124

Schlumberger Oilfield Services has introduced the CT TComp coiled tubing total compen-
sation system to protect wellhead integrity during coiled tubing operations.

Smart Shim solves wellhead movement while drilling ............................................124

Industrial specialty maintenance service company, Furmanite, has introduced Smart Shim
to reduce excessive wellhead movement caused by wave action on casing conductors.

Wireline monitoring....................................................................................................125
RC Technology has developed Data Stem, a line monitoring system that allows well log
information to be acquired in the form of pressure and temperature during any slickline,
braided line, or electric line operation. The system uses miniature memory gauge technol-
ogy and force recognition sensing to reduce intervention costs.

300-ton hydraulic crane for construction vessel......................................................125

National Oilwell recently delivered its largest-ever hydraulic telescopic crane, a 300-ton
system, for the Solstad Shipping subsea construction vessel Norman Cutter.

BEYOND THE HORIZON

Newfoundland and Labrador – a beckoning territory for exploration .....................132
Within a year or so, Newfoundland and Labrador’s offshore will be producing close to 50%
of Canada’s conventional light crude. That is quite an accomplishment, considering that
less than 10 years ago the province did not produce any oil, but industry has barely
scratched the surface of the region’s potential.

D E P A R T M E N T S

Comment............................................6 Drilling & Production ......................22

Global E&P ........................................8 Geosciences ....................................24
Offshore Europe ..............................12 Equipment & Engineering..............124
Gulf of Mexico..................................14 Business Briefs ..............................126
Subsea/Surface Systems ................16 New Products ................................128
Vessels ............................................18 Advertisers’ Index..........................131

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C O M M E N T
PennWell
1700 West Loop South, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77027 U.S.A.
Tel: (01) 713 621-9720 • Fax: (01) 713 963-6296
HOUSTON West Africa outlook
VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER: Offshore West Africa continues to be one of the most active and most
Christopher M. Barton chrisb@pennwell.com
promising exploration and production regions in the world. As we pointed out
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: last month (Offshore, September 2004), it is the largest projected growth area
Eldon R. Ball
eldonb@pennwell.com for FPSOs and subsea systems worldwide over the next five
EXPLORATION EDITOR: INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: years. In this month’s West Africa report, International
Victor Schmidt Judy Maksoud
victors@pennwell.com judym@pennwell.com
Editor Judy Maksoud looks at some of the latest production
GULF OF MEXICO EDITOR: DRILLING/PRODUCTION EDITOR: developments offshore Nigeria and Angola. Her exclusive
Jaime Kammerzell Frank Hartley inter view with Sonangol (page 26) examines some of the
jaimek@pennwell.com frankh@pennwell.com
initiatives planned by the national oil company of Angola,
PRESENTATION EDITOR:
Josh Troutman while her report on Nigeria (page 30) covers ExxonMobil
josht@pennwell.com schedules for Erha, which will be developed as a strategic Maksoud

POSTER EDITOR & TECHNICAL ADVISOR:

hub for future deepwater developments on OPL 209.
E. Kurt Albaugh, P.E. kurt.albaugh@bhpbilliton.com Meanwhile, Jeremy Beckman, Editor Europe, talked to
PETROLEUM EVENTS: UK independent Dana Petroleum about plans for further
Frances Leon (London) francesl@pennwell.com
Frances Webb (London) francesw@pennwell.com development of its deepwater plays offshore Mauritania.
Gail Killough (Houston) gailk@pennwell.com Dana also holds acreage on the other side of Africa, offshore
SALES: Kenya, where the company says it has “identified some very
David Davis davidd@pennwell.com
Tel: (713) 963-6206 pronounced structures…” His report begins on page 32.
Betty Kight (Houston) bettyk@pennwell.com Finally, a study of new seismic data taken offshore Ghana
CUSTOM PUBLISHING: Beckman by Vanco Energy reveals “unexpected and unusual” struc-
Roy Markum roym@pennwell.com
Tel: (713) 963-6220 tural histor y that suggests new exploration plays. Their
PRODUCTION MANAGER: analysis begins on page 37.
Cheryl Miller cherylm@pennwell.com
Tel: (918) 832-9367 • Fax: (918) 831-9415
“Aligning technology with changing reality” is the theme of this year’s
CIRCULATION MANAGER: Deep Of fshore Technology Conference, scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 2 in
Tommie Grigg tommieg@pennwell.com New Orleans. The conference, one of the premier offshore industry forums,
Tel: (918) 832-9207 • Fax: (918) 831-9722
promises attendees a wide selection of frontier solutions and lessons learned
SUBSCRIBER SERVICES:
Contact subscriber services for address changes for deepwater operations. This month’s preview of the conference begins on
Tel: (847) 559-7501 • Fax: (847) 291-4816 page 48.
Email: os@omeda.com
Using dual electrical submersible pumps to boost
LONDON production from the longest tieback to a platform in the
P.O. Box 32911, London SW19 5WL UK
North Sea, Total has demonstrated the value of marginal
Tel: +44 208 946 7783 Fax: +44 208 946 1543
field developments and the benefits of using ESP systems as
EDITOR-EUROPE:
Jeremy Beckman (jeremyb@pennwell.com)
an artificial lift method. Drilling/Production Editor Frank
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Hartley discusses a dual ESP completion design for Total’s
Nick Terdre (Oslo) Otter field that Paul Kelman, completion engineer with Total,
Hartley terms “…a huge success in a marginal subsea field.” His
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Luke R. Corbett, Kerr-McGee Corp.
report begins on page 72.
David J. Greer, Shell International E&P Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador offshore fields will soon be
Jack B. Moore, Cooper Cameron Corp.
Hugh O’Donnell, Saipem
producing almost 50% of Canada’s conventional light crude. Yet questions
John B. Reed, INTEC Engineering remain about the potential for future E&P activity off Eastern Canada. In this
James K. Wicklund, Banc of America Securities
month’s “Beyond the Horizon,” Rob Strong, vice president of Davis
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS Engineering of St. John’s, Newfoundland, makes a case for the viability of this
PennWell; 1421 S. Sheridan Rd., Tulsa, OK 74112 harsh-environment arena. “There is no better time than now to set your sights
Member on this virtually untapped exploration frontier,” he says. Read his explanation
All Rights reserved
Offshore ISSN-0030-0608 of why Eastern Canada offers unrecognized economic and political
Printed in the U.S.A. GST No. 126813153
advantages that other geographic areas lack (page 132).
CHAIRMAN:
Frank T. Lauinger

PRESIDENT/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER:

Robert F. Biolchini

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER:

Mark C. Wilmoth

Publications Mail Agreement Number 40052420 Readers wishing to respond to issues presented on this page or elsewhere in Offshore, or offer authored articles or
GST No. 126813153 article suggestions, should contact the editor by email (eldonb@pennwell.com) or fax (1-713-963-6296).

6 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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For 85 years
Halliburton has
been helping
to meet the
world’s most
challenging
energy needs.

Through technological innovation

and commitment to quality service,

Halliburton has met the world’s toughest

energy challenges since 1919. And we will

continue to meet global energy requirements by

delivering service well into the future.

As we celebrate our 85th Anniversary, Halliburton’s

original focus and can-do spirit still get it done.

To sign our Anniversary Guestbook, please visit

us on the Web at www.halliburton.com.

HALLIBURTON

© 2004 Halliburton. All rights reserved.

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G L O B A L E & P
Judy Maksoud • Houston

Africa The agreement covers the 11-million-acre Tayrona block, off

In early August, Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary Esso Exploration Colombia’s northern coast in the Caribbean Sea.
Angola Ltd., started production of the $3.4-billion Kizomba A project, Initial work in the first 18-month phase of the exploratory program
the largest deepwater development offshore West Africa. Recoverable includes acquiring 3D seismic data acquisition and reprocessing
resources are estimated at 1 Bbbl, with an expected production rate of existing 2D data.
250,000 b/d. ExxonMobil also plans to use its remote reservoir resistivity map-
“Kizomba A employs the world’s largest FPSO, and the start-up of ping technology, a proprietary electromagnetic survey technique that
this project is an important milestone in Angola,” Harry J. Longwell, has been used in other offshore areas.
director and executive vice president, ExxonMobil, says. ExxonMobil and Petrobas each hold 40% interest in the block.
Kizomba A is the first of three world-class production develop- Colombia’s Ecopetrol holds 20%.
ments on block 15 that are intended to collectively develop over 2.5
Bbbl of oil at a total investment of around $10 billion. Located 230 mi
northwest of Luanda, Kizomba A will develop the Hungo and N. S in a i
N. E l T em sah Deep
Chocalho discoveries in water depths of 3,300-4,200 ft. The develop- N. S id i Ker ir
Deep
Deep
ment includes a surface wellhead platform and subsea wells tied back
to the FPSO, which has a storage capacity of 2.2 MMbbl.
In November 2003, ExxonMobil announced first oil production on N. Ras el
Hekm a
block 15 from the Xikomb A project, which employs an early
Mediterranean Sea
production system (EPS) to produce 90,000 b/d. Xikomba is one of
three identical EPS systems now deployed by ExxonMobil affiliates in De lta
West Africa.
ExxonMobil and its co-venturers have announced 38 discoveries N. E l Am yr ia N. E l Bo u g az
off Angola, 17 of which are on block 15, with the potential to recover E l Bo ugaz
about 4.5 Bboe.
•• • E G Y P T

Gu
While Kizomba A begins production, state-owned Sociedade (SINAI)

lf o
fS
Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) has authorized We s te rn De s e rt

ue
z
Total, as block 17 operator, to award the main contracts to initiate
development of the Rosa oil field. Discovered in 1998, Rosa is located Egypt is putting seven offshore blocks up for bid.
135 km offshore in 1,300-1,500 m of water.
Rosa will be developed with 25 subsea wells – 14 producers and 11 Mediterranean
injectors – tied back to the Girassol FPSO, anchored 15 km away. The Egyptian Ministr y of Petroleum’s Egyptian Natural Gas
Modifications to the FPSO will increase the yearly average production Holding Co. will hold an international bid round this year. Nine blocks
rate to 250,000 b/d. will be on offer, seven in the Mediterranean Sea. The blocks, N. Ras
Sonangol is the block 17 concessionaire. Total Angola has a 40% El Hekma, N. Sidi Kerir Deep, N. El Amyria, El Bougaz, N. El Bougaz,
participatory interest in the block, alongside Esso Exploration Angola North El Temsah Deep, and N. Sinai Deep lie in areas north of the
Ltd. with 20% interest, BP Exploration Ltd. with 16.67%, Statoil Angola Western Desert to northeast of the Nile Delta.
AS with 3.33% interest, and Norsk Hydro with 10% interest. Data packages were available as of Sept. 1. Bids close Dec. 1.
•• • •• •
Norsk Hydro ASA is buying a 30% stake in the Majunga block off- Libya is also gearing up for a bidding round, the first since the US
shore Madagascar. lifted sanctions. Blocks will be offered in an open bid process that will
The block covers 17,800 sq km in the relatively unexplored close in January 2005, with awards made the same month. Awards
deepwater. will reportedly be made under new terms that are designed to be
The Majunga Offshore Profond joint venture group is conducting a more attractive to bidders.
comprehensive 3D seismic acquisition program covering 3,657 sq km Both onshore and offshore blocks are on offer.
of the deepwater portion of the block. The survey will further evalu-
ate the hydrocarbon potential of the Majunga salt basin. The current Europe
3D program is designed to identify and evaluate potential drilling loca- Some potentially interesting areas are coming up for bid in Europe
tions for an exploratory drilling program. in the coming months.
PGS’s M/V Ramform Challenger is acquiring the data. The acqui- The Faeroe Islands will hold its second licensing round in the
sition program, which began in late July, represents the first 3D seis- spring. The area offered for licensing lies east and south of the Faeroe
mic ever acquired in East Africa. Islands and covers 19,000 sq km, divided into 83 whole blocks and 39
According to Hydro, potential drilling on the block will take place in part-blocks.
2006 at the earliest. The Ministr y of Trade and Industr y says the objective of this
Vanco Madagascar Ltd. operates the block with a 30% stake, licensing round is to continue the exploration activities that began
ExxonMobil has 40%, and Hydro has 30% interest. under the first licensing round to establish the existence of commer-
cially exploitable hydrocarbon reserves.
Americas According to Minister of Trade and Industry Bjarni Djurholm, “We
Colombia’s Ecopetrol, Petrobras, and Exxon Mobil Corp. affiliate, want to draw attention to the many opportunities still unexplored and
ExxonMobil Exploration Colombia Ltd., have signed the first explo- in particular, the chances of discovering substantial hydrocarbon
ration and production contract with Colombia’s national hydrocarbon accumulations in the Faeroese area.”
agency to begin exploration activities offshore. Applications are due at the Faroese Petroleum Administration by Nov.

8 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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G L O B A L E & P
Judy Maksoud • Houston

17. Licenses are to be awarded next January. Australia activity

Blocks are also going to be available in the
The Australian government’s award of four new offshore petroleum exploration
Baltic Sea. The Natural Resources Ministry
permits off Western Australia and Ashmore and Cartier Islands will generate over
and the government of Kaliningrad region $87 million in exploration activities over the next six years. The blocks were awarded
are working on a list of license blocks. The in June and July, and considerable seismic programs are being planned.
blocks include Shelf-1 and Shelf-2 on the Nominations closed for the 2005 bidding round at the end of July.
Baltic Sea shelf and Kurshky Bay. Onshore Australia’s offshore has been particularly busy of late.
blocks will also be part of the offering. BHP Billiton’s Pyrenees development in the Exmouth sub-basin 45 km off the
•• • coast of Western Australia is about to take off. The company has drilled six wells
Toreador Resources Corp. and its partners since May in water depths from 190 m to 210 m.
Stratic Energy Corp. and TPAO, the Turkish Mike Weill, BHP president Americas/Australia operations and technology, says the
national oil company, discovered gas with the Stickle-1, Harrison-1, Crosby-2, and Ravensworth-2 results represent a series of oil
Ayazli-1 explorator y well in the western discoveries over adjacent fault terraces.
Black Sea offshore Turkey. “These accumulations occur in reservoirs of similar size and quality and are rela-
The Ayazli-1 well, spudded July 12, is on tively close to one another. We can develop these as a combined scheme, and
the shallow-water South Akcakoca prospect together they equate to a medium-sized oil reserve,” Weill says.
five miles offshore. The well will be tem- BHP’s oil discovery off Western Australia was followed by ChevronTexaco Corp.’s
porarily suspended pending future develop- gas discovery. Wheatstone-1, 110 mi west-northwest of Dampier, underwent a
ment activity in the South Akcakoca area. production test that established a flow rate of 54 MMcf/d, constrained by rig equip-
ment.
Toreador plans to conduct a high-definition
Western Australia has also caught the attention of India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd.,
seismic survey in 4Q 2004 and drill several
which has reportedly reached an agreement with Antrim Energy Inc., Canada, to
appraisal and exploratory wells in 2005 while
acquire majority interest in exploratory block WA 306 P. The block, which covers
finalizing plans for development infrastruc- 4,600 sq km, contains a cluster of drilling prospects in the Barcoo sub-basin. This
ture in the area. investment marks OVL’s entry into the Australian oil and gas industry.
Toreador operates the well through its The acquisition will become final pending approval by the Australian Government.
subsidiary Madison Oil Turkey Inc. and is As OVL gets its feet wet, Santos is expanding its Australian holdings offshore
responsible for 75% of the Ayazli-1 costs, Victoria with the decision to increase to 50% its equity interests in both the Patricia
retaining 36.75% working interest. Stratic Baleen and the Sole gas fields.
Energy Corp. is funding 25% of the costs of Santos will obtain an additional 30% interest from Trinity Gas Resources Pty. Ltd.
the well to earn a 12.25% interest in eight adja- in the Patricia Baleen gas field and associated processing facilities in eastern
cent permits that comprise 962,000 acres. Victoria and an additional 15% interest in the Sole gas field.
TPAO is being carried on the well for a 51% Santos contracted Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Bounty semisubmersible to drill the
working interest. horizontal Baleen 4 production well, which was to spud in September.
Tap Oil Ltd. is also increasing its holdings off Australia with an agreement with
Asia-Pacific OMV Australia Pty. Ltd. to farm in to three exploration permits that surround Tap's
India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. still has the production license over the Woollybutt oil field in the Otway basin. Tap will acquire
Midas touch. The company recently 25% interests in each of permits WA-290-P, WA-320-P, and WA-345-P.
reported a major gas discover y in the D-6 The WA-290-P permit is covered by 3D seismic data. Two wells are planned for
early 2005 at Lauda-1 and Maier-1, 21 km and 14 km northwest of the producing
block and a second gas discover y in the
Woollybutt field.
NEC-25 block off India’s east coast.
The deepwater M-1 exploration discovery
well in the D-6 block was drilled in 1,327-m According to Uzakbay Karabalin, president 75,000 b/d by 2008, with significant potential
water depth to 2,942 m. Reliance estimates of Kazakhstan’s state oil company, KazMu- for further development to up to 450,000 b/d.
that M-1 has 155 m of net pay, making it one naiGas, Kazakhstan expects to produce 1.2- “We believe that oil from the Caspian Sea will
of the thickest net pay gas sections encoun- 1.3 Bbbl of oil per year by 2015. Most of the be the newest source to help to stabilize oil
tered to date in the block. growth will come from the TengizChevroil prices around the world,” he says.
M-1 is the 11th consecutive successful well LLP, Karachaganak, and North Caspian pro- Agip KCO Consortium is exploring and
drilled in the 1.9-million-acre block. All jects. Last year, Kazakhstan produced 396 developing the Kashagan field along with
drilling to date has been based on the first MMbbl of oil. smaller, but important, oil fields including
1,800-sq-km 3D seismic program that covers According to KazMuniGas, the most chal- Kairan, Kalamkas, Kashagan South-West,
less than 20% of the block. An additional lenging and most promising project the and Aktote.
2,500-sq-km 3D program is being processed world petroleum industry has recently faced
and merged with the original survey. is the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. Middle East
In block NEC 25, the A2 well, drilled in 70 Kashagan has total geological reser ves of Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum has report-
m of water, tested at rates up to 15.8 MMcf/d. 38.4 Bbbl of oil, with recoverable reserves of edly signed two agreements with BP PLC
This is the fourth consecutive gas discovery 13 Bbbl. regarding the Gulf of Suez. One is for explo-
in NEC-25. Plans are progressing for fast- “The Kashagan field alone can hold ration in the Northern Shedwan area, where
track gas production. roughly the same amount of oil as Brazil, BP will spend at least $20 million on four
which is South America’s largest oil pro- wells over a nine-year period.
Central Asia ducer,” Karabalin says. The second agreement amends the gas
Kazakhstan is positioning itself to pick up Output of the first stage of development is pricing system connected to BP’s offshore
some of the slack in global oil production. already under way and is expected to reach concession of East Tanka. 

10 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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O F F S H O R E E U R O P E Jeremy Beckman • London

Hydro pushing to Kristin jigsaw

double Oseberg output taking shape
Norsk Hydro is looking to extend production
from its Oseberg area complex in the North First shipments of
Sea beyond 2030 and to double remaining Statoil’s Kristin semisub-
mersible platform have been
recoverable reserves to 3.12 Bboe. Business
arriving at the Aker Stord
Unit Head Oystein Michelsen outlined the
integration yard in western
company’s thinking during a briefing at ONS Norway. Dockwise’s Mighty
Stavanger. Servant I barge transported
Oseberg came onstream in 1983. Today it the 14,620-ton hull from
provides half of Hydro’s production and 10% of Samsung’s yard in Koje,
Norway’s annual sales. The reserves have Korea, while another
been developed in stages through four bridge- Dockwise ship, the Tern,
linked platforms, with gas exports starting in brought the riser balcony
2000 (some of the gas is re-injected). The com- and flare tower a shorter
plex also handles gas/condensate from the distance from the Dragados The Kristin hull, towed by Dockwise from Korea to Aker Stord
Tune field. Gas is sent to the Statpipe trunk- yard in Puerto Real, Spain. in Norway.
line system via Hydro’s Heimdal platform, The living quarters and
while oil is piped to the Sture terminal in west- helideck, built by Emtunga in Sweden, were due to follow. Mating of the topsides to
ern Norway. the substructure should have been completed by now, with tow-out to the field in the
Recent events have allowed the company Norwegian Sea scheduled for March 25. First gas/condensate from Kristin is due next
to posit new, longer-term scenarios. These October. Statoil is already looking ahead to future satellite developments to the plat-
include an extension of its concessions in this form, including a potential 40-km tieback of the Tyrihans field.
area to 2031 and the allocation of remaining
unexplored acreage in touching distance to installations,” Michelsen pointed out, “and In the near future, there are plans to add
Hydro and its partners in Oseberg. But there our unit costs are increasing…also, high tar- three subsea satellites to the complex. The J-
are more urgent issues to resolve. iff costs are hindering tie-ins of smaller fields Struktur was due to be tied back to the
“The Oseberg platforms are heavy, old in this area.” Oseberg South platform this fall, but work has

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O F F S H O R E E U R O P E

fallen behind schedule, due to Norway’s con- Waddenzee drilling offshore fields could be brought onstream by
tinuing rig strike. Early next year, drilling is could resume 2007-08, Wood Mackenzie says. This would
due to start on the Vestflanken accumulation, Restrictions on offshore activity in the entail installation of two pipelines to the nearby
and a new subsea well (Tune 2) will be drilled Waddenzee could soon be lifted, following a gas treatment plant at Anjum, where capacity is
through the Tune template. Thereafter, the review by the Dutch government. Drilling and 350 MMcf/d, plus modifications at two of the
next likeliest candidates are Tune 3, Delta, production in the region, off the northeast onshore drilling locations. All five discovery
and G-Central, with a plan for the latter set to Netherlands coast, was halted in 1999 by envi- wells would be completed as producers, and
be issued in 2005. ronmental concerns. If activity resumed, this should only require minor workovers. More
“We see Oseberg going from a platform- could free up 1.2 tcf for immediate development, development wells would likely follow, with
based development to a host of subsea instal- according to UK analysts Wood Mackenzie. compression probably added after five years of
lations,” Michelsen added, “with maybe 30 Between 1995-99, NAM was allowed to production. The analysts also believe 1.1 to 4.6
subsea wells five years from now.” drill several deviated wells under the sea tcf is waiting to be discovered in the eastern
But these measures alone won’t double from two onshore locations at Lauwersoog part of the Waddenzee, if seismic analysis is to
remaining reserves. That will involve more tie- and Modelergat. These led to the discovery be trusted.
ins of third-party fields, such as Hydro’s Brage, of at least five commercial fields. Develop-
and more concerted exploration drilling. ment started soon afterward, but as work on French acreage shrinks
“We plan to drill three to five targets per the onshore sites neared completion in 1999, Licensed acreage offshore France
year,” he said, “more than half being side- the government intervened, pulling the plug dropped by 25% last year to just over 37,000
tracks from production wells into unknown on all activity. The main issue was the poten- sq km. According to the Bureau Exploration-
structures.” tial impact of subsidence caused by gas Production des Hydrocarbures, only three
Hydro also plans to drill two test wells production on the local ecosystem. Several offshore permits remain in force, following
from the main field center into a Shetland studies have since been mounted using mea- the expir y of blocks held by CNR in the
chalk reser voir to the southeast. A strong surements from fields nearby already in Iroise Sea basin, in the Channel, and by Esso
result could mean development through a production. All concluded that subsidence in the Bay of Biscay. However, Hunt has filed
new platform with 18 wells. Another gas plat- would be offset by the continuous inflow of an application for a new permit extending
form may also be needed to increase gas-pro- sediments from tidal movements into the over 8,000 sq km in the Biscay region, and
cessing capacity for the area generally, Waddenzee. another company has requested a reconnais-
bridge-linked to the Oseberg D installation. Assuming the ban is lifted, the suspended sance permit for an area offshore Corsica. 

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G U L F O F M E X I C O Jaime Kammerzell • Houston

Deepwater GoM rates up Anadarko divests $1.3 billion in GoM shelf

Drilling contractors reported in August
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has divested its Gulf of Mexico shelf properties
that deepwater day rates are increasing. This
through two transactions totaling $1.3 billion. The company has agreed to sell an
follows the announcement that jackup day
overriding royalty interest to Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc., and thereafter, the
rates are up 10% over last year. The number shelf properties to Apache Corp.
of jackups operating in the US Gulf of Mexico The package represents 98.6 MMboe of proved reserves as of year-end 2003 and
continues to fall, however, as companies 46,000 boe/d.
move jackups to areas where bigger reserves Anadarko’s GoM shelf properties include 78 fields and 112 platforms. Upon com-
have been found, such as West Africa, Russia, pletion of the announced sales, Anadarko will operate only one offshore platform,
and Southeast Asia. the Marco Polo facility at deepwater Green Canyon block 608.
In Transocean’s 2Q 2004 report, the com- “By exiting the shelf, we can focus our Gulf program on the deepwater, which is
pany reported “encouraging indications of expected to be the single-largest contributor to Anadarko’s targeted 5%-9% annual
growing customer interest and an improving growth rate through 2009,” Jim Hackett, Anadarko president and CEO, says.
offshore drilling environment.” The company
sees an improving level of interest supported semi drilling to start in September through Western GoM Sale 192
by recent contract signings involving the November,” he said. Deep gas remained an important focus of
company’s high-specification deepwater rigs. Diamond’s semisubmersible Ocean Victory, Western Gulf of Mexico Sale 192 held in New
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. has awarded rated for 5,500-ft water depth, currently work- Orleans on Aug. 18. The offshore oil and nat-
Transocean’s ultra-deepwater drillship, the ing for $45,000, is contracted for $75,000 and ural gas lease sale, held by the US Department
Deepwater Millennium, a six-month contract has a letter of intent for $95,000. Second gener- of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service,
for drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The ation semisubmersibles Ocean Saratoga and attracted $171.4 million in high bids. Fifty-four
contract is expected to start on December 1 Ocean Lexington also signed contracts at higher companies participated in the sale, which
and contains options to extend the contract day rates, about $50,000 and $60,000, respec- offered 3,907 tracts comprising 21.2 million
over three, six-month intervals at mutually tively. The Banc of America brief also says five acres offshore Texas and Louisiana. The MMS
agreed pricing. Revenues, which could be of Diamond’s nine domestic semisubmersibles received 421 bids on 351 tracts, up 15% from last
generated over the initial six-month contract will likely rollover at higher rates before year- year. Bids totaling $197.4 million were down
period, total $36.4 million, which puts the end. 24% from last year, and only 54 companies sub-
dayrate at $200,000/day. “Rigs that were idle are now booked into mitted bids for tracts, compared to 63 compa-
“Semisubmersible day rates are skyrock- next year,” Vigeant said. “It is too soon to nies last year.
eting,” Chad Wilson, Noble Drilling Services know how long it will last.” “The Deep Gas Relief Incentives announced
Inc, said. GlobalSantaFe cited similar examples of in January seem to be enticing more operators
A Banc of America Research Brief said increased day rates. “An ultra-deepwater semi- to drill for deep gas in the GoM,” MMS
Diamond Offshore is seeing higher fixtures submersible day rate is $150,000 now,” Richard Director Johnnie Burton said.
for GoM semisubmersibles. Hoffman, GlobalSantaFe, said. “In January, it Of the 351 tracts receiving bids, 135 are in
Shawn Vigeant, Diamond Offshore, attrib- will be $155,000, in April it will be $180,000.” water depths less than 200 m. This number is
uted the day rate increase to supply and Hoffman believes of the 29 ultra-deepwater a 22% increase from a year ago, when compa-
demand. “After six quarters in a row of losing rigs working worldwide, demand will exceed nies bid on 110 tracts in less than 200 m of
money, we’ve seen an increase in deepwater supply by the end of the year. water during Western GoM Sale 187.
Deepwater bids increased from 45 in 2003
to 60 this go-round. However, total high bids
Gulf of Mexico semisubmersible utilization fell from $30 million last year to $21 million
this year, and the average high bid decreased
100 from $661,000 in 2003 to $355,000.
90 MMS GoM Regional Director Chris Oynes
80
said the sale was “The best Western Gulf sale
in six years in terms of the number of bids
70
received and the number of tracts bid on.”
60 The Houston Exploration Co. submitted the
Percent

50 highest bid, $6.7 million, for High Island East

40 Addition, South Extension, block A 270.
Approximately 44% of the tracts receiving bids
30
are in ultra-deepwater, which fell to 156 from
20 180 a year ago. The average of total high bids
10 increased to $497,000 from $322,000 in 2003
0 and total high bids equaled $89 million, up
1/6 4/6 7/6 10/6 1/6 4/6 7/6 10/6 1/6 4/6 7/6 10/6 1/6 4/6 7/6 10/6 1/6 4/6 7/6 from $66 million. The deepest tract bid on was
Keathley Canyon block 1009 in 2,824 m of
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 water.
Source:ODS-Petrodata, Banc of America Securities LLC. Interest in deepwater and ultra-deepwater
tracts was also high. Of 193 deepwater tracts
GoM semisubmersible utilization (contracted demand divided by total supply) has “skyrocketed” bid on, 37 are in 400-799 m of water, 101 in
from late-June. 800-1,599 m, and 55 in 1,600 m or greater. 

14 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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SUBSEA/SURFACE SYSTEMS Eldon Ball • Houston

Petrobras extends Vice President for Subsea 7 Brazil Victor Bomfim, confirmed the
Lochnagar contract award and added, “This award shows considerable commitment by
Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) has extended the contract for Petrobras to the Lochnagar and Subsea 7’s pipelaying capabilities.
the Subsea 7 flexible pipelay vessel Lochnagar at an estimated value of Based on previous experience, we anticipate that around 150 km of
$12 million. The contract is for the exclusive use of the Lochnagar for flexible pipe will be installed during the contract period.”
175 days to provide flexible pipelay, engineering, and subsea installa- Meanwnile, Subsea 7’s Gulf of Mexico Integrated Remote Tech-
tion services. The vessel will work offshore Brazil in 2,000 m of water nologies (IRT) group has received two contracts for ROV services
and is capable of installing bundles or single flexible pipes varying onboard the drilling rig Sovereign Explorer for projects off Venezuela
from 2-in. to 12-in. in diameter. and Trinidad. The work, in water depths to 750 m, will be for Statoil
The vessel has been working in Brazilian waters since 1998, when Plataforma Deltana AS and the client consortium headed by British
it was modified to convert to a flexible pipelay vessel. The commit- Gas Trinidad & Tobago and British Gas International Ltd., and includ-
ment to the vessel by Petrobras will offer continuity of work for the ing partners ChevronTexaco, Petrotrin, Eni, and PetroCanada. The
Lochnagar until December. contracts are valued in the region of $2 million and run until December
Petrobras previously awarded Subsea 7 a two-year, $110-million 2005.
contract to install flexible and steel lines offshore using the Lochnagar The combined work scope includes six wells with additional
on virtually a continuous basis for flexible installation, and Skandi optional wells thereafter. Under the existing Statoil frame agreement,
Navica on shorter campaigns for the steel line installation. The earlier the first contract covers two wells for the drilling program for Statoil
contract contained options to extend the duration for up to five years. Deltana, block 4, offshore Venezuela. A separate contract will cover
Major modifications will be made to the Lochnagar, upgrading the top four wells for the British Gas Trinidad & Tobago and British Gas
tension capability to over 250 tons to enable the vessel to lay flexible International drilling program for 2004-05 in the east and north coast
lines in up to 2,000 m. marine areas offshore Trinidad.
According to Subsea 7, the upgrade will be carried out in a Brazilian Subsea 7 will use two Centurion HD work class ROVs during the
shipyard soon to be nominated. The vessels will install over 300 km of project, with the option for of a tool deployment unit and tooling for
steel and flexible lines primarily in the deepwater Campos basin. The completion operations.
project will begin in 3Q 2005.
Subsea equipment
for Greater Plutonio
FMC Kongsberg Subsea AS, a unit of FMC Technologies Inc.,
has signed a $32-million contract to supply subsea systems and
related services for the BP-operated Greater Plutonio project in
block 18, offshore Angola.
The contract, which covers local Angolan fabrication of mani-
folds, brings the total current project value for FMC to $382 million.
FMC Technologies’ scope of supply for the Greater Plutonio
project is expected to include 45 subsea trees and associated struc-
tures, manifolds and production control systems, as well as con-
nection systems for flowlines and umbilicals. FMC Technologies
also will supply technical ser vices related to installation and
startup. The supply of equipment and services will be supported
by FMC Kongsberg Subsea’s operations in Angola. Deliveries will
be completed over a multi-year period and are scheduled to begin
in early 2005.
(Above) The Subsea 7 flexible pipelay vessel Lochnagar. (Below) The Subsea 7
pipelay barge Skandi Navica. Sonsub completes contract,
continues another
Sonsub Inc has completed a 180-day contract with Oceanografia
S.A de C.V, in the Bay of Campeche on Pemex pipeline projects using
the 75-HP work class ROV Discovery 3. Meanwhile, Sonsub’s
Scorpion 22 ROV, mobilized in May 2003, is continuing work on a
three-year contract for Oceanografia for inspection, survey, and CP
monitoring on 623 submarine crossings, 266 submarine intercon-
nections, and 5,040 km of submarine pipeline, including risers.
According to Sonsub, by using the Innovatum tracking system, the
ROVs have been able to perform the work in 0.2 to 0.4 m of visibility
at a rate of 0.9 km an hour. Sonsub also is also supplying a dual-boom
pipeline inspection suite, including dual head profilers, a bathymetry
unit, and other inspection capabilities. 

In the August issue of Offshore magazine, we said that

Fairfield Industries built the Deep 2 Pod Deployment skid
system. In fact, Sonsub built the system.

16 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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VESSELS, RIGS, UPGRADES Judy Maksoud • Houston

Mærsk gets new jackup the execution of this fast-track project,” Choo Chiau Beng, chairman
Mærsk Contractors has taken delivery of the Mærsk Inspirer, a new and CEO of Keppel O&M, says.
ultra-harsh environment jackup rig built at Hyundai Heavy Industries Tong Chong Heong, managing director and COO of Keppel O&M
Co. Ltd. in Korea. The new rig is identical to the Mærsk Innovator, says the team excelled at coordinating its efforts. “To meet the con-
which was delivered in 2003 and has been working in the North Sea. tractual schedule, we had to start production while the detailed engi-
According to Mærsk, the sister rigs are the largest and most neering work was still being carried out by BP’s designer, Technip.
advanced jackups in the world and are designed for operation in harsh This called for the project teams to be very innovative, flexible, and
environments, such as the northern part of the North Sea and meticulous in the management of each phase of the project.”
Eastern Canada. The four completed strips will be transported to the Caspian Sea
The Mærsk Inspirer is scheduled to arrive in the North Sea by the where Keppel O&M’s subsidiary, CSC, will integrate them in a float-
end of 2004. ing dry dock in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“The new features and capabilities of these rigs have already A self-installing jackup drilling/production/quarters platform, the
proven their value as they have been put to good use on the Mærsk TPG 500 jackup, will be the first world-class gas-condensate drilling/
Innovator for our clients. The extended cantilever reach, the production platform in the Caspian Sea when it is completed in 3Q 2006.
increased deck space and deck load and, not least, the improved effi- The jackup has a 90-m by 90-m footprint, an operational depth of 101 m,
ciency of the Mærsk Innovator has made the entry into the market a and production capacity of 900 MMcf/d of gas and 14.6 MMbbl per year
great success. We are confident that the Mærsk Inspirer will be of condensate.
equally successful,” says Tage Bundgaard, president of Mærsk
Contractors. Ulstein Verft builds construction vessel
Ulstein Verft AS has been tagged to build a construction vessel for
BP awards follow-up job to Keppel Solstad/SBM, a joint-venture company owned by Solstad and
Keppel FELS Ltd. has delivered the main hull sections of the BP Monaco’s Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) group. According to Ulstein
Shah Deniz TPG 500 platform to BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Ltd. Verft, the project is one of the largest single projects the shipyard has
Following hull construction, the joint entity, Keppel FELS and gained so far and is worth around NKr650 million. The vessel will be
Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) subsidiar y, Caspian delivered in January 2006.
Shipyard Co., was awarded an additional $20-million contract to inte- The construction vessel will be one of the largest build projects at
grate the hull sections for the jackup platform in the Caspian Sea. Ulstein Verft in terms of both weight and size. The vessel will mea-
“CSC and Keppel FELS are participating with Technip and BP in sure 123.8 m long, have a width of 28 m, and will require 6,000 tons of

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18 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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VESSELS, RIGS, UPGRADES

Ulstein Verft AS has begun work on a new construction vessel that will
be delivered in January 2006.

Ulstein Verft’s partner shipyard, Maritim Ltd., in Poland. The

forepart will arrive at Ulstein Verft in Ulsteinvik in May 2005. The
stern will arrive in July. Final delivery has been set for Jan. 20,
2006.

Sinvest to get another jackup

Norway’s Sinvest ASA has exercised an option through a sub-
sidiary of Deep Drilling Invest Pte. Ltd. with Keppel FELS Ltd. to
build another KFELS Super B class jackup.
In February 2004, the Skeie Group entered into option agree-
ments with two rig builders when it contracted the shipyards to
construct a jackup each. One of rig builders was Keppel FELS,
which offered its KFELS Super B class design.
“We have chosen to build another rig with Keppel FELS because
the market interest in the KFELS Super B class jackup rig is strong,”
Bjarne Skeie, executive chairman of Sinvest, says.
steel. Vik-Sandvik is responsible for the design. “We have anticipated a growing demand for deep gas drilling jack-
The construction vessel is equipped with a moonpool, anchor han- ups and have committed resources to develop the KFELS Super B
dling winches, an A-frame, and a heave-compensated 250-ton offshore design to meet this demand,” Skeie says.
crane. The vessel will be fitted out for 100 people. The KFELS Super B class rig can operate in water depths to 350 ft and
The purchasing and planning phases of the project have begun, but can drill to 35,000 ft. It is fully high pressure/high temperature compli-
the actual steel cutting phase will not begin until mid November 2004. ant and is designed for production drilling from new or existing wellhead
Ulstein Verft’s Vanylven division is going to build the superstructure, platforms. The jackup’s cantilever skidding system enables the well cen-
with a start-up date set for December. It will deliver sections through ter to be moved within a 70-ft by 30-ft envelope with full set-back.
April 2005. The forepart and aft ship of the vessel will be built at The new rig should be delivered in the fall of 2006. 

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20 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Exactly what you need.

Exactly where you need it.

Completion Drilling Well Services Production

Our comprehen-
sive cased-hole
completion sys- Delivering completion systems
tems include:
■ Permanent and
value – right now.
Retrievable On sour gas wells in Northern Germany, we were asked to provide a specialized cased-
Packers hole completion solution that addressed the need for large tubing to inject chemicals
■ Bridge Plugs
below the packer to protect the completion.
■ Sand Control

■ Safety Systems
Solution: We custom engineered a completion string using a high volume specialty
chemical injection line and subassembly above the packer, complete with safety
■ Downhole
valves, to allow high gas rates to reduce formation pressure. In tandem, we applied a
Control Valves
■ Intelligent Wells
concentric completion below the packer for maximum solvent injection at the deepest
possible point of the wellbore. And by using large bore tubing, we maximized the ulti-
■ Sand Screens
mate production.
■ Interventionless

Control Systems Significance: This system enabled the customer to avoid expensive, exotic alloys
■ Flow Controls in the lower completion, dramatically reducing the overall completion costs.
Weatherford has the products and services you need – across the globe. Call
+1-713-693-4000 or visit www.weatherford.com to learn how our Cased Hole
Completion offerings can make your well Simply ProductiveSM.

© 2004 Weatherford International Ltd. All rights reserved. Incorporates proprietary and patented Weatherford technology.

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D R I L L I N G & P R O D U C T I O N Frank Hartley • Houston

Teamwork expected nies to speed and enhance decision-making. The first phase of the WITSML design was
According to Eugene Nathan, Baker restricted to a small team from the major
to speed decisions Hughes INTEQ product line manager for ser vice companies. It had an aggressive
Exploration and production companies are surface systems, over the past 20 years, a schedule, and it was believed that the only
now putting more focus on collaborative number of industry-wide solutions for trans- way to meet this schedule was to keep the
asset teamwork to speed and improve the fer of information between service compa- group small. For the same reason, the scope
decision-making involved with developing oil nies and E&P companies have been devel- was restricted to drilling, as that was deemed
and gas fields. To facilitate such collabora- oped, some more successful than others. The to be the highest priority.
tion, companies are adopting shared, inte- WITSML initiative was started in 2000 to Additional work has been done to refine
grated information technology to enable update the existing methods for the 21st and implement the standard in the second
multi-disciplinary teams to improve workflow Century and incorporate the lessons learned half of 2001 and 2002. The application pro-
processes across all phases of the oil field life from previous initiatives. Both E&P opera- gramming interface was fully implemented
cycle. Much of the data needed to feed these tors and oilfield service companies, aimed at and commercial applications have been writ-
workflow processes can be shared between providing an industry-wide solution for trans- ten and field-tested using the standard.
service companies and E&P companies dur- fer of information between service compa- The overall scope of the project is to define
ing the planning and execution phases of the nies and E&P companies, sponsor it. standard transfer formats for data that covers
wellbore construction process. For this to “During the wellbore construction process, the life of the well. Phase 1 focuses on the
become viable, a new data exchange stan- a number of different service companies pro- wellbore construction processes, specifically
dard needed to be defined and adopted by vide data monitoring and acquisition services on drilling. Data that has been defined and
placed into standard XML schemas for Phase
e-mail,
1 included bottom hole assembly ops, well-
Rig sensors WITSML FTP or
Oil co. client bore-tubulars and wellbore geometry, loca-
serial Wellsite service floppy tion-casing scheme, open hole, units-fluids
transfer company report, logs-rig (equipment, pump, bit
record), real-time mud logging, trajector y
WITSML HTTP Oil co. client cement job, and target operations report.
network web Phase 2 and later potential phases will
transfer pages
include completions, well servicing, well test-
Rig WITSML server ing, and well production monitoring. The
instrumentation API standard covers both the definition of stan-
company calls OpenWorks or dard data transfer formats and also the inter-
GeoFrame faces for access to the data formats.
One of the most obvious benefits that
Rig site Office location WITSML brings to operators is the real-time
feed of WITSML data into the operator’s project
The Wellsite information transfer standard markup language (WITSML) project seeks an improved oil databases. Operators benefit because they get
industry standard to enable the service company on a wellsite to seamlessly exchange data with the
their data much quicker (near real-time) and
software system in an oil company’s office.
they can get it from multiple vendors without
the oil and gas industry. at the wellsite, collecting engineering data, integrating service company proprietary tech-
P.J. McGinley, director of Software Engi- geological data, daily reporting data, and well nology into their chosen software solutions.
neering at Baker Hughes INTEQ, says that log data from logging-while-drilling (LWD)/ The North Sea and Gulf of Mexico have
the industry needs a new data definition stan- measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools,” seen significant activity is this regard with
dard that will allow the efficient transfer of Nathan says. Oil company project groups have WITSML. BP, Statoil, Shell, and several other
large data sets. a need to analyze this data in a timely fashion operators are already using or testing the
“Wellsite information transfer standard using a variety of different processing software, technology for real-time decision-making in
markup language (WITSML) was initially running on PC Windows and Unix computers these regions.
developed by an oil industry initiative spon- in widely distributed network environments. Another somewhat prevalent use has been
sored by BP and Statoil, and later by Shell, as Alan Doniger says that the scope of the first the request for WITSML time-based drilling
a new standard for drilling information trans- phase of the WITSML project was to cover data servers. Technology now exists that pro-
fer,” Alan Doniger, Petrotechnical Open the requirements of wellbore construction vides the “black-box” capability to store and
Standards Consortium Inc. (POSC) chief processes, focusing initially on the drilling publish this information to other WITSML
technology officer, says. process. Later phases may include comple- subscribers.
Initial participation was from the major tions, well servicing, well testing, and well As the industry views the success of this ini-
service companies Baker Hughes, GeoQuest, production monitoring. The standard covers tiative, other disciplines are considering the
Halliburton, Landmark, and Schlumberger. both the definition of standard data items and use of similar technology employed through
As of the completion of WITSML V1.2 in the interfaces for access to the data items. WITSML (XML, SOAP) to increase their pro-
March 2003, POSC has custody of WITSML WITSML is intended for the transfer of data in ductivity and real time decision-making capa-
and is managing its support and future evolu- both real-time and non-real-time modes. The bilities. Some strong examples include the
tion through the WITSML Special Interest cooperation between the operators and interest in moving the production discipline
Group. The aim of the WITSML standard is service companies working on this project into a similar environment and using time-
for the “right time” seamless flow of well site has been tremendous and a key element for based WITSML data for engineering calcula-
data between operators and service compa- its ultimate success. tions on a more-or-less real-time basis. 

22 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Be the best
you can be
TOGETHER WE CAN ACHIEVE MORE
In business, the world is constantly changing.
The most successful organisations around learn
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Shell Global Solutions is a network of independent technology companies in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group

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G E O S C I E N C E S Victor Schmidt • Houston

Regional 3D returns EXPLORATION

One of the weaknesses of current explo-
ration practice is the reliance on “postage Makassar Strait 2D
stamp” interpretation: imaging and interpret- TGS-Nopec is shooting a non-exclusive 2D sur-
ing relatively small areas with 3D seismic. vey in Indonesia’s Makassar Strait. The 5,200-km
For the Gulf of Mexico, this is represented by CM04 survey complements and infills earlier sur-
one-block interpretations – 3 x 3 mi. This “col- veys. New data will be acquired over part of the
umn” of acoustic data tells the interpreter West Sulawesi Fold Belt, an area likely to be SULAWESI
much about the sur veyed block, but the offered in a 2005 bid round.
Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG)
wider basin tectonics and petroleum kitchen
was awarded a contract by ONGC for acquisition
information are not imaged, interpreted, or
and onboard processing of marine surveys cover-
integrated into the project. ing the west coast and a portion of the east coast
To add to the problem, many companies of India. The $103-million project covers 19 sepa-
have eschewed micropaleontology. This rate surveys over 13,000 sq km. Vessels will tow 4-
blinds the geoscientist to the true time-strati- 10 streamers and shoot from November 2004 to
graphic location of anomalies because there June 2005.
are no vertical markers to identify where CM04 Survey
they lie within the time-stratigraphic column. GoM 4C OBC
Sequence boundaries are time-strati- Terra Seismic Services deployed a four-compo-
graphic, so it is important to know where the nent ocean bottom cable data acquisition system
anomaly is when tying loops or “zapping” in the Gulf of Mexico. The system offers improved TGS-Nopec is shooting the CM04
across amplitude surfaces. Machine interpre- and automated in-sea system handling techniques 2D survey in Indonesia’s Makassar
tation cannot know which phase to follow for the VectorSeis Ocean recording and communi- Strait.
when a horizon transitions, crosses a fault, or cation technology.
jumps a sediment boundary. These decisions
require professional input. Madagascar survey
Now there is an expanding capability to The Majunga Offshore Profond joint venture group is conducting a 3D seismic
address part of this issue through clustered, acquisition program over 3,657 sq km in the block’s deepwater portion. The block
scalable computer systems combined with covers about 4.4 million acres and is off northwestern Madagascar. The survey will
standard graphic card technology. Silicon image the Majunga salt basin.
Graphics recently demonstrated the ability to According to Vanco, operator, the acquisition program is the first 3D seismic
access 400 Gb of data in a test with Marathon acquired in East Africa. PGS’ M/V Ramform Challenger is acquired the data.
Oil’s 3D data and Landmark Graphics’
GeoProbe software. large volumes of information to the user,” Bill
This test extended the access benchmark Bartling, senior director of Market Strategy- TECHNOLOGY
four-fold from its earlier 100-Gb limit. Since Energy for SGI, says. “It gives every individ- P3
most interpreters only access 32 Gb on aver- ual in the enterprise and in the network Veritas DGC launched P3, a new pore
age, this leap in capability allows the inter- access to the capacity they need. They are pressure prediction algorithm. The soft-
preter to examine complete mini-basins or not limited to the resources they have in their ware uses seismic data to predict the
larger regional 3D surveys. desktop system.” spatial distribution of pore pressures
“Because we are able to so dramatically Shown at the recent Society for Exploration between wells. The method was tested
increase the expert bandwidth with this inter- Geophysicists convention in Denver, Col- in the North Sea and offshore West
face, we are not only able to increase the vol- orado, SGI’s prism visualization system is Africa.
umes of information we can present but built around the Altix nodal computer to pro-
(also) the rate at which we can present new duce a single system image. It includes large DCCOD
processor counts, large mem- IBM opened its third Deep
ory, and a large number of ATI Computing Capacity on Demand
graphics cards. By linking the (DCCOD) center in Houston, Texas. The
cards into a single cached DCCOD will run 512 IBM xSeries Xeon
memory, much more data can servers. Landmark Graphics
be imaged and quickly move, (Halliburton) will be the anchor client
so that the regional patterns for the Houston DCCOD and provide
become evident.  access to Landmark’s Rapid Prospect
Generation Engine.
DCCOD centers enable seismic
processors to tap into supercomputing
power to meet short-term needs with a
SGI extended the seismic imag- pay-as-you-go model. Processors who
ing benchmark to 400 gigabytes, have supercomputing capacity can
opening a path to easier regional supplement it to handle peak loads.
interpretation. The new DCCOD joins IBM’s existing
centers in Poughkeepsie, New York,
and Montpellier, France.

24 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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0-1/2003-OGJ/GB – creativ partner, düsseldorf

Quality by Nature
A benchmark for future drilling fluids
Whether for operators, service companies, distributors or producers – the US
Environmental Protection Agency has issued unequivocal guidelines for the use
of drilling fluids. The 10-day Leptocheirus Test and the 275-day Biodegradability Test
serve as the benchmark in environmental compatibility. With the EQ Emblem, we indi-
cate our adherence to the defined and original Ester Quality Standard, as developed
by Cognis. Drilling fluids marked with the EQ Emblem fulfill in full measure all of the
US Environmental Protection Agency specifications for environmentally sound offshore
exploration. They also meet the demand of the market for speed and deepwater
performance, as well as human health and safety. How? Because this special ester is
based on the power of natural raw materials extracted from palmkernel oil. Anyone Cognis Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
Oleochemicals, Oilfield Chemicals
who is committed to this quality standard and acknowledges his own responsibility
Phone ++49-211-7940-3057
can use the EQ Emblem to mark his products. Look for it. Ask for it. Use it. Fax ++49-211-7981-3057
For further information, visit: www.esterquality.com www.cognis.com

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WEST AFRICA

Sonangol lays groundwork for growth

Judy Maksoud
Training, processes pave the way International Editor

ith all of the activity taking place off- cal to the company’s successful expansion. from “definition” through to “application” in

W shore Angola, national oil company

Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis
de Angola (Sonangol E.P.) is laying
a solid foundation for growth.
Exploration and development dollars con-
“Sonangol should be an organization
structured through processes,” says da Silva.
One way the company has created the nec-
essary processes is through benchmarking
with other companies’ best practices estab-
our lives,” da Silva says.
Benchmarking allowed Sonangol to iden-
tify weaknesses, which led to finding ways to
improve processes. The exercise resulted in
what da Silva describes as, “very intensive
tinue to pour into West Africa, and much of lished in Angola. training beginning with top management.”
that money is going to Angola. Sonangol is Sonangol E.P. signed an agreement in 2001 According to da Silva, Sonangol E.P. will
developing its indigenous resources to sus- with Det Norske Veritas, which allowed, spend around $3 million over the next three
tain domestic development so as to benefit among other types of assistance, technical and a half years to develop an integrated
from the influx of foreign investment. support from other organizations to be chan- QHSE management system through the
“Initially, Sonangol and its employees will neled through DNV. “This assistance has entire organization.
benefit,” Valente Caetano Barros da Silva, cor- been ver y, ver y beneficial to us,” da Silva “QHSE is a culture. It needs commitment
porate manager of quality, health, safety, and says. DNV is also providing training for a and leadership from the top down,” da Silva
environment at Sonangol E.P., says. “Even- Sonangol engineer. says.
tually, society at large will be improved.” Sonangol E.P. designed its HSE manage-
Sonangol has been proactive in applying ment system with DNV and defined how the Developing partnerships
QHSE principles as it grows. The systems and system would be integrated and managed. When it comes to HSE, there should not be
processes that have been put in place are criti- “This created a common understanding of competition with others in the business, da
what QHSE means Silva says. “We will work with ChevronTexaco,
Offshore activity
Late last year, Sonangol and BP announced the Marte oil
discovery in ultra-deepwater block 31. Marte is the fourth
exploration well BP drilled in block 31 and the third successful 1P
Agip A N G O L A
discovery following Plutão and Saturno, which lie 20-25 km
from Marte. 2/80
In early August, BP selected Transocean Inc.’s semisub- ChevronTexaco
mersible Sedco Express to drill the BP-operated Greater 2/85
ChevronTexaco
Plutonio field beginning in 2Q 2005. The project to develop six 15 ExxonMobil
fields will be the first development in Angola’s block 18 and the 1E
first BP-operated project in Angola. The fields Galio, Cromio, 3/91D
Paladio, Plutonio, Cobalto, and Platina, collectively known as 3/91A
Greater Plutonio, are in water depths of 3,900-4,900 ft. Total
31 BP 3/80
The Total-operated Jasmim field in block 17 came onstream
Total 2/92
in early December. Jasmim is one of 15 discoveries
announced in block 17 and the second to be brought
onstream, following Girassol in December 2001. The field lies
in 1,400 m of water 150 km offshore, and its development 16 CNR
includes eight subsea wells tied back to the Girassol FPSO 5
km away. 4/26
4/23 Sonangol
Bringing this field onstream increased output from the CNR
Girassol FPSO to more than 230,000 b/d. It also extends 32 Total
plateau production from the area and forms part of Total’s 33 ExxonMobil
strategy for increased output from block 17. 17 Total 4/92
In 3Q 2004, Total began awarding the main contracts to initi- 5 Sonangol
ate development on the Rosa oil field, also in block 17. Rosa is
the second field to be tied back to the Girassol FPSO and is
scheduled to come onstream in the first half of 2007, raising AFRICA
and prolonging peak production.
ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary Esso Exploration Angola ANGOLA
(block 15) Ltd. began production on the Xikomba field in early 34 Sonangol 18 BP
December 2003. Xikomba, the company’s first producing field
Area
shown Offshore Angola contains
offshore Angola, is the first of several anticipated Exxon-oper-
enormous reserves, including
ated developments in the region. Pacific
Ocean three world-class fields.

26 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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SUBSEA

EE RING
ENGIN

Te c h n o l o g
y

Challenging projects. It’s what we do.

www.jraymcdermott.com
© 2004 J. Ray McDermott, Inc. all rights reserved.

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WEST AFRICA

whole community can gain from this,” da

Angola to have the largest offshore Silva says. Sonangol E.P. also plans to work
training center in West Africa with non-governmental organizations on
Sonangol is reinforcing training within the country with companies like Det environmental issues in recognizing and
Norske Veritas. “When we signed our first training agreement with Sonangol in 2001, accepting their social responsibilities.
it became clear that much more had to be done,” says Sergio Matos, DNV director for “Sonangol E.P. is seen by Angolan society
business development. The companies have since worked to ensure that knowledge as the leader for the country’s development,”
stays in Angola. Several other companies joined them in a partnership agreement to da Silva says. The company takes that role
develop training services. seriously. Sonangol’s goal is to give Angolans
Emprêsa de Serviços de Sondagens de Angola (ESSA) is a partnership formed by a vested interest and stronger role in their
Sonangol, Global Marine International Drilling Corp., and Single Buoy Moorings. It country’s future.
was established to train and qualify local workers and technical staff in safety
“We have to be careful that we do not jeop-
related activities, primarily for the petroleum sector in Angola.
ardize the trust and responsibility the popula-
The agreement covers certification, personnel qualification, and training. ESSA’s
tion has entrusted to Sonangol E.P. as a
program already includes 35 courses from the DNV training catalogue.
Until recently, petroleum personnel working offshore Angola had to travel outside company,” da Silva says.
the country to receive relevant training for the petroleum industry. Today, they can
attend this center, which is in new training facilities at Cacuaco, just outside Luanda. Exploration and production
DNV is involved in training related to quality management systems, risk manage- While Sonangol is working to create an
ment, and the use of advanced technology. DNV has benefited from that effort, and environment for growth, Sonangol Pesquisa
the DNV Angola work force today is 80% Angolan. & Produção, the exploration and production
arm of Sonangol, is expanding its role in E&P
Total, BP, and ExxonMobil. We see them as a problems with human resources. And that is in the region.
team, not as competitors, in finding solutions our most valuable asset,” da Silva says. The challenge, according to Gaspar
to improve HSE issues.” The health aspect within Sonangol E.P.’s Martins, chairman of the board of Sonangol
Some of these organizations have almost integrated QHSE management system reflects P&P, is managing a successful operatorship
100 years of experience, da Silva says. “We that concern. It is a preventive program for dis- without significant deepwater experience.
have been in the offshore business just over eases such as malaria and HIV. Another “We want to be a stronger player in West
10 years.” As a growing company, Sonangol Sonangol E.P. objective is to protect natural Africa, particularly in Angola,” Martins says.
E.P. looks to the experience of others. resources, including mangroves, endangered “At this stage, we are reorganizing our
Developing and implementing a complete species of turtles, and manatees. Educational company to achieve that,” he says.
QHSE management system to manage risk programs are being developed to meet these The company has focused on Angola’s off-
and losses is a huge project, but it is vital for project objectives. shore, but is trying to work abroad as well,
the company. “Sonangol E.P. is preparing The whole Sonangol E.P. organization is in “just to get the taste of offshore activity out-
itself for the challenges we are going to face the process of identifying existing processes side Angola,” Martins says.
in the future,” da Silva says. with the aim of improving them. “Sonangol Exploration poses significant hurdles to a
As a young organization, Sonangol E.P. will be an organization managed within a young E&P company. “The first objective is
wants to be able to manage the risks it faces. structure of processes,” da Silva says. The to find the oil,” Martins says. Toward that
“We believe through proper risk management, company plans to evaluate what exists and end, the company will drill at least one explo-
we can produce a way to measure and tackle work toward improving areas where there ration well per year for the next several years.
our losses. Risk assessment is not an exercise are shortcomings. But that is only the first step.
through which we intend to cut cost,” he says. “Sonangol E.P. is implementing standards “Once commercial reserves are found, we
Sonangol intends to use risk management in the management system which will be plan to move as soon as possible to the devel-
processes as a tool to reduce loss, da Silva says. defined by international good practice,” da opment stage,” Martins says.
Silva says. But there is no off-the-shelf solu- The complexity of putting fields into
Making progress tion. “It is a very comprehensive system that production is clearly a great challenge.
As of 1Q 2004, the company had produced we are creating,” da Silva says. The company Sonangol P&P is consulting with other com-
a management system and had instituted a will consider common practice within the panies to get the best technology to move
campaign to explain the system to its employ- industry and will develop its own programs fields into production. “Our company doesn’t
ees. DNV was also under contract at that time based on that understanding. have this expertise,” Martins says.
to write a manual in conjunction with “We want to be a part of the world,” da The company is working with partners
Sonangol to define procedures and enforce Silva says. that have experience in these areas.
the systems put in place. A training program One of the ways Sonangol P&P’s finding
had already been established, and was opera- Assisting local companies its way into the international marketplace is
tional as of April. A critical element of being part of the to form strategic alliances with national oil
A full-time 12-person team was tasked with world is bringing Angolan companies up to companies. Though Sonangol’s focus will
putting the program in place. Each team international standards so they can compete continue to be Angola, Martins believes the
member represents a component within the for work. Sonangol E.P. is working with local company’s future lies in getting involved out-
Sonangol organization. One subsidiary will companies to increase their understanding of side its territorial waters.
be selected as a pilot project. The hope, de this need so that lessons learned will remain One way that has happened is that Sonangol
Silva says, is that experience gained in the in the community. P&P engineers have been introduced to pro-
earlier part of the project will be applied to Sonangol E.P. has chosen two local compa- ject teams developing offshore fields.
training the next subsidiary. nies and has helped them to find experienced “We want to establish strategic alliances,”
“As a third world country, we have serious partners from whom they can learn. “The Martins says. “We want to grow.”

28 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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WEST AFRICA

ExxonMobil forges ahead off Nigeria

Judy Maksoud
Erha field scheduled for 2006 production International Editor

orking in diverse areas of the world impacts finding and

W development costs, creating critical challenges for inter-

national oil companies. Exxon Mobil Corp. has risen to
the challenge in West Africa and is making progress
toward bringing its discoveries into production.
Deepwater volume growth remains strong in West Africa. For
Exxon, growth over the next few years will include reserves from the
Bosi, Yoho, Erha, and Shell-operated Bonga fields, as well as others
NIGERIA

where ExxonMobil is a stakeholder. Bonga is the industr y’s first

deepwater development offshore Nigeria.

A milestone Erha
The Exxon-operated Yoho field came onstream in 2002. Subsidiary,
Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, introduced an early production
OPL 209
system (EPS) to Yoho to produce the field nearly two years ahead of ExxonMobil
scheduled production. Full-field start-up is scheduled for late 2004
and will include additional wellhead platforms, a central production
platform, a living quarters platform, and a floating storage and offload-
ing (FSO) vessel, which will replace the FPSO. Target peak
production is 150,000 b/d.
Rex W. Tillerson, senior vice president, ExxonMobil, commented
on the Yoho development at the Goldman Sachs Global Energy
Conference 2004. “The commencement of Yoho construction activi-
ties, including the first deployment of an EPS in West Africa, repre-
sents an important milestone for ExxonMobil in Nigeria,” Tillerson
ExxonMobil has invested in several blocks, including OPL 209 offshore Nigeria.
said. “The ability to advance production, as we will do with Yoho by
over two years, not only improves the project’s economics, but also early 2006. Engineering and procurement services will be performed
meets the government’s objective of increasing production capacity.” in France and Nigeria.
In April 2003, Saipem SA and EEPN awarded classification work for
The next step the new vessel to Det Norske Veritas. DNV will classify the hull and
Erha will be ExxonMobil’s next field to come onstream offshore mooring system of the FPSO. The project will be a cooperation among
Nigeria. DNV stations in Norway, Houston, Ulsan, Pusan, and Singapore.
ExxonMobil affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd. The hull will be built at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ (HHI) yard in
(EEPN) confirmed the Erha deepwater oil and gas discovery in OPL Ulsan, South Korea. It is expected to be completed by 4Q 2004, when
209, 100 mi southeast of Lagos in December 1999. it will be towed to the Singaporean Sembawang yard for topside inte-
Target production rate for Erha is 210,000 b/d of liquids. The pro- gration. The plan is to have the vessel ready for offshore commis-
ject will cost an estimated $2.6 billion and is scheduled to begin sioning at the Erha field by the end of next year.
production in early 2006. EEPN has also awarded construction and fabrication contracts val-
Construction began on Erha in October 2002. The project features ued at more than $1.1 billion for the offshore facilities. Some of the
a flexible design that will position it for use as a strategic hub on future contracts were awarded to local contractors and suppliers.
OPL 209 deepwater developments. Nigerian companies will carr y out engineering, fabrication of
Plans for field development center around an FPSO with 24 subsea FPSO topsides, assembly of wellhead manifolds and components, fab-
wells: 15 production wells, four gas injection wells, and five water rication of the surface buoy and offshore piles, jointing of pipe and
injection wells. Once production is underway, oil will be offloaded via installation of pipe coating, marine transportation and other logistical
a single point mooring offloading buoy. services and components such as the flare tower and structural mod-
Initial annual average production is targeted at 150,000 b/d of oil. Gas ules, and system integration testing of all subsea equipment.
will be re-injected to maximize oil recovery and eliminate routine flaring. In Nigeria, EEPNL and other ExxonMobil subsidiaries hold inter-
The FPSO will have a hull measuring 285 m long, 63 m wide, and 32 ests in six deepwater blocks covering 3.2 million acres. EEPNL inter-
m high and will carry 24,000 metric tons of production modules and ests in deepwater discoveries in Nigeria include 20% interest in Bonga
living quarters. The vessel will have 2.2 MMbbl of storage capacity and Bonga Southwest in OML 118, 20% in Bolia in OPL 219, 47.5% in
and an initial production capacity of 165,000 b/d of oil. Chota in OPL 220, and 30% in Usan in OPL 222. Esso operated OPL
Bouygues Offshore, a company owned by Saipem, won the con- 209 from 1993 and held 56.25% interest in the license. Shell Nigeria
tract to supply the Erha FPSO in November 2002. The FPSO is sched- Exploration and Production Co. Ltd. (SNEPCO) held the remaining
uled to arrive on the Erha field in 2005, in line with planned start-up in 43.75%.

30 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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From our base

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Since 1962, Willbros has operated in Africa continuously. For over 40

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We possess invaluable experience implementing HSE initiatives as well as satisfying

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WEST AFRICA

Dana to probe further off Mauritania

following Pelican swoop Jeremy Beckman
Editor, Europe

arly in 2006, Mauritania should join the league of African On securing the blocks in 2000, Dana moved quickly to commis-

E deepwater producers. The 120-MMbbl Chinguetti development

is well under way, and three more positive finds have resulted
from only a small number of deepwater wells.

Assessment of the various deep and ultra-deepwater play types is

still in the early stages. However, a broader picture should emerge
over the next six to 12 months, with two drillships booked by
sion 6,000 line km of 2D seismic, using the Veritas DGC vessel New
Venture. This program was designed to better delineate leads from
previous studies. Early analysis indicated the presence of an exten-
sive fan system in blocks 7 and 8, analogous to others elsewhere in
West Africa containing proven giant fields. In block 1, there appeared
to be numerous structures that had been generated both by salt
movement and faulting.
Woodside on behalf of the various block partners for six exploratory Following a further 2D survey, PGS’ Ramform Victory was engaged
wells and up to four appraisal wells on the Tiof discovery. One of the in late 2002 to acquire a 1,330-sq-km of 3D survey in block 1, with a
wells will be operated by UK independent Dana Petroleum, which view to evaluating and finalizing drilling targets. The brightest
holds three large production-sharing concessions (PSCs) covering a prospects identified, named Faucon and Petrel, were mapped with
total area of 34,500 sq km. combined reserves potential of around 500 MMbbl. Petrel will be
Dana’s first operated well on this acreage, on block 7, led to discov- tested first in 2005.
er y last year of a gas field named Pelican. Woodside Petroleum
recently exercised an earn-in option to this block; other Australian Pelican analysis
companies Hardman and Roc Oil hold the balance, and these two are Dana drilled the Pelican-1 discovery well in December 2003 using
also Dana’s partners in block 1, along with Energy Africa, and in block the drillship Jack Ryan, in 5,500 ft of water in the southern part of block
8, where Wintershall is the other co-venturer. 7. The well discovered a hydrocarbon-bearing sequence extending

Map shows Dana-operated blocks and location of Pelican discovery. Dana could start drilling on its Kenyan acreage in the fall of 2005.

32 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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WEST AFRICA

over 1,000 ft. On reaching its final planned logically very much as we had predicted in since established a base in-country to service
depth of 12,500 ft, the well was suspended for terms of the depth of the reservoir and thick- the Chinguetti development.
potential future re-entry, either for deepening ness. However, the whole section being full of The forthcoming appraisal wells on Tiof
or a side track. Prior to suspension, compre- hydrocarbons was not foreseen. Normally, are expected to come in at under $10 million
hensive rock, fluid, and pressure data were you would have expected to encounter a each. “The geology is now better under-
gathered from the reservoirs intersected. hydrocarbon/water contact. The fact that the stood,” Cross explains. “We have a better
This spring, Dana issued its early technical three gas reser voirs all had oil shows was idea of what to expect in terms of pressure,
assessment, based also on sidewall cores, also encouraging. for example. If you look at the wells coming
electric logs, pressure measurements, and a “We believe now this may be a large, previ- up, such as Dorade in block 2, you’re talking
vertical seismic profile run to look beneath ously oil-filled structure, with gas percolating about only a few days’ drilling time, with the
the well, all integrated with an existing 3D into it and pushing the oil down. That may significant portion of costs coming more
seismic data set. There seem to be two large explain the oil shows. We are re-interpreting from mobilization and de-mobilization.”
gas accumulations below a depth of 11,000 ft, Pelican to determine where to drill next. At
with minimum gross thickness of 500 ft and the moment, however, our priority is to drill Reef structures
125 ft, with a smaller gas accumulation the first of our two large prospects in block 1.” In block 8, Dana recently acquired a new
toward the base of the well. All three have The first well on the Petrel prospect 1,800-sq-km 3D seismic survey. This was con-
been trapped in Cretaceous sands, represent- should spud some time in 1Q 2005, depend- ducted by PGS’ M/V American Explorer, the
ing the first significant discover y in a pre- ing on rig schedule arrangements with main aim being to delineate drilling targets in
Tertiary formation offshore Mauritania. Woodside for the two drillships, the West large carbonate reefs – some up to 20 km
Reservoir fluid analysis suggests an oil- Navigator and the Stena Tay. across – identified from existing 2D seismic.
associated gas with a hydrocarbon liquid-gas Under its earn-in deal to block 7, Woodside “The geology in block 8 is very different
ratio of 23 bbl/MMcf. Fluid composition, acted as drilling services contractor for the from the blocks to the south,” Cross says. “We
pressure, and structural data also point to the Pelican-1 well, with an incentive to achieve brought in Wintershall as a partner, and
presence of an oil leg below the lower of the pre-determined drilling cost reduction tar- expect their experience in analogous areas of
two gas accumulations. Dana estimates recov- gets. The earliest wells in Mauritania’s North Africa to benefit the joint venture.”
erable reserves in the range 600-800 bcf, with deepwater blocks were expensive, costing Wintershall is the third mid-size indepen-
up to 13 MMbbl of associated liquids. around $30 million each. This was due in part dent to enter the frame off Mauritania, after
According to Dana’s Chief Executive to the need to build up support services infra- Woodside and BG. Wintershall is considered
Officer Tom Cross, “Pelican-1 came in geo- structure from scratch. But Woodside has a gas major in Europe, operating a large num-

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WEST AFRICA

Normally when you shoot 3D, from the shore to a depth of around 2,000 m.
Following a study of historical geoscience
you’re looking to refine future data, Dana has identified seven potential play
types with over 100 exploration prospects.
Last year, the company acquired 5,500 km
drilling locations. But when the of new 2D seismic, which has since been
processed and integrated with the previous
seismic shows up major structures, data set. A further 2D survey is now planned
early next year over the most attractive
you may decide it is more efficient prospects identified from the initial 2D. Dana
also has a cost carry arrangement with farm-
to drill early based on 2D. in partner Woodside, whereby the latter
secures 40% of each PSC in exchange for car-
ber of licenses offshore The Netherlands, development enters a second or third phase. rying 80% of the costs of seismic acquisition
while the other two companies are experi- Right now, they have a lot of work to do in and the first two exploration wells.
enced LNG players. Several tcf of gas has other parts of West Africa, but they will be pre- “Kenya is in a similar position to where
already been discovered alongside the oil pared to carry the extra costs of entering Mauritania was three years ago,” Cross
from Mauritania’s four finds to date. Mauritania later on. Mauritania’s government points out. “We’ve identified some very pro-
Mauritania also happens to be the closest is also interested in the ultra-deepwaters to the nounced structures on our seismic, and we
point in West Africa to service LNG needs on west. That region might be interesting to are now talking with our partners Woodside
the US East Coast. those majors which have relevant experience and Global Petroleum about going straight to
“A key feature offshore Mauritania is the in ultra-deepwater technology.” the drilling phase. Normally when you shoot
repeatability of the prospects in the deepwater,” 3D, you’re looking to refine future drilling
Cross says. “Our acreage is equivalent to over Kenya on same path locations. But when the seismic shows up
150 North Sea blocks, so if we can find a play, On the other side of Africa, offshore Kenya, major structures, you may decide it is more
such as Pelican, that ‘repeats,’ this could be Dana also holds four PSCs that are larger than efficient to drill early based on 2D. Under the
very important to Dana. its Mauritanian acreage, covering an area of license terms, Dana has until October 2006 to
“The majors haven’t come in yet. They nearly 45,000 sq km across a barely explored drill its first well, but that could be brought
believe they can do so when exploration and Cretaceous-Tertiary basin. These extend out forward by a year.”

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WEST AFRICA

New seismic data reveals Gabor Tari

Mark Kaminski
Jim Molnar

unusual deepwater Ghana plays

David Valasek
Vanco Energy Co.

Stranded ‘nappe’ holds exploration promise

ewly acquired seismic data reveal an unexpected and unusual

N structural history of the marginal ridge of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

During the Senonian, several inversional and transpressional
structures formed due to the adjacent Romanche Fracture
Zone. During the Cenomanian a large-scale, north-vergent nappe
system formed with a corresponding foredeep basin.
As the structural geometries are analogous to those
found in classical folded belts and foredeep basins,
the same play types can be defined, such as en
échelon anticlinal structures, stratigraphic
updip pinch-outs within the foredeep basin and
sub-thrust traps beneath the nappe system. To our
knowledge, the Cape Three Points Deep area provides
the very first case for this set of play types in the hydrocar-
bon exploration history of offshore Africa.
The Marginal Ridge of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana is a prominent
structural and topographic feature on the transform margin of equa- The offshore
torial West Africa. The Marginal Ridge and the Tano (or Deep bathymetry and onshore
Ivorian) basin landward from it form a deepwater basin that extends topography in the Gulf of Guinea region, West
over 6,000 sq km with water depths from 200 to 4,000 m. Africa, shows the dramatic expression of the transform faults on the abyssal
Some of the earliest oil exploration on the African continent took plain of the Southern Atlantic Ocean (courtesy of AOA Geophysics).
place along this margin in the late 1890s and early 1900s, when a num-
ber of European companies drilled mostly shallow wells in areas of recent drilling in the offshore portion of the Tano basin has yielded
abundant oil seeps and tar sands close to the shore in Ghana and discoveries. The deep and ultra-deepwater part of the Tano Basin, is
Nigeria. One such site is in western Ghana west of Cape Three Points. considered a frontier basin by explorationists.
Though the onshore wells never established sustained flows, more
Marginal Ridge
This index map shows the bathymetry and seismic of the Marginal Ridge Due to strong academic activity for a number of years, the Marginal
of Ghana in the deepwater Cape Three Points area. Thin black lines corre- Ridge along the Romanche Fracture Zone (RFZ) became the unoffi-
spond to vintage seismic reflection data, and red lines show the extent of a cial “locus typicus” for a transform margin setting. The structural evo-
recent seismic survey. The thick lution of the Marginal Ridge was subdivided into four major periods:
red line shows the location of • An early rifting and shearing of the southern border along the
the example reprocessed
Romanche Fracture Zone during the Albo-Aptian
seismic reflection section.
• End of rifting and intracontinental transform faulting during the
Late Albian
• Continent-to-ocean transform faulting from the Cenomanian until
the Late Cretaceous
• Passive margin evolution since the Late Cretaceous.

New model
Reprocessing of the academic seismic data and the acquisition/ inter-
pretation of some 3,000 km of new reflection seismic data over the
Marginal Ridge resulted in some observations, that contradict the evo-
lutionary scheme summarized above. Most importantly, the new seis-
mic data clearly image a large landward-verging overthrust system in
the Cape Three Points Deep area.
Interestingly, the seismic reflectors associated with the individual
thrust imbrications within this “nappe” were attributed to prograding
sediments by previous interpretations. However, the internal geome-
try of the allochthonous nappe system is identical to those observed

www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 37

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WEST AFRICA

NNW SSE
3 3

4 4

Two-way travel time (S)

5 5

6 6

20 km
7 7
A reprocessed seismic profile across the Marginal Ridge of Ghana shows the
reflection geometry north of the Romanche Escarpment and beneath the dark
blue horizon. Packages of south-dipping reflectors were interpreted as pro-
grading clinoforms; however, closer inspection reveals the presence of imbri-
cates in a north-vergent, overthrust system. The prominent sedimentary
wedge between the light green and purple horizons is interpreted to be a
Cenomanian foredeep sequence, slightly redeformed during the Senonian.

at the leading edge of classical folded belts.

Other evidence for compressional deformation is provided by a series
of inverted syn-rift half-grabens and a relatively small, but well developed
“foredeep basin,” which formed due to the load of the incoming folded
belt. Whereas the numerous anticlines are undoubtedly the result of
repeated transpressional deformation along the transform margin, it is
the dominating compressional component that is responsible for the
presence of a number of plays identical to those found in folded belts.

Deepwater plays
The new exploration plays that Vanco has identified include from
south to north:
• Sub-thrust (nappe) traps, structural and also stratigraphic termi-
nations against the basal detachment
• En échelon anticlines formed during the Senonian (intra-Santonian?)
• Stratigraphic pinchouts within the Cenomanian foredeep basin.
These play types complement, and are independent of, the tradi-
tional plays along this transform margin of West Africa. Traditional
Deep Well Casing & Tubing plays include structural closures within the syn-rift Albian clastic
sequence and the subtle stratigraphic/combination traps for Senonian
turbidites.
None of the newly defined play types were tested by the few explo-
Houston, Texas & ration wells drilled to date on the upper and middle slope of the margin.
Lovington, New Mexico The landward verging nappe complex and the associated foredeep
basin had to form during a Mid-Cretaceous period in which continen-
tal crust existed on both sides of the transform margin, and most likely,
Buyer – Importer of O.C.T.G. at a time of major plate reorganization between Africa and South
America. It is not clear at present why this unusual set of structures
developed along this particular segment of the margin.
Buying New & Used One possible explanation is based on the slightly curved trace of the
RFZ running into the African continent deviating from the parallel flow-
Surplus Alloy Tubing & Casing lines of all the other major fracture zones in the Southern Atlantic. This
anomaly was inherited from the structural fabric of the pan-African
basement prior to the break-up of the Atlantic Ocean.
For Bids Contact: Another speculation concerns with the anomalously long offset of
the RFZ. Reconstructing the late-stage geometry of the rifting between
apowers@caprockpipelp.com Africa and South America shows that the Cape Three Points area very
“sensitive” to tectonic deformation during the opening of the South
Atlantic. At this point, where the continental crusts of the two depart-
Fax: 505-396-3613 ing plates were still juxtaposed, even a very small (less than 1°) differ-

38 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Tempest 6.1
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WEST AFRICA

PLAY TYPES, CAPE THREE POINTS, GHANA

New and “unusual” play types in the deepwater exploration model of the
NNW SSE
Marginal Ridge, Cape Three Points Deep, Ghanainclude structural closures
Slope
within the Cenomanian foredeep sequence over inverted syn-rift struc-
"Foredeep" tures, stratigraphic updip pinch-out traps within the Cenomanian foredeep,
sequence
en échelon structural closures within the Senonian, and sub-thrust (nappe)
Anticlinal
trap traps, both structural and pinch-out.
Marginal ridge
escarpment

Allochthonous
thrust nappe
ter constrained by a future 3D seismic survey.
The folding of the Cenomanian foredeep sequence occurred during
the Senonian. We speculate that a regional-scale compressional event
was responsible for the formation of the en échelon anticlines beneath
the Marginal Ridge.

Pinch-out
trap
Subthrust
traps Analogs
Syn-rift
Examples of producing foredeep basins are mostly located onshore
half-graben
and tend to be very prolific. The Colville basin of the North Slope of
Alaska, the Aquitanian basin of southern France, the Molasse basin of
Middle Cretaceous Upper Tertiary
Neocomian/Aptian Lower Tertiary
Inverted
half-graben Austria, and the foredeep basins around the Carpathians, especially in
~10 Km
Basement Upper Cretaceous Romania, provide useful analogs that are surprisingly similar to the
foredeep basin and folded belt of the Cape Three Points Deep area.
ential rotation of these continental plates could have caused the These examples show a certain degree of variation in the relative pro-
observed compressional structures. portion of hydrocarbons found in the folded belt, within the foredeep
Regardless of these speculations, the traditional view of transform basin, or in the platform sequence beneath the foredeep. Exactly
margin evolution, based mostly on this particular Marginal Ridge of which of the above mentioned “classical” foredeep basins will provide
Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, needs to be updated to accommodate these the closest analog for the anomalous offshore example of the Cape
new findings. Continued exploration work focusing on detailed seismic Three Points foredeep basin remains to be seen. 
stratigraphy in conjunction with biostratigraphic well data should help to
pinpoint when this event occurred and improve the overall understand- For more information, contact Gabor Tari at tel: 713-386-2701 or e-mail:
ing of the margin. Also, the details of the structural evolution will be bet- gtari@vancoenergy.com.

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SPECIAL REPORT: OFFSHORE CANADA

CNG could be the solution Judy Maksoud

International Editor

to Newfoundland’s stranded gas

Atlantic Canada leads the industry in CNG research

as production could eventually surpass oil production offshore DeBoni says.

G Atlantic Canada. The scales won’t tip dramatically for several

years, but work is under way to commercialize the nearly 72
tcf of stranded gas the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petro-
leum Board (CNOPB) believes lies offshore.
Calgary-based Husky Energy is leading the effort to find a solution
for stranded gas in the region. Husky operates the White Rose field,
which holds an estimated 2.3 tcf of gas. This quantity could reason-
According to Ed Byrne, minister of natural resources for the
province, “Husky’s public expression of interest to develop their gas
field has accelerated the potential timeline for natural gas develop-
ment in the province.”
With offshore gas development becoming more likely, the province
is moving out of its infancy and into a more mature international role.
“We’ve moved into our post-adolescent years as an industry,” Byrne
ably be produced, according to Walt DeBoni, Husky’s vice president says. Gas development could well be the next step in the process.
Canada frontier and international business. There are, however, tech- “Up until eight months ago, our oil and gas industry was concen-
nical and regulatory challenges that have to be dealt with. trated exclusively in the Jeanne d’Arc basin. My view is that we have
“We expect that to take some time,” DeBoni says. moved to another plateau of development in our industry,” Byrne says.
Despite the obvious hurdles that must be overcome, Husky is off
and running. In late May, the company asked for expressions of inter- Other players
est to develop White Rose gas. “We are looking for companies that can Petro-Canada is also looking at gas production options, according
provide a complete solution,” DeBoni says. The response was huge. to Gordon Carrick, Petro-Canada’s East Coast vice president. Petro-
More than 40 groups submitted proposals. Husky selected nine pro- Canada has been examining transportation and development options
posals and planned to narrow that group in in the event sufficient threshold reserves are identified, Carrick says.
September to three or so to do detailed pre- “Clearly, the big issues here are infrastructure and transportation.
FEED (front-end engineering and design) “Petro-Canada is in the early stages
work. The company expects to make a of developing its perspective on the
final decision in October. most economic transportation and
According to DeBoni, compressed nat- development schemes and is identify-
ural gas (CNG) is the leading technol- ing the issues with emerging tech-
ogy at present. “CNG seems to the most nologies,” Carrick says.
viable option and seems to be the one The company is looking at a num-
there is most interest in from the con- ber of pipeline routes, LNG, and
tractors,” DeBoni says. CNG. Gas-to-liquids is among the
Nothing has been ruled out, how- alternatives, as is direct conversion
ever. “We will look at the whole from gas to electrical energy.
gamut of options,” DeBoni says. Carrick points out that there are
Though technology has a way to a number of technical and operabil-
go before development issues are ity issues that need to be resolved
resolved, Husky believes gas before CNG is a viable develop-
development is just around the ment option. Containment in the
corner. White Rose gas could be vessels, for example, is a reliability
produced in the next 8-10 years, issue, Carrick says. Another con-
sideration is the issue of routine
transfer of gas from production
facility to a transportation vessel,
an issue Petro-Canada’s team is
The basins offshore investigating.
Newfoundland and Labrador Regardless of the direction
could hold 72 tcf gas development takes, the
of natural gas. road to success, according to
Carrick, is cooperation.
Carrick believes operators
in the Grand Banks need to
develop an integrated strat-
egy to develop gas. His view

42 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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SPECIAL REPORT: OFFSHORE CANADA

As Newfoundland and Labrador pursues CNG development,

Nova Scotia is banking on LNG.
Irving Oil’s Halifax Shipyard is looking ahead to doing LNG
carrier upgrades and repairs. “Though we won’t be building
new carriers, our yard is capable of carrying out upgrades and
repairs to the vessels that will deliver LNG to the receiving ter-
minals that will be built nearby,” Donald Kerr of Halifax
Shipyard says.
In early August, Irving Oil became the first company to
receive regulatory approval for an LNG project proposed for
Canada’s East Coast. The Irving facility will be built at the com-
pany's existing deepwater marine terminal, Irving Canaport, in
Saint John, New Brunswick, 65 mi from the US border. Plans
call for three 160,000 cu m LNG tanks and a throughput capac-
ity of 1 bcf/d of gas.
Access Northeast Energy Inc. received approval several
days later for an LNG processing plant to be built in Cape
Breton in northern Nova Scotia. This was the first regulatory
approval secured in the process of building and operating an
LNG terminal at Bear Head on the Strait of Canso, which sepa-
rates mainland Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island.
There are no LNG receiving terminals in Canada yet, but with
the tremendous demand for gas, particularly in the US, more
terminals could follow. The Irving shipyard in Halifax can perform LNG carrier upgrades and repairs.

is that the work of the next several years is for economic puzzle for operators determining streamlining regulatory processes to become
each operator to clarify the issues before the viability of gas development offshore. internationally competitive,” Hawkins says.
making a decision on what technology to Decisions that will improve the present process
employ for gas development and transporta- Regulatory challenges will likely come before year-end.
tion. The role of recommending changes to the The changes mean Atlantic Canada will be
“And that’s going to be a pretty big deci- regulatory regime has been delegated to the much more competitive, Hawkins says. “All
sion,” Carrick says. “That will set the stage Atlantic Energy Roundtable. of the work we’re doing demonstrates that
for development. The good news is that once In 2002, federal and provincial representa- we can be within international benchmarks.”
people have made that decision, I think there tives teamed with industr y to form the
will be more focus on gas exploration here.” Roundtable, which is chaired by the federal
Unarguably, reaching a common inte- minister of natural resources for Canada. The Centre for marine CNG
grated solution is a big challenge, but the group had two objectives: to improve the reg- Government, academia, and industry have
potential profitability of the unrecovered gas ulator y environment and to find ways to taken the challenge of CNG seriously. In April
reser ves will be a strong impetus toward enhance industrial opportunities from oil and 2004, representatives from these groups
reaching a common goal. gas development. formed the Centre for Marine Compressed
“Our perspective is that there will be gas The federal government established the Natural Gas (CMCNG), a registered non-profit
produced from the Grand Banks sometime in Roundtable, and a large number of stake- corporation housed at the St. John’s campus of
the next decade,” Carrick says. holders, including representative from regu- Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN).
lators, governments, industry, and business Key CMCNG objectives include providing
Gas royalty regime are involved in the process. Newfoundland a forum for developing international stan-
Regulations need to be in place before gas and Labrador’s CNOPB represents the regu- dards for marine transportation of CNG,
can be developed. The province is working latory process in the province. establishing a large-scale, dynamic testing
on concluding a natural gas royalty regime According to Fred Way, vice chairman of the facility for research and development, and
and defining the rules companies will have to CNOPB, the Roundtable is addressing the reg- looking into regulations that will govern CNG
abide by to develop the province’s offshore ulatory issues, including the review process. production, transportation, and offloading.
resources, according to Minister Byrne. The group has worked to make the Canadian According to Dr. James Wright, director of
All of this presents opportunity and chal- environmental assessment agency process and major research partnerships at MUN and
lenges, Byrne says. The goal is to get a regime the CNOPB process parallel and concurrent. interim managing director of the CMCNG,
in place that will encourage additional interna- Way believes the process is becoming con- the group has made noteworthy progress. An
tional investment that will benefit the province. siderably streamlined. A large project like White invitation-only workshop forum held at MUN
“We need to determine if it meets the litmus Rose or Terra Nova could now get through the June 22-24 focused on CNG issues.
test today,” Byrne says. “The industry is wait- process in about 11 months, Way says. “I think “The goals of the forum were to put the pro-
ing for it. We have one chance to do it right.” it’s going to be a good report card.” ponents, certification societies, and regulators
According to Paul Barnes, manager of According to Dave Hawkins, director of in the same room to talk about the process that
Atlantic Canada for the Canadian Association the petroleum resource development divi- will lead to regulations that will allow CNG
of Petroleum Producers, “Companies don’t sion of the ministry of natural resources for delivery in Canada and the US,” Wright says.
know how much they would have to pay the Newfoundland and Labrador, the Roundtable Companies including Enersea Transport
government in the form of royalty to produce is making progress. LLC, TransCanada Corp., Knudsen Ship-
natural gas.” The number is a key piece of the “Things are really coming forward. We’re chandlers, and a number of shipping compa-

44 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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SPECIAL REPORT: OFFSHORE CANADA

nies represented the transportation group. Regulators included the

US Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard, and the Canadian depart-
Petroleum reserves and resources offshore
ment of the ministry of transport, among others. All four international
Newfoundland and Labrador
classification societies also participated.
According to Wright, Lloyds Register Group, American Bureau of Oil Gas NGL
Shipping, and Det Norske Veritas have certified CNG concept ves- Field 106m3 MMbbl 109m3 bcf 106m3 MMbbl
sels, but there are no regulations governing how such a vessel would Grand Banks
transport CNG. Hibernia 137.6 865 37.2 1,320 25.5 160
Wright believes Canada will wait for the US Coast Guard to get Terra Nova 56.3 354 1.3 44.9 0.51 3
regulations in place because the USCG is the definitive regulator in Hebron 51.6 325 – – – –
US waters. “We’ll evaluate what parts of the US code will be the same White Rose 45 283 76.7 2,722 15.3 96
for Canada and which will be different,” he says. West Ben Nevis 5.4 34 – – – –
Wright thinks CNG operations in Atlantic Canada are only a matter Mara 3.6 23 – – – –
of time and financial incentive. The utilities will drive “or pull” CNG Ben Nevis 8.7 55 819 315 4.7 30
development, Wright says. North Ben Nevis 2.9 18 3.3 116 0.7 4
Springdale 2.2 14 6.7 238 – –
Additional challenges Nautilus 2.1 13 – – – –
Dr. Axel Meisen, president and vice chancellor of the MUN, is opti- King’s Cove 1.6 10 – – – –
mistic about the CNCMG. “We are committed here to becoming an South Tempest 1.3 8 – – – –
international center of expertise in all matters related to marine trans- East Rankin 1.1 7 – – – –
portation of CNG and see ourselves as a center where people can come Fortune 0.9 6 – – – –
in order to either get answers or to get help with finding answers.” South Mara 0.6 4 4.1 144 1.2 8
But Meisen does not confine research to regulatory and shipping West Bonne Bay 5.7 36
challenges associated with CNG. That only one element in the supply
North Dana – – 13.3 472 1.8 11
chain, Meisen says, it is necessary to look at all of the elements of the
Trave – – 0.8 30 0.2 1
Sub-total 326.6 2,056 152.3 5,402 49.91 313
The SeaRose FPSO is being built specifically to develop the
Labrador Shelf
White Rose field. The vessel has an ice strengthened hull and
a detachable mooring system to ensure safe operations in the North Bjarni – – 63.3 2,247 13.1 82
harsh environment of the Grand Banks. The double-hulled Gudrid – – 26 924 1 6
design provides storage capacity of 940,000 bbl of oil, which Bjarni – – 24.3 863 5 31
is about 10 days of production capacity. Peak production from Hopedale – – 3 105 0.4 2
White Rose is expected to reach 92,000 b/d. Snorri – – 3 105 0.4 2
According to Walt DeBoni, Sub-total – – 119.6 4,244 19.9 123
Husky’s vice president Total 326.6 2,055.6 271.9 9,646 69.81 436
Canada frontier and interna- Produced 62.9 396 0 0 0 0
tional business, the FPSO is Remaining 263.7 1,660 271.9 9,646 69.81 436
also processing a consider-
Source: C-NOPB, dated May 19, 2004
able amount of gas per day.
“Reserves” are volumes of hydrocarbons proven by drilling, testing, and
Some gas is used to gener- interpretation of geological, geophysical, and engineering data that are considered
ate electricity onboard, but a to be recoverable using current technology and under present and anticipated
lot of excess gas is being economic conditions. Hibernia and Terra Nova are classified as reserves.
produced along with the oil. “Resources” are volumes of hydrocarbons expressed at 50% probability of
Most of that gas is injected occurrence assessed to be technically recoverable that have not been delineated
into a reservoir at the north- and have unknown economic viability.
ern edge of the field. “NGL” refers to natural gas liquids
Photo: Ed Evans The 2.3 tcf of White Rose “Produced” reserves also include a small quantity of NGL. Produced volumes are
listed as of Dec. 31, 2003.
gas is spread throughout
the field, but in the northern part of the field, there is an oil rim
around the gas accumulation, DeBoni says. The reservoir is
not connected with the oil being produced. At present, associ- chain and ensure that there are no showstoppers. The CMCNG will
ated gas is being injected into the reservoir, but Husky is look at the supply chain in its entirety, he says.
working to commercialize the gas. Some supply chain issues, according to Meisen, include how the gas
Compressors being installed onboard the SeaRose have the field will be managed when a vessel is not available for loading gas.
capacity to inject gas at 3,600 psi, which is the top range for Transferring gas from the reservoir to the vessel is another concern.
CNG, DeBoni says.The present FPSO configuration would prob-
And there are issues associated with the gas itself, including gas treat-
ably be adequate to produce gas once the oil field is in its matu-
ment. Offloading gas from the vessel at the destination is also important.
rity because one of the compression trains would be free for gas
processing. With the present timeline for gas development at 8-
“When there is no large pipeline system into which the gas can be
10 yr, the timing would be right for easing into gas production at discharged, a buffer or storage facility is needed. Little attention has
a time when extra compression became unnecessary. thus far been focused on this matter,” Meisen says.
“We might be able to get to 300 MMcf/d of gas production There are many issues that need to be considered, but Meisen is
from the FPSO, but this is the part of the project we need to optimistic that solutions will be found. “If we can solve the problems,
study,” DeBoni says. CNG is a viable option to commercialize stranded gas in Eastern
Canada and elsewhere in the world,” Meisen says.

46 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

DOT: Aligning technology

with changing reality
Conference in New Orleans to focus on deepwater lessons learned
The Deep Offshore Technology conference scheduled for Nov. ration and production in an evolving energy market.
30 – Dec. 2 in New Orleans continues the tradition of this event The scope of this year’s conference includes more than 30
by offering attendees a wide selection of frontier technology for technical sessions, from lessons learned in field development
deepwater operations. The conference, entering its 16th year, to innovative tieback techniques, from field architecture and
attracts attendees from the energy capitals of the world, including economics to new riser technology, and from project execution
Europe, Russia, Australia, Asia, South America, and the US. and management to advanced materials. The papers summa-
Drawing on its wide base of experience, the technical conference rized below are a sample of the technology mix that will be
addresses the complex and changing role of deepwater explo- available at this year’s conference.

Intelligent well design and Kika field is a direct function of the geologic
setting and nature of the channel/levee sys-
installation challenges at Na Kika tems encountered. A wide variety of subfa-
cies is found in these systems with an
he ultra-deepwater Na Kika field (50% associated wide range of reservoir quality/

T
C.D. Stair
Shell/50% BP) in the US Gulf of Mexico D.B. Hebert types.
required innovative and complex intelli- Shell International E&P Inc. Field development, subsea well comple-
gent-well designs to develop economically tion design, and completion required the
multiple stacked reservoir sequences with a M.E.P. Dawson marriage of several new technologies and
minimum well count. Intelligent well or Halliburton Energy Services Inc. completion methods. While many of the new
“remote zonal control” functionality was techniques had been implemented sepa-
integrated with the sand face completions to S. Jacob rately in recent completion programs in the
provide isolation between zones during well WellDynamics Inc. GoM and abroad, this completion program
completion operations, yet allow verification brought many of them together for the first
of controlled flow from each zone at the end time.
of the completion. This paper addresses the ported, structural-stratigraphic traps in the Two of the five fields at Na Kika featured
specific design challenges in intelligent well middle to upper Miocene of the Eastern multiple-stacked pay sequences, which
construction faced by the Na Kika comple- GoM. The moderate size of the average Na required stacked completions to enable an
tions team, discusses the develop- economical development concept.
ment of innovative solutions, and However, stacking multiple comple-
provides a summary of the successful tions in a single wellbore carries
execution of the four Na Kika intelli- risks, such as differential depletion
gent wells. and crossflow or early water break-
The Na Kika development is 144 mi through. Should those phenomena
southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana, occur, remedial measures would
in water depths ranging from 5,800 to Host platform
require costly well inter ventions.
7,000 ft. The project is a subsea devel- The decision was made to employ
opment comprising five moderately intelligent well technology in four of
sized independent oil and gas fields Oi
le Fourier
the 10 Na Kika wells to minimize the
xp
tied back to a permanently moored or
t field need for future well inter ventions
floating development and production Kepler and better manage the production
host facility that is centrally located in field uncertainties associated with com-
Mississippi Canyon block 474 in 6,340 Ariel mingling.
field
ft of water. Because of reservoir uncertainties,
Individual reservoirs in each of the Herschel such as compartmentalization, prox-
Na Kika fields contained recoverable field Coulomb imity, and connectivity between gas-
reserves as small as 10% of the field field and oil-bearing reservoirs as well as
totals, making economic development rt
aquifer size, a design had to be devel-
po E. Anstey field
a significant challenge. The play type s ex oped that would provide maximum
Ga
was characterized as amplitude-sup- flexibility to ensure optimal drainage.

48 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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SEILLEAN – DEEPWATER EARLY PRODUCTION – FPSO

FOR ANOTHER 5 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS OPERATION
Frontier Drilling do Brasil is the wholly owned subsidiary of
Frontier Drilling ASA of Norway that has the Management of
the DP FPSO Seillean. The Brazilian Company is also
engaged in developing the ground for further FPSO contracts
in this area and other deep water fields world wide.
For Seillean, two projects have now been successfully com-
pleted in Brazil; the upgrade for processing heavy oil (2002),
and the 5 year Special Survey and Maintenance Repairs in Rio
(2004). The docking of FPSO Seillean was concluded on
record time. After the drydock, Seillean is now available for 5
years of continuous production in Brazil or world wide.
The main jobs done were: overhaul of thrusters, inspection and
painting of the hull, structural repairs. And maintenance on
dec equipment, process plant, derrick, diesel generators and
gas turbines.
Seillean is the only DP FPSO vessel in the world (Dynamic
Positioned Floating Production Storage Offloading) and has
the capacity to produce up to 22,000 bpd of heavy to light
Crude Oil in water depths of up to 2000 meters.; currently
producing for Petrobras at the Jubarte field in Espírito Santo,
Brazil.

Frontier Drilling do Brasil Ltda – Operations Vitoria Frontier Drilling ASA

Ed. Liberty Center – 9° andar Statsm Michelsens c\vei 38
Av. N. Sra. da Penha, n° 387 - Santa Lúcia PO Box 6076 – Posterminalen
Vitória - ES – Brasil CEP: 29.045-401 5892 BERGEN – NORWAY
Telephone: +55 27 3334 8600 Telephone: +47 55 92 28 20
Fax: +55 27 3334 8610 Fax: +47 55 92 28 30
Cell Phone: +55 27 8802 4275
E-Mail: mr@frontier-drill.com

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
“Visit us at DOT Booth #304”

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DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

In two of the five Na Kika fields, the technol- This paper discusses the economic dri- zones in select Na Kika wells signifi-
ogy chosen to mitigate the uncertainties and vers for the intelligent well completions at cantly reduced the well count and poten-
enable economic feasibility was an intelligent Na Kika in combination with the design tial for inter vention, enabling an
well completion. challenges in fluid-loss control and zonal iso- economic development project
The final development plan for Na Kika lation during installation. The paper also • The capability to commingle zones in a
featured four intelligent wells that would highlights the novel use of the interval con- controlled fashion was shown to increase
develop reser ves from 11 discrete reser- trol valves as well as suspension barriers. production rates and ultimate recovery
voirs. Required functionality of these wells The discussion results in an illustration of from the individual zones
included competent sand control with low the benefits of the intelligent-well functional- • Intelligent well systems provide opera-
completion skin, remote zonal control, and ity during installation. tional flexibility and reservoir manage-
continuous pressure/temperature monitor- Some of the conclusions drawn from the ment capability in multizone comple-
ing capability for each zone. This functional- discussion include: tions
ity enabled producing reser voirs to be • The Na Kika intelligent well completions • In a multizone completion requiring
commingled or isolated as well as reservoir were designed to produce from multiple sand control, the technical challenges
diagnosis to be performed remotely from the zones in individual wellbores while mon- around zonal isolation and fluid-loss con-
host facility. This would then allow for the itoring and maintaining full control of trol can be more complex than the chal-
optimal assessment of reser voir drainage inflow from each zone lenges associated with the upper comp-
and depletion management. • The capability to commingle multiple letion design.

Deepwater single-line tiebacks –

achieving operability while minimizing cost
Single production line tiebacks can significantly reduce the cost of
R. F. Stoisits, D. C. Lucas, J. K. Sonka deepwater subsea tieback developments. Application of this technol-
ExxonMobil Development Co. ogy to a deepwater development resulted in a capital cost reduction of
approximately 14%.
C. E. Curtis The capital cost savings realized with a single-line tieback can
Scandpower Petroleum Technology make marginal projects economically viable. Two effective hydrate
management strategies for unplanned shutdown for the deepwater
single production line tieback are inhibited live oil displacement and
eepwater subsea tiebacks pose a number of flow assurance methanol/diesel displacement through a service line in the umbilical.

D issues, such as multiphase hydraulic capacity, flow measurement,

hydrate, wax, sand, corrosion, and scale management. Among
the most challenging of these issues is hydrate management.
Optimization criteria for application of these two hydrate manage-
ment strategies are:
• Inhibited live oil displacement be performed when a well is avail-
Conventional deepwater subsea tiebacks typically rely on two able that will flow naturally (without gas-lift) to the FPSO
production lines for hydrate management. During a shutdown, the • Methanol and diesel displacement be performed otherwise.

uninhibited production fluids in the lines are
displaced with dehydrated dead crude using a Strategy description Applicability Advantages Disadvantages
pig. The pig is launched into one production Inhibited live Up to 50% Lowest capital cost Need subsea control system to restart well
line and driven with the dehydrated dead crude crude displacement water cut Low operational complexity Requires lift gas at high water cut
FPSO modifications required
out to the production manifold and back to the
Methanol/ Lifetime Low cost Methanol and diesel required
facility through the second production line. diesel displacement Low operational complexity Low displacement efficiency
For relatively small developments, the cost No lift gas required
of a second production line can be prohibitive. Methanol/ Lifetime Low cost Requires larger diameter service line (3.5 in.)
In such developments the second production dead crude
displacement
Low operational complexity
No lift gas required
Methanol required
Low displacement efficiency
line can be eliminated by using a large-diame- Wax deposition in service line
ter service line in the umbilical for displace- Bi-directional pig Lifetime Moderate cost Manifold modification required
ment of uninhibited production fluids in the Efficient displacement Potential to displace debris to launcher
Ability to pig Pig with long-term viability required
subsea flowline, thereby preventing hydrates No lift gas required Potential for stuck pigs
during unplanned shutdowns. Subsea pig Lifetime Efficient displacement Cost of subsea launcher
This paper discusses the analysis used to launcher Ability to pig Need to reload pig canister
No debris to pig launcher Potential for stuck pigs
establish the single-line hydrate management No lift gas required
strategy. Nine hydrate management strategies Gel pig Lifetime Low cost Due to friction loss requirement
were evaluated based on safety, environmental Won’t stick pig in service line, cannot use gel with
No lift gas required sufficient tensile strength to get
considerations, effectiveness, minimal cost, an efficient displacement
minimal operational complexity, and applica- Depressure ~ 6 yrs Low cost Hydrate formation on well restart
bility throughout project life. A conceptual risk Gas lift required at higher water cuts
assessment identified a number of facility mod- Dual line Lifetime Effective Cost of second production
displacement flow line prohibitive
ifications that reduced the risk of the single- with pig
line tieback to the level of the dual production Electric heating Lifetime Effective, Fast Cost
line design.

50 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Don't be distracted by the huge cranes on board one of our Deepwater Construction Vessels.
It's all really happening in the background. That is where our engineers are always innovating.
Where our superintendents see to the finest detail of each operation. Where we offer you the
best equipment and our qualified, motivated staff. And where we offer you our determination
to help you meet your targets on time, on cost and on quality. Basically, our background of more
than 40 years experience, that is where you'll find the value of HMC.

It's happening in the background

for Heerema Marine Contractors! Heerema Marine Contractors

The Netherlands, Phone: +31 (0)71 579 9000
info@hmc-heerema.com www.heerema.com

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DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

Mad Dog polyester mooring installation

he Mad Dog project is the first truss spar mined to be manageable, the project team

T
David Petruska
to use a polyester mooring system, the Hugh Wylie endorsed the decision to proceed with a poly-
first to receive regulatory approval for Jeff Geyer ester mooring system.
use in the Gulf of Mexico from the US Coast BP America Inc. Other papers have addressed the design
Guard and Minerals Management Service, issues associated with using a polyester
and the first permanent polyester mooring Saskia Rijtema mooring system, but this paper will talk about
system to be installed in the GoM. Heerema Marine Contractors the unique challenges of installing such a
It is also the largest diameter polyester mooring system.
rope ever made, having a jacketed diameter Three such unique issues associated with
of 270 mm – the equivalent of a 2,000-tonne challenging the capabilities of the world’s using polyester ropes are:
minimum breaking strength rope. In com- heavy lift vessels, and in addition, payload • The need to understand the load versus
parison, other typical polyester mooring sys- was increasing to meet topsides require- extension characteristics of the material
tems have been in the 850 to 1,250 tonne ments. Thus, the project team investigated and how they can impact the mooring
range. It was also the largest quantity of poly- using a taut leg polyester mooring system. line installation procedures
ester mooring tethers ever produced for a The base case was to use sheathed, steel spi- • Although polyester is a durable material,
single offshore mooring project. ral strand wire for the riser section of the the braided jacket, and even the core,
Other papers have discussed the design, mooring, but polyester offered the opportu- can be subject to damage during installa-
regulatory, and manufacturing challenges the nity to reduce weight and improve overall tion if not properly handled, much like
project faced, but this paper will review and mooring system performance. Early design sheathed spiral strand wire
discuss the installation challenges and demon- studies showed that a polyester mooring sys- • Following the advice of the various poly-
strate how to safely handle and install a poly- tem could reduce vertical loads on the hull by ester mooring recommended practice
ester mooring system. The paper will address 1,500-2,000 tonnes, while also reducing off- and guidelines, the polyester rope should
connecting hardware issues, polyester rope sets. The lower weight and the compliance not be allowed to come into contact with
properties required for developing installation offered by using polyester resulted in a lower the seafloor for concern that particle
procedures and determining ground and plat- pre-tension and maximum in-place loads than ingression will cause harmful abrasion of
form chain requirements, and longer-term for an all-steel system. It also resulted in the fibers. Although with the use of soil
operational impacts from use of polyester. smaller platform and ground chain, and particle filter clothes just under the
To control cost, it was important to the smaller chain jacks and fairleads, which also jacket, this may no longer be necessary,
Mad Dog project that the hull be fabricated produced cost savings beyond the impact on but at present it is customary to adhere
and transported to the GoM as a single piece. the hull. With these benefits and the risks of to, and this will impact the installation
The size and weight of the hull was already using polyester being evaluated and deter- procedures.

Aspen subsea tieback – an innovative facilities approach

1
sh 6,8
Ross Sommer Bullwinkle
al 50
lo '
w
Nexen Petroleum USA Inc.

Davinder Manku Existing Angus lines

KBR Deepwater Technology Group GC112

Troika midline
tie-ins
he industry has continued to develop smaller “fast track” subsea

T tieback projects and in general, has improved its track record.

Much of this success can be attributed to a better understanding
and management of the risks of fast-track execution. Critical equipment
Rocky

GC155
Manatee

contractors have also made great strides in recognizing the need for supermajor (BP) with an
quicker turnaround of their products to cater to market expectations. independent minority part- Existing
Troika umbilical
However, the most critical factors in the success of a fast-track sub- ner (Nexen Petroleum USA Existing
sea tieback are a solid approach to the systems engineering, flow Inc.), and is now owned and Troika lines

assurance, interface management, and an efficient decision-making operated by the original minority GC201

process. While the conventional “stage gate” process is often com- stake holder.
pressed, engineering must still be done in an efficient, well docu- The Aspen subsea architecture is Troika

mented manner with a constant focus on risk management and early a simple, reliable, and robust sys-
involvement of the critical contractors. There must also be a willing- tem. It consists of two pipeline
ness to engage engineering specialists for timely resolution of critical end manifolds (PLEMs) laid
engineering issues. integral with the flowlines
The objective of this paper is to discuss the successful engineering and located between two Aspen
and project execution approach used by the Aspen integrated project wells. The PLEMs have tie-
team on the Aspen I and II projects. The Aspen story is also one of ins for two wells each, in
commercial significance, in that Aspen was originally discovered by a addition to a pigging loop

52 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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In deep and need answers?

Deepwater Expertise
From Concepts Through Commissioning
• Marine pipelines and riser systems
• Subsea production systems
• Floating production systems
• Marine terminal systems
• Flow assurance and operability
• Onshore pipelines and facilities
• Marine installation management

Visit INTEC
Booth #600 www.intecengineering.com
2004 DOT

Since 1965, the name “DORIS” has been attached to the most
challenging offshore projects, under the harshest
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Tél. + 33 1 44 06 10 00 - Fax + 33 1 45 70 87 38
www.doris-engineering.com

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DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

A major decision point in the system

design was the use of dual versus
single externally insulated steel flowlines.
connection point. An umbilical termination including:
assembly (UTA) is located to the east of the • Early involvement of the installation con-
system, with a composite umbilical routed tractor can minimize risk, and a good
east of the flowlines to the platform. approach to expediting decision making
A major decision point in the system design and management approvals is necessary
was the use of dual versus single externally • Early involvement of operations person-
insulated steel flowlines. Much emphasis was nel and roll out of the “Operability Work-
placed on the use of risk-based engineering shop” to demonstrate system design was
and operability analysis to arrive at this deci- a pivotal exercise that aligned operations
sion. It was essential to balance the perceived and technical staff before committing to
technical and economic advantages of a sin- the system design
gle-line system with the overall operational • Technical interface management is key.
flexibility and operational risk mitigation capa- Complex interface management sys-
bility of a dual-line system. In the final analy- tems are not necessarily better than a fit-
sis, the ability to flow separate pressure for-purpose (FFP) system. The most
regimes, consolidate flow during turndown important concept is total team involve-
condition to manage slugging, and the gen- ment and ownership/accountability of
eral contingency and risk mitigation strate- interfaces by individuals. Interface man-
gies available with a dual-flowline system agement across facilities, drilling, and
were considered essential, especially consid- completion disciplines needs special
ering the lack of firm fluid property data. focus.
A great deal of attention was paid to captur- Additional lessons learned will be dis-
ing and implementing lessons learned. A cussed at the presentation of the paper at the
number of high-level lessons were noted, DOT conference.

Solid expandable technology:

The value of planned
installation v. contingency
Chris Carstens
Mike Breaux
Unocal Corp.

Kate Blasingame
Enventure Global Technology

arrow pore pressure/fracture gradient windows commonly encountered in deepwater in

N the Gulf of Mexico often require additional casing strings to reach the objective depths.
The inability to make accurate predictions for pore pressures and fracture gradients may
result in casing strings that do not reach the designed depth. Because of the limited number
of conventional casing strings that can be run, operators attempt to push casing points, which
can result in loss of circulation, well ballooning, well flows, and other operational difficulties.
Planning a solid expandable tubular in the upper sections of the well design preserves hole
size from the onset and allows more casing strings to be run, without having to push casing
points to the frac-gradient limit. Preserving hole size contributes to drilling efficiency, reduces
equivalent circulation density (ECD), and minimizes risk associated with small hole size in
deeper sections of the wellbore.
Running expandable tubulars reactively deeper in the well denotes more of a “survival”
mode when operating parameters are more severe. Planned installations allow operators and
engineers more time to assess how best to optimize the expandable tubular design. More time
also permits analysis of details, such as the shoe joint, base casing connection, and base cas-
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Introducing the world’s first deep-draft,

SCR-friendly, semisubmersible FPU
for ultra-deepwater production
Recent ultra-deepwater discoveries have highlighted the need for a new generation
of floating production units, and Atlantia is ready with a cost-effective answer.
Unlike drilling semisubmersibles, the key concern with ultra-deepwater FPUs is the service life of
the steel catenary risers. So, as the first step in creating the new design, Atlantia conducted a
rigorous and exhaustive study of structure/SCR interactions, identifying and characterizing motions
that adversely affect SCRs and SCR connections. Armed with that information, we created the
industry’s first truly SCR-friendly, semisubmersible FPU: a deep-draft, four-column, ring-pontoon hull
with optimized motion characteristics that maximize SCR performance. As a bonus, the deep-draft
design and pontoon geometry allow the optimum motion to be achieved with a more compact, more
economical hull. In developing the FPU, Atlantia drew upon the expertise of our sister company
GustoMSC-OceanDesign, experienced designer of semisubmersible drilling rigs and semisub-
mersible construction vessels. The design was verified by comprehensive global analysis and
model-testing performed in late 2003, and detailed engineering for the first project is underway.

Typical Atlantia streamlining

Like Atlantia’s proven SeaStar® TLPs, this innovative FPU
incorporates features that drive down project costs and shorten
project schedules:
• The hull is modularized for fast, economical fabrication
in almost any shipyard or fabrication yard.
• Structure draft and height are optimized for fabrication
yard access and tow-out clearances.
• The deck and hull can be integrated at quayside and
wet-towed to the installation site, eliminating offshore
heavy lifts.
• SCR porches on the outside of the ring pontoon facili-
tate SCR installation.
• The modular hull design is fully scalable for facility
weights beyond 12,000 tons, greatly reducing engi-
neering expense for subsequent projects.

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© 2004 Atlantia Offshore Limited. All rights reserved.

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DOT TECHNICAL PREVIEW

ing weight, to obtain the desired pass-through and drill-out. Solid Handling your cables and ropes
expandable tubulars run in the upper hole section still allow for con-
tingency expandable liners in the deeper sections, if required.
The paper compares two deepwater offset wells in the Mississippi
Canyon region in the GoM. In the first well, expandable casing was
set deep and used as a contingency casing string. The second well
incorporated a planned solid expandable tubular high in the wellbore
as part of the base design.
This paper explains the planning process for the second well and
how this process optimized the use of a planned expandable liner. The
planned expandable system in the second well also contributed to
operational efficiency. The second well was drilled to depth in 48 days
as opposed to the 140 days required by the previous operator in the
block to reach an equivalent depth on the first well. Actual pore pres-
sure and fracture gradient data from the first well were used in the
design of the second well.

Taking full advantage of the

solid expandable tubular future challenges require
technology requires future solutions
incorporating it into

www.bragd.no
ODIM ASA
P.O.Box 193, 6069 Hareid - Norway
the original well design. Phone +47 70 01 33 00 - Fax +47 70 01 33 01

www.odim.no
Taking full advantage of the solid expandable tubular technology
requires incorporating it into the original well design. Preplanning
gives the operator more options to address conditions that can result
in the following:
• Optimization of system designs that result in desired post-expan-
sion dimensions
• Reduction of risk due to proper planning and risk analysis
• Flexibility in wellbore design by allowing the drilling engineer to
have more strings of casing, thereby reducing the chance of
drilling outside the pore pressure/fracture gradient window
• Decrease of non-productive time
• Option of using surface stack technology and still reaching
deeper drilling objectives
• Use of lower expansion pressures during installation
Instead of being used as just a remedial solution to problems
encountered during drilling or production, solid expandable tubulars
are an important construction element to drilling “better” wells.
“Better” wells reduce costs, minimize environmental impact, and
address challenges proactively.
The current operator was able to capitalize on a wealth of experi-
ence and insight by using solid expandable tubular technology and
incorporating best practices, lessons learned, and the contract man-
agement plan into the design procedures. Since implementing this
process, this operator has realized a100% success rate with the appli-
cation of solid expandable tubulars worldwide.

Registration information
For information about the 16th annual Deep Offshore
Technology Conference, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, in New Orleans,
visit the website at www.deepoffshoretechnology.com.

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

Riser concept designed

to reduce platform loads
Mid-water arch supports weight

EAL Engineering, a subsidiary of uplift tension to the foundation (suction

S Technip, is developing a new riser con-

cept for ultra-deepwater applications.
The Hybrid S Riser system (HySR) is
designed to reduce loads transmitted
by the riser onto the floating production
platform. The system also addresses fatigue
typically incurred at the sag bend of steel
anchor)
• A catenary restraining tether, anchored
to the seabed by a pile, which restricts
the subsea arch’s excursions.
According to SEAL, based in Nimes, south-
ern France, the HySR offers numerous advan-
tages over competing riser concepts. These
catenary risers (SCRs) close to the seabed include:
touch-down point. These issues have created • Use of a subsea arch removes the weight
serious concerns and cost overruns, in terms penalty introduced by SCR loads at the
of engineering manhours, at several high- FPU deck, thereby improving payload
profile deepwater field developments. and allowing the specification of riser
The HySR comprises a buoyant mid-water pull-in equipment to be reduced
HySR system 1:60 scale model.
arch connected to seabed foundations by two • Riser fatigue caused by wave-induced
dual-redundant taut tethers and two catenary motions on the FPU is minimized or
restraining tethers. SCRs and flexible riser eliminated – the same applies to current • The system allows all flowlines, risers,
jumpers transport fluids between the subsea vortex-induced vibrations, riser ratchet- and umbilicals to be pre-installed and
flowlines and the floating production unit ing at the seabed, and stresses caused commissioned prior to the arrival on-site
(FPU). by soil suction at the riser touch-down of the FPU. This eliminates the need to
The main role of the subsea arch is to zones. This is partly because seabed mobilize extra equipment to the FPU for
support the different risers while facilitat- anchors are not required for the SCRs flowline flooding, gauging, pressure
ing FPU motion de-coupling. Its main com- • Compared to a riser tower, the HySR’s tests, and de-watering.
ponents are three long air cans, which flowline/riser configuration provides a
provide system buoyancy, and two side cans smooth flow path, reducing slugging Model tests
that serve to balance the SCR loads and tilt- risk, with minimal intermediate SEAL performed two sets of basin tests
ing moment. A large radius arch tray connections also cutting poten- based on West African storm conditions and
supports the flexible jumpers, also allow- tial for leak points a buoy located 100 m below sea level. The
ing coiled tubing access from the FPU company conducted the first tests on a 1:30
deck. scale model of the HySR’s subsea arch at the
Incorporated in the arch is a control and Force facility in Denmark. Here, SEAL tested
integrity monitoring system that includes three configurations of the arch with and
three main devices. Accelerometers allow HySR system without a heave plate, positioned 3 m and 6 m
the arch’s motions (displacements, rotations) configuration. below the main cans.
to be recorded; stress gauges situated on the The company performed dynamic free
bridle pad-eyes monitor the tether tension oscillation tests in three directions to mea-
performance, and an acoustic data transmit- sure dynamic added mass and quadratic
ter provides for periodic downloading damping coefficients. SEAL also tested tow-
of recorded data. ing for all three X, Y, and Z directions to
Two tether and foundation measure the arch’s static drag. The
systems anchor the subsea results confirmed the arch’s various
arch to the seabed. Each of hydrodynamic coefficients, and these
these systems features: were then used to calibrate the dynamic
• A structural connection analysis models and the full HySR basin
comprising double wall test models.
steel plates with two tie- SEAL also performed a series of
rods connected to the dynamic tests at the Marin basin in The
arch Netherlands on a 1:60 scale model. This
• Dual taut tethers trans- system was partly truncated to achieve a
mitting the arch’s net satisfactor y compromise between the

58 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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When depth is a
matter of perception,

get all the facts.

Extending the reach of subsea field tieback is one of the key enablers in the move
to deepwater exploration and production. Going farther and deeper can increase
risk, especially when you don't know what conditions exist.
Schlumberger subsea service is your partner in assessing and managing subsea
development and production risk. Our unique combination of experience and data-
driven decision systems is what sets us apart and makes a bottom-line difference
in risk reduction. It is this data-driven approach that is helping Statoil monitor its
subsea flowline and ensure production at the Gullfaks C platform in Norway.
To find out more, contact
When your subsea asset is concerned, we'll help you get all the facts you need
wcp@slb.com or visit
to achieve your production goals.
www.slb.com/oilfield.
Schlumberger—we connect you to your reservoir.

SS_04_002_0

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

water depth at this facility and a realistic Numerical analyses of 400 tons each. Restraining tethers com-
model scale. The company also used Marin’s SEAL also performed a series of analyses prised chains for the bottom section and
deepwater pit to model the taut tethers over for environmental conditions off West Africa polyester ropes with an MBL of 630 tons for
the entire water depth (the latter not trun- and Brazil, using non-linear time domain the upper part. The company chose polyester
cated). analysis software. For developments off- ropes for their low axial stiffness, which
Results from these tests suggested that shore Angola, the company modeled an results in a longer natural period for the sys-
the HySR arch exhibits a stable behavior and HySR system in a water depth of 1,250 m, tem, and fortheir higher performance fatigue
is not susceptible to large wave-induced with a mean distance of 250 m separating the characteristics.
motions at the design depth of submersion subsea arch from the FPSO. The arch was The dynamic and fatigue analyses con-
(1,000 m). During one of the trials, a long- 100 m below sea level with the tether founda- firmed the feasibility and robustness of the
period wave created specifically to excite the tion systems 90 m apart. SEAL configured proposed HySR. The decoupling of FPSO
heave natural period showed just a small the system for eight risers.
degree of heave motion magnification at the
arch level. The test team then investigated Based on the dry weight/buoyancy ratio
the potential for manual adjustment of the of 0.36, the arch sizing was as follows:
system’s hydrodynamic characteristics Total weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,060 tons
through the installation of heave plates at var- Buoyancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,030 tons
ious levels below the subsea arch. Their con- Net uplift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,670 tons
clusion was that this concept is feasible, if (+300 tons for safety tanks)
required for certain field applications in Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 m
order to modify the system’s added mass and Width. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 m
damping. Main can diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.8 m
According to SEAL, comparisons with Side can diameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 m
numerical results for buoy heave motion Slot spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 m
demonstrated the accuracy of the analytical
model in representing the system’s behavior. For safety purposes, SEAL considered
Discrepancies were limited generally to dual-redundant tethers for the tether founda- and subsea arch motions confirmed that SCR
smaller wave responses (i.e. 100 mm full-scale tion system. Taut tethers were polyester motions at touch-down would be minimized,
displacement for a 1,250 m depth HySR). ropes with a minimum breaking load (MBL) thereby eliminating SCR fatigue concerns.

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

(The set criteria included a fatigue life of at least 250 years for the
SCRs and tethers, equivalent to a 25-year design service life with a
Analysis of the tether
safety factor of 10).
The study also confirmed that all the HySR’s mechanical and struc-
system proved compliance
tural aspects met familiar design practices (API, DNV). Analysis of
the tether system proved compliance with API rules and showed that with API rules and showed
the tethers are always in tension, thereby avoiding the risk of ‘snatch’
loads. SEAL also verified minimum clearances between risers and that the tethers are always
observed no riser/riser or riser/umbilical clashing.
For the Brazil study, the company modeled a system for a water in tension, thereby avoiding
depth of 1,800 m, with a mean distance of 300 m separating the subsea
arch from the FPU. SEAL spaced the tether foundation systems 90 m the risk of ‘snatch’ loads.
apart. Due to Brazilian environmental conditions – typically high wave
amplitude and frequent long period waves – the company positioned for the tether foundation system. Taut tethers were polyester ropes
the subsea arch 150 m below sea level, with polyester ropes selected with an MBL of 1,250 tons. Restraining tethers comprised chains at
for the taut tethers. the bottom part and polyester ropes at the upper part with an MBL of
SEAL configured the system for
SEAL considered dual- 1,100 tons.
20 risers, with the subsea arch,
redundant taut tethers Storm, fatigue, and riser clashing analyses confirmed the system’s
based on a dry weight/buoyancy
mechanical and structural integrity for Brazil
ration of 0.36, sized as follows:
applications (API, DNV). SCR and tether
Total weight . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,850 tons
fatigue life was above the 250-year require-
Buoyancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,780 tons
ment. Maximum tether tensions complied
Net uplift . . . . . . 3,420 tons +500 tons
with API criteria for all loading and sensitivity
(safety tanks)
Length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.5 m conditions. Analysis confirmed that the teth-
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 m ers were in load tension for all load case.
Main can diameter . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 m SEAL also verified minimum clearances were
Side can diameter . . . . . . . . . . 11.3 m also verified for critical load cases between
Slot spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1/1.5 m the mooring lines, HySR system, riser/riser,
and riser/umbilical.

THE IDEAL TAUT LEG ANCHOR

FOR MODUs SHOULD …

Penetrate the seabed soil quickly and reliably.

Sustain high angles of uplift at the seabed.

Embed deeper if its installed load is exceeded.

Be recoverable at low loads from reconsolidated
soil.

Have proven torque compensation for use in
all-wire systems.

Need minimum turn around time on deck.

Be easy to handle on deck in adverse weather
conditions.

Have a proven track record of success for taut
leg moorings for MODUs.

The Bruce Dennla is the only anchor

that meets all of these criteria.
For more information visit our Website:
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Bruce TLA Limited, Anchor House
Cronkbourne, Douglas,
Isle of Man, IM4 4QE, British Isles
Tel: +44-629203 Fax: +44-1624-622227
Email: sales@bruceanchor.co.uk

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I N T E G R AT E D
DEVELOPMENT
SOLUTIONS

Take advantage of DRIL-QUIP’S capabilities, technological innovation

and field-proven experience in offshore field developments.
DRIL-QUIP’S world class project management expertise can manage
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Complete in-house engineering capabilities and solutions enable DRIL-QUIP

to develop products and system solutions for field development applications.

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DRIL-QUIP’S certified quality management system ensures the reliability of the design,
manufacture, testing and installation of integrated development solutions.

DRIL-QUIP PRODUCTS INCLUDE:

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Equipment, Subsea and Surface Trees, Drilling and Production Riser Systems, Dry Completion
Systems, Subsea Control Systems, Liner Hanger Systems, Subsea Manifolds, Flowline
Connection Systems, Template Systems
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for more information call your nearest DRIL-QUIP sales representative or visit us at: www.dril-quip.com

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

Thiocyanate corrosion inhibitors suspected

in chloride stress corrosion cracking
Tubing failure shares a common thread

ecent analyses of catastrophic packer Ed Robinson ble to SCC. Any electrolyte containing a

R fluid-related failures suggest that

discontinuing the use of thiocyanates
in non-zinc brines can mitigate the
problem. The relationship between
stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and comp-
letion fluids and brine-based packer fluids is
under scrutiny because of tubing failures
Baroid/Halliburton

• Anodic process
chemical capable of partially destroying the
corrosion resistant alloys (CRAs), normally
protective passive film under anodic electro-
chemical conditions, may be responsible for
SCC. The initiation of SCC may not require
O2 or other oxidants. The H2S/Cl- synergism
causes pitting and may result in cracking of
associated with non-zinc brines. Among thous- • Cl- CRAs.
ands of Gulf of Mexico wells completed using • Tensile stress
halide-brine packer fluids, the documented • Oxidants (oxygen and sulphur). Thiocyanate corrosion
cases of tubing failure due to chloride stress inhibitors
corrosion cracking (CSCC) share a common Chloride stress Thiocyanate inhibitors for oilfield corro-
thread; these wells were all completed with corrosion cracking sion inhibition include sodium thiocyanate,
non-zinc brines inhibited with a thiocyanate Like stress corrosion cracking, the risk of ammonium thiocyanate, and potassium
inhibitor. No failures in zinc brines inhibited CSCC increases at lower pH levels and thiocyanate. No evaluation has been con-
with thio-cyanate have been documented, higher temperatures. Based on an Erskine ducted to determine a difference in perfor-
although hundreds of wells have been field tubing failure analysis, Texaco con- mance by the various thiocyanates. While
completed with thiocyanate-inhibited zinc cluded that the three conditions listed below the use of thiocyanate inhibitors in non-zinc
brines. Using thiocyanate inhibitors in non- must be present in order for CSCC to occur: brines is a common feature in the CSCC fail-
zinc brines can result in a concentration of H2S • A chloride containing water phase ures documented to date, it has not been
that, in the absence of zinc, is not scavenged • An oxidizing agent (most commonly established whether all thiocyanates or only
and can, with chloride, attack metal. oxygen) or an acid one of the above forms promote failures.
• Tensile stress, either applied or residual. Ammonium has the potential to thermally
Contributing The probable process of CSCC is the degrade into ammonia and free H + , cer-
factors migration of Fe++ through the passive layer tainly increasing CSCC and HE risk by low-
No guidelines have been developed to leaving voids behind. The voids coalesce and ering the pH.
clarify the complex issue of CSCC and metal can form cracks under stress. One means of The thiocyanate inhibitors, developed
selection. Materials specialists should be determining that a failed metal has experi- specifically for ZnBr2 brines, function by
consulted with regard to specific environ- enced CSCC rather than hydrogen embrittle- forming a zinc/iron sulfate complex that
ments that metal components will be ment (HE) is the existence of branched plates the metals (similar to galvanizing).
exposed to. However, the following charac- transgranular cracks that go through rather They were primarily designed to protect car-
teristics are generally associated with the than around the grains. Because CSCC is an bon steel and low alloy steel (LAS). In the
occurrence of SCC: anodic process, it is the converse of HE. The absence of zinc (or with zinc in an extremely
• Low pH existence of one precludes the possibility of low pH environment), the thiocyanate
• High temperatures the other. The failures were diagnosed as inhibitor can thermally degrade with H2S as a
• Transgranular action CSCC. byproduct. In the presence of zinc, an effec-
• Higher alloys There are other combinations of chemi- tive H2S scavenger, the presence of H2S is
• Higher HRC value cals that can cause failure of alloys suscepti- mitigated.
The GoM completion fluids industry has
consistently used thiocyanate inhibitors for
Alloys Completion fluids zinc brines. No acceptable alternatives are
13Cr-80 13.2 ppg CaCl2/CaBr2 blend available at present. For deeper, hotter wells,
(inhibited with thiocyanate with 1% v/v 19.2 ppg ZnBr2 solution) thiocyanate use was expanded to non-zinc
13Cr-95 13.2 ppg KCHO2 brines in wells that exceeded the tempera-
13CR-110 “HyperChrome” 13.2 ppg CaBr2 pure (inhibited with an amine inhibitor) ture limitations of amine-based inhibitors. As
noted above, the addition of thiocyanate
inhibitors in non-zinc brines can result in a
concentration of H2S, which, if not scavenged
Three candidate alloys were tested against three candidate completion fluids.
by zinc, can aggressively attack CRAs. Due to

64 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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DRILLING & COMPLETION www.dom.com

The investigation of a Shell Deep

Alex 22Cr DSS failure in an 11 ppg
CaCl2 inhibited with a thiocyanate
inhibitor determined that the
cracking propagated and spread
from the outside of the tubing.
the potential evolution of H2S gas in non-zinc lated well fluid (H2S, CO2) suffered CSCC,
brines at temperatures of 300°-340° F, some while similar specimens did not in calcium
Exploration & Production, Inc.
suppliers add a percentage of zinc in these bromide (CaBr2) pure and sodium bromide
applications. The absolute percentage of zinc (NaBr) pure.
required for effective scavenging has not
been established. Failure
An extensive review conducted in 2001 analyses
shows that SCC in CRAs could be traced in Kawasaki Steel Corp. conducted a failure
part to the misapplication of thiocyanate analysis on HP1-13Cr-110 tubing used on a
inhibitors. Test results with martinsitic stain- High Island (Texas) location. The well was
less steel (MSS) and duplex stainless steel worked with high density ZnBr2 brine that
(DSS) demonstrated that the presence of may have carried risks of HE. The packer North America’s leader in
thiocyanate “low allow steel corrosion fluid was a CaBr2/CaCl2 blend inhibited with offshore exploration &
inhibitors” (SCN-) resulted in SCC. No SCC a thiocyanate and may have carried risk of
occurred in the SCN-free brines. The syner- CSCC. The tubing failed within one to two production in oil and
gism between H2S and calcium chloride weeks. No definitive position was taken as to natural gas.
(CaCl2) was further demonstrated in the the specific cause of the failure, but demon-
Malaysian Resak A-6 well investigation. All U- strated corrosion tests that while thiocya-
bend specimens exposed to CaCl2 and simu- nates in non-zinc brines can limit corrosion

Shell PetroHunt
Texaco Deep S/L 16786 No.1 BP H/I Gryphon
Erskine Alex Vermillion Par. Alk-A5 No. 1 H/I Blk-52 No. 1
Metallurgy DSS 25% Cr 22CR DSS 13Cr 95 ksi 13Cr 110 ksi 13Cr 110 ksi
125 ksi actual test HyperChrome HyperChrome
indicated 110 ksi
Brine 11.3 ppg 11.0 ppg 11.4 ppg 12 ppg 116.6 ppg
CaCl2 CaCl2 CaCl2 CaBr2/CaCl2 CaCl2
Additives Thiocyanate Thiocyanate Thiocyanate Thiocyanate Thiocyanate
inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor
BHT 350° F 370° F 270° F 352° F 284° F
Pressure 14,000 psi 16,800 psi n/a n/a ?
Failure SCC SCC SCC SCC SCC
1 year 1 month 3 to 4 days <1 week 7 to 8 months
Failure depth Vapor zone Near hanger ±8,600 ft 8,450 ft to ±7,500 ft
+200° F and deep into estimated 11,100 ft estimated
the well 120° F to 180° F 200° F to 250° F 160° F
Comment O2 incursion Testing drew the Successfully Failed in
into splash zone - conclusion it producing today identification
well was vented was due to H2S with the same grooves -
producing steam from the tubing in 11.4 successfully
out of annulus inhibitor ppg CaBr2 producing
inhibited with with formate
aminte inhibitor packer fluid NYSE: D

The one common element in these five failures is the use of similar brines and inhibitor, all non-zinc
brines inhibited with thiocyanates.
Copyright 2004
www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 65

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This introduction to rates in terms of total metal loss, the non-zinc

brines can experience pitting corrosion that
reservoir engineering will can lead to further complications.
help readers understand The investigation of a Shell Deep Alex
22Cr DSS failure in an 11 ppg CaCl2 inhibited
how to perform reservoir with a thiocyanate inhibitor determined that
the cracking propagated and spread from the
simulations including outside of the tubing. Tests on 11 ppg CaCl2
showing them how to (de-aerated) with no additives did not exhibit
SCC, while the CaCl2 with the ammonium
process data for input and bisulphate O2 scavenger and thiocyanate
how to evaluate studies inhibitor did exhibit SCC. The first inhibited
test uncovered an unexpected H2S smell.
conducted by colleagues. Subsequent tests measured up to 5 psi H2S
that was not initially present. Clearly, the fail-
Author Mike Carlson shows ure mechanism was caused by H2S gener-
how to link geology and ated by the thermal degradation of the
thiocyanate inhibitor. However, the benefi-
simulation input—the most cial effects of the presence of LAS were also
critical aspect of successful reservoir simulation. The established during this investigation. Even
partial removal (oxygen) by corroding car-
book also covers techniques that are unique to reservoir bon steel in the test solution was sufficient to
prevent cracking in these laboratory tests.
simulation, such as pseudo relative permeability. The Shell Deep Alex failure investigation
cautions against the use of thiocyanates
Contents: • Introduction • Mathematical Considerations without making a distinction between zinc
• Geology, Petrophysics and Layering • Multi-disciplinary Integration brines and non-zinc chloride containing
and Geostatistics • Production Performance Analysis • Reservoir Fluid brines. However, it appears thiocyanates
are successfully used in zinc brines. The
PVT: Data Screening • Capillary Pressure and Relative Permeability: vast majority of wells completed with zinc
Data Screening • Pseudo Relative Permeability and Upscaling bromide packer fluids have been inhibited
• Initialization • Objectives, Critical Issues and Study Integration with thiocyanate inhibitors.
No acceptable substitute is available for
• Basic Data Set Building, Computer Prowess, Numerical Controls thiocyanate inhibitors in ZnBr 2 because
and Run Data • History Matching • Predictions • Report Preparation, amine-based inhibitors permit unaccept-
able corrosion rates (for LAS casing). No
Danger Zones and Assessing Simulation Results • Hydraulically
case of tubing failure has been documented
Fractured Wells and Horizontal Wells • Compositional Modeling, Gas in any of these wells, which does not pre-
Condensate and Volatile Oil Reservoirs • Advanced Processes clude misdiagnosed complications.
• Fractured Reservoirs • Thermal Models • Problem Sets SCC testing
Recently, SCC testing was conducted in
Key Features & Benefits: conjunction with an operator, specific to well
• An easy to understand treatment on reservoir simulations conditions for an upcoming job. The parame-
• Teaches the critical link between geology and simulation input ters were a bottom-hole temperature of 340°
F and a required packer fluid density of 13.2
• Shows how to evaluate studies conducted by colleagues ppg.
Nine individual combinations were tested
Includes problem sets along with critical for seven-day and 28-day corrosion rates.
They were weighed for metal loss and sent
issues and study integration for scanning electron microscope analysis for
pitting corrosion in addition to the SCC tests.
3 Easy Ways to Order: The “Hyper Chrome” 13Cr-110 failed in the
1.Tel: 800.752.9764 or +1.918.831.9421 13.2 ppg CaCl2/CaBr2 inhibited with thio-
2. Fax: 1.877.218.1348 cyanate. It did not fail and did not experience
3. Online: www.pennwellbooks.com Key Code OGJAD progressive pitting in either the 13.2 ppg
CaBr2 pure or the 13.2 ppg potassium for-
mate.

ISBN: 0-87814-803-5 / 8-1/2 x 11 Hardcover / Approx. 516 pages / 2003
Price: $109.00 US – Order today!

66 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

Driller recalls 35 years of change

Robert J. Scott, senior vice president
of operations for Transocean Inc., has
seen a lot in his 35 years in the off-
shore drilling industry. In this exclusive Eldon Ball
interview, he talks with Offshore Editor Editor in Chief
Eldon Ball about how the industry has
changed during Transocean’s 50 years
in the offshore drilling business and
what he thinks might lie ahead.
with mud engineers, cementing ser vices,
and well testing. It started to get very special-
How did you get into the drilling ized.
industry? Plus the economics have changed. When I
Scott: I went to work for a company named first started, the day rate for an offshore rig
International Drilling Co. (IDC) who were was about $5,000 a day. Well costs were
operating land rigs in Libya. Later, I went $3,000 to $4,000 a day. Wages on a drilling
with the same company to Kuwait, Saudi crew was about $130 a month.
Arabia, and offshore Das Island, in the By the same token, there was a lot of
Arabian Gulf. emphasis on the drilling crew. We tripped a
lot because the bit didn’t last long. There was
You moved around a lot back then? a lot of emphasis on getting the bit in and out
Scott: Yes, and when you moved then, you of the hole in the shortest time possible. Bits
Robert J. Scott is senior vice presi-
actually lived in the countr y where you were selected by the toolpusher, and the
dent, operations, of Transocean Inc. He
worked. Now, expat rig hands commute back emphasis was on downhole skills. A lot of
joined the company in 1969 and has
to their hometown, but in those days, you drillers could tell you what was happening held a variety of operating manage-
were more like a camp follower. If you down hole, but they couldn’t work it out for ment roles over his 35 years of service.
worked in Kuwait, you lived there. In the you on a piece of paper. They didn’t rely on Scott was a member of the team that
Persian Gulf, you lived right next to where instructions from a lot of different people, designed the world’s first dual-activity
the rig operated. If you were on a one-year or they instructed themselves. drillships, the Discoverer Enterprise,
two-year contract, then you got a month off Something that happened quite often then Discoverer Spirit, and Discoverer Deep
and started again. In the Far East, if the rig that doesn’t happen as often now is that tool- Seas.
operated off Indonesia, you probably lived in pushers worked until the age of about 35 or
Singapore. 40, and then they went over to the operator
I first worked on the drill crew and worked side. Operators wanted someone who knew Drilling crews used to use spinning
up through the ranks to toolpusher. In those the business. So, naturally they recruited tool chains.
days, the tool pusher was the man in charge pushers. Scott: Yes, but that started to go out in the
of the rig. Back then, there was only one tool mid 1960s. It was – had the potential to be – a
pusher. Now, we have two tool pushers – day I guess the biggest qualification for dangerous job, but if you had a good spinner
man and night man – and we’ve added some- a toolpusher back then was experience. on the crew, it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
thing called offshore installation manager. Scott: That’s right. But there’s a lot more Crewmembers knew they could trust each
training these days. That’s part of the pro- other. If you were working with a good crew,
How has the work changed for a gression that I talked about earlier, and we it wasn’t that dangerous. Now that the crews
drilling crew? see even more of it today. You see crews are using a lot of mechanized machiner y,
Scott: The biggest change is that there are come onto a rig and they’ve had some formal they don’t get the chance to develop crew
a lot more specially trained people in the training before working on the rig. coordination as previously, just because of
drilling process now. In previous times, the the nature of the work. In fact, the mechani-
drilling crew did more of the non-drilling The self-propelled jackup was a cal pipe spinner slowed down the tripping
operations. When a wireline logging com- giant step at the time. operation somewhat, as using the manual
pany came onto the rig, there was usually Scott: The Mercury was the first self-pro- chain was just quicker. But from a safety per-
only one engineer, and he drove the truck. pelled jackup. Being self-propelled made it spective, the mechanized version is an
The drilling crew helped him – helped with more mobile, easier to move from well to improvement.
his tools, and with setting up his work. well. But it built complexity and more cost Technically, offshore floating drilling was
So, the drilling crew knew something into the rig design, and if you weren’t plan- pretty simple in the early days – rotary table,
about that side of the operation in addition to ning on moving the rig a great deal, it was an kelly, rig tongs. The drillship Discoverer II
the drilling side. Then, as time went along, unnecessary expense. The Mercury worked came out with a design that was perfected in
there’d be two engineers on the logging in the North Sea, Argentina, North Africa, the mid 1960s where mechanical arms
truck, and then three, and pretty soon the and Egypt. And it moved under self-propul- racked the pipe in the derrick. It was safer,
drill crew wasn’t much involved. Same thing sion to each location. and faster, and had advantages over the man-

68 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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DRILLING & COMPLETION

Scott was part of the team that

designed the Discoverer Spirit, one of
the world’s first dual-activity drillships.

In those days you started off

primarily with US crews, right?
Scott: They were mainly expatri-
ate crews. When the floating drilling
industry first started moving into the
international arena, the crews were
primarily expatriates, and then we
started to get the local workforce
involved. Like in Malaysia. We went
there in 1969, and by the time the rig
left in October 1975, we took five
been bypassed by much bigger rigs. The Malaysians with us who we’d trained.
industry can and will change to meet the needs
of the times. When you compare those days with
The Discoverer Deep Seas set the world water today’s business environment, it’s
depth drilling record of 10,011 ft. What about when things started quite a difference.
moving to the seabed? Scott: Ever ything in technology has
ual drill ship operation. Global Marine also Scott: That was another big change, once grown tremendously, both in size and in com-
had a system where they laid the pipe down we put the BOP on the seabed. At first, we plexity. Today, the world water depth drilling
on the deck, which was also a great innova- were basically taking a land BOP and record is 10,011 ft, set by the Discoverer Deep
tion at that time. However the Discoverer II installing it on the seafloor. Therefore there Seas. That dual-activity drillship and other
was the first floating rig with a derrick- were a number of metallurgical problems. fifth-generation units have hook loads
mounted pipe racking system. We learned a lot, and the operators helped exceeding 1 million pounds, very large deck-
At that time, the going speed for tripping us. Esso was a very strong supporter of tech- loads, high-pressure mud pump systems,
was about 55 stands of pipe an hour. The auto- nology advances back then. automated pipe-racking, the list goes on and
mated system could only do about 45 stands A lot of the changes in floating drilling on. Drillers and assistant drillers, again with a
at best, so we took off some of the automated materialized in Brazil and the Far East – great deal of training and expertise, work in
equipment to get it up to about 50 stands. Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand. enclosed cabins with joysticks and touch-pad
That technology was developed for Esso, Discovery wells from floaters were drilled in computer screens. DP operators keep these
ExxonMobil, with a requirement that it had the Bass Strait and off New Plymouth in New rigs precisely on location with advanced DP
to trip as fast but safer than a manual derrick. Zealand, then, Peninsular Malaysia offshore systems fed by information from satellites
Remember, we carried much lighter loads Trenganu. There were a lot of offshore wells and acoustical beacons on the sea floor.
then. The industry was only out to about 600- already drilled off Brunei. Other rigs have innovative features such as
ft water depths, and loads were about 350-500 off-line casing “mini derricks.”
tons. Then, as we started moving into deeper What was the preferred type of rig in It’s this combination of world-class iron,
water, things started getting heavier. In shal- that part of the world, once you got out technology, training, and people that have set
lower water, we had 5,000-psi BOPs. From of jackup depth? and will continue to set all kinds of records
about the 1970s, we started putting on 10,000- Scott: The semis were fine for a static for our clients. For those reasons alone, it’s
psi BOPs, because of deeper drilling and area, like Brunei. But for those operators that exciting to be in the offshore drilling
deeper water. had widespread prospects, a drillship began business. But when you add the fact that fron-
When the industry began moving into to be a preferred option because of its high tier deepwater provinces are becoming more
deeper waters in the 1970s, moving deeper mobility. You could move around better. But active, it gets even more interesting.
than 600 ft, then we had to change the rig semis were preferred for floating operations Malaysia, India, Eastern Africa, Mexico, and
designs to accommodate that. I remember in the North Sea. Southeast Asia was a good other frontier areas are advancing deepwater
when the question was asked, what’s next? Do place for rigs that couldn’t work in more initiatives. That’s not to say that older hydro-
we need something bigger? At that time, geol- harsh environments, like the North Sea. carbon fields do not have potential. As fields
ogists were telling us that we couldn’t go any mature, there’s greater demand for workover
deeper. Operators were telling us that they Tell me about your work for India. and in-field drilling, as we are experiencing
couldn’t produce in water depths over 600 ft. Was this when the ONGC first started with the North Sea. All told, these drilling
Then drillships such as the Discoverer 534, drilling offshore? requirements make for a very challenging
were built. The Discoverer 534 started out as a Scott: Yes, we built a rig for the Oil and business, and we’re looking forward to con-
turret-moored drillship with thrusters that Natural Gas Corp. of India. It was a four- tinuously improving to meet and exceed
could DP. Now it’s strictly DP. But it was legged jackup called the Sagar Samrat. That clients’ demands. Continuous improvement
designed to moor in 3,000 ft, and people said, was in the early 1970s. We took it to India and is the about the only thing that has not
“What the heck do you want to moor in 3,000 trained the ONGC on how to use it. It’s still changed in the past 50 years of offshore
ft? That’s totally crazy.” Since then, that rig has there. drilling.

70 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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PRODUCTION

Total increases output

from marginal Otter field
Longest subsea tieback with dual ESPs

tepping out with existing technology in Frank Hartley to the template and then pass through the

S electrical submersible pumps (ESP)

and linking with the longest tieback to
a platform in the North Sea, Total has
demonstrated the value of marginal
Drilling/Production Editor

field developments and the benefits of using ondar y, or back-up) ESP system design
ESP systems as an artificial lift method. included a higher number of stages to pro-
“The Otter field development by Total vide necessary total dynamic head (TDH) for
tree cap via a subsea switch that can direct
the power to either upper or lower ESP. The
subsea switch is a remotely activated
hydraulically driven device using tree subsea
control module (SCM) for hydraulic inter-
face. The electrical tree penetration system
was designed to by-pass the switch using an
E&P UK in the Northern North Sea has been a later stage of production when water cut ROV, if required.
a huge success in a marginal subsea field by increases.” The production from each well commin-
using dual electric submersible pumps in Both systems use automatic Y-tools to pro- gles in the common 10-in. production pipe-
three subsea production wells that are 21 km vide intervention access through the 3 1/2- line. The template has a multiphase flow
from the host platform,” says Paul Kelman, in. by-pass tubing, Bespalov says. A set of meter, which can be routed to measure indi-
completion engineer with Total. downhole parameters is available from each vidual well production.
The field is one of the UK’s new subsea oil of the ESPs through the monitoring system
fields in block 210 in the Northern North that uses data transmission through the main Drilling phase
Sea, 21 km away from the host platform. It ESP cable. Downhole parameters include “The drilling center is a four-slot template
was discovered in 1978, appraised in 1997, pump discharge pressure, pump intake pres- located beside an existing appraisal well. All
and developed in 2002/2003. The field is a sure and temperature, ESP motor winding three producers have horizontal drains rang-
shallow compartmentalized accumulation temperature (MWT), motor vibration, and ing from 220-445 m long and were placed in
with a measured reservoir depth of around current leakage, he says. the Tarbert formation, the highest unit of the
2,000 m and contains 36° API crude with esti- Each ESP well is driven by its own vari- Middle Jurassic Brent sequence,” Kelman
mated recoverable reser ves of 42 MMbbl. able-speed drives located on the host plat- says. “Geosteering was used in conjunction
Due to the low reservoir pressure, around form. Three 6.6-kV subsea power cables run with rotary steerable assemblies in order to
200 bar (2,900 psi) initially, coupled with ensure the drains were located in the high-
the moderate gas-oil ratio of 450 cf/bbl, Description Value est quality sandstone and avoiding the
low bubble-point pressure of 143 bar # of production wells 3 unstable overlying Heather formation.”
(2,074 psi), and likely water production, Avg. BFPD 8-17,000 The initial plan for the field was to start
the field required artificial lift to achieve SIBHP, psi 2,900 drilling during spring 2002 to avoid winter
development. The long step-out distance Pump intake psi 2,750 operations in the North Sea. Rig availability
and flow assurance issues led to ESP GLR, SCF/STKBBL 450 issues moved the start of the Otter drilling
technology being chosen as an artificial API, SP.GR. 36 (0.844) campaign to July 2002. This resulted in
lift method for this development. BHT, F 173 additional complications caused by bad
TBG, O.D. (IN) & WT. 5 1/2” 20 # winter weather, as the completion process
System design CSG, O.D. (IN) & WT. 10 3/4” 55.5 # proved to be weather-sensitive.
A dual ESP completion design with two TVD, ft 6,600 Due to weather conditions and exces-
independent systems below the tubing MD, ft 10,170 sive rig movement for the second well ESP
hanger was selected to reduce the fre- Scale (light, etc.) light installation, the ESP packer lost its sealing
quency of the workovers and allow Sand insignificant elements while running in hole. By that
workover periods to fit within a favorable H2S none time, it was obvious that performing the
weather window. These configurations CO2 negligible ESP completions was too weather-sensi-
have been previously used for high-cost Emulsion (yes or no) no tive. The appraisal well was re-entered and
intervention wells. Onshore/offshore Offshore - subsea completed, followed by drilling of the final
According to Eugene Bespalov, Baker producer.
Hughes Centrilift business development This left three completions to be
manager–UK, “The 20,000-b/d rated, Due to low reservoir pressure, around 200 bar (2,900 psi) installed back-to-back (two oil wells and
684-hp ESP system was designed for fluid initially, coupled with the moderate GOR of 450 scf/bbl, low one injector well) in spring 2003. The
production rates between 4,500 and bubble-point pressure of 143 bar (2,074 psi) and likely same service crews were used through-
22,000 b/d to accommodate different water production, artificial lift is required to achieve devel- out, which allowed continuation of experi-
production scenarios. The upper (sec- opment. ence, increased awareness of the sensitive

72 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Marco Tivelli, Product Development Manager, defined product Photo taken on Technip’s Deep Blue.
characteristics to meet Shell’s stringent specifications.

Shell needed a complex package

of high specification pipes for Na Kika. Fast.
Tenaris delivered.

It was the largest package of pipe-in-pipe seamless and welded flowlines ever laid in the Gulf
of Mexico. Plus steel catenary risers. All facing stringent pipe-end requirements: heavy wall,
ID pipe tolerances and weldability. With everything developed, manufactured and delivered
on an extremely aggressive schedule. Tenaris came through on all fronts. Which is why
we say the way we manage the supply chain is as important as what flows through it.
Tubular technologies. Innovative services.
©2004 Tenaris. All rights reserved.

www.tenaris.com

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PRODUCTION

completion operations, and ensured provision of high quality service. ESP packer
Good logistical planning was vital to the success of the wells, as the 4 1/2 in. X 4 in.
rig size did not allow all the ESP completion equipment to be held new vam tubing
aboard at once. A supply ship was used each time as extra deck space.

Rig-time saving
Bespalov says the ESP completion running sequence is time-con-
Adjustable spacer
suming because of the precision required when assembling pumps, sub with eccentric
splicing cables, testing pressure and electrical components, and per- cable protectors
form other operations. The one pre-planned activity was the sub-
assembly make-up, which ensured precise motor lead extension
(MLE) cables space-out. The by-pass pups and other completion com-
ponents were included in the sub-assemblies below the ESP packer.
All of the pup joints were precision cut to a tolerance of ±0.005 m. This
meant the MLE could be pre-spliced onshore to a packer penetrator. Upper Y-tool Lower Y-tool
After all components were assembled, a good hook-up was ensured
between two MLEs above the upper Y-tool. Any extra MLE cable
lengths were then finely adjusted by the adjustable spacer sub (both
cables simultaneously), and individual cable lengths were altered using
packer penetrator adjustment subs located on the top of the ESP packer. Upper flowmeter Lower flowmeter
A program change to clean up the wells by flowing them to the host
platform, instead of the original plan to clean up the well using the rig, Discharge pressure
saved considerable time. Although an attempt was made to clean up assembly
Discharge pressure
and test the first producer to the rig, the well could not flow naturally assembly
because of earlier losses of completion brine, which were now enter- Lower ESP tandem
ing the wellbore. After reviewing, it was agreed to flow the well to the Upper ESP tandem pump section,
host platform using the ESPs if required. The production manifold pump section, 55 stgs KC20000
68 stgs KC20000
was purged with nitrogen to ease well free-flow initiation. By the time
the well was available to free-flow, it had enough pressure to flow
itself, but through the lessons learned, it was decided to repeat this Tandem seal section
operation for the other two producers. The injector wells were perfo- Tandem seal section
rated under balance to ensure clean perforation tunnels.
According to Kelman, the rig was on site for 340 days, during which
time it drilled four new wells, recovered one appraisal well, and com-
pleted three ESP wells (one twice) and two injectors. Of that time, half
was attributed to completion operations. Total project non-productive Tandem motor section Tandem motor section,
684 hp 562 series 684 hp 562 series
time (NPT) was 39%, most of which was attributable to weather. NPT
during completions was 43%, which showed how weather sensitive
this operation was. During this time, the rig experienced no lost time
accidents and a total recordable incident rate of zero. Downhole
Downhole monitoring
Commissioning program monitoring system
The initial commissioning program included both topside and system
downhole system commissioning, Bespalov explains. “The ESP con-
tractor provided the full-scale commissioning program as part of the 4 in. perforated sub
EPIC (engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning)
contract structure.” The ESP system, 20,000 b/d rated and 684 hp, is designed for fluid
production rates between 4,500 and 22,000 b/d to accommodate different
The topside systems commissioning started in April 2002 after
production scenarios.
three individual self-contained modules, each hosting a variable speed
drive (VSD) system, were installed on the Shell Eider platform. original field development plan forecasted that the wells would be
The downhole system commissioning assumed that each ESP sys- capable of free flowing for approximately six months.
tem would be operated for seven days minimum followed by the sub- An ESP maintenance program was developed that included peri-
sea switch changeover sequence to allow the second ESP to be odic ESP performance checks every three months to ensure system
commissioned. ESPs were tested at various frequencies and flowrates functionality and to clear any debris that could be accumulated in the
and were run shut-in (“deadheading”) both forward and reverse to system flow paths including the automatic Y-tools, according to
establish proper rotation. Bespalov. Each ESP is run for seven days.
The first well was commissioned in November-December 2002. The program started in July 2003 and while primar y systems
The second and third wells were cleaned and commissioned in May- remain operational, back-up systems (upper ESPs) are still subject to
June 2003. Following the successful commissioning periods, the wells this rigorous maintenance program.
were then handed over to production.
According to Kelman, it was known that the wells would flow natu- Operating philosophy
rally once brought online, but there was no definitive time for the ESP’s The ESP operating philosophy for dual system completions was dis-
to be turned on full time. Based on the appraisal well information, the cussed internally with field partners and ESP contractors, Bespalov

74 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT

Ministry of Petroleum
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company EGAS
ANNOUNCEMENT
FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BID ROUND OF 2004
The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company “EGAS”
Invites oil & gas exploration companies for 2004 International bid round to explore /
exploit for gas and Crude oil in Egypt
Under the production sharing agreement (PSA) model
The 2004 bid round includes nine (9) exploration blocks in The Mediterranean Sea
and North Sinai Onshore Sedimentary basins of Egypt as shown in the map.

N. SINAI DEEP
MEDITERRANEAN SEA

N. SIDI KERIR DEEP

6
5
N. RAS EL HEKMA 7
8
4
9
3
DELTA
2 1
N. EL AMYRIA

WEST
WESTERN DESERT
EL MAGHARA
N. EL TEMSAH DEEP N. EL BOUGAS ROMMANA

EL BOUGAS SINAI

Starting September 1st , 2004, Interested companies can purchase data package
and/or review the hydrocarbon potential of 2004 bid round blocks through data room
in Petroleum Sector Information Centre, Nasr City, upon request and according to
the determined price list.
• Data available, coordinates and • Model Agreement can be obtained
procedures could be obtained through from EGAS premises:
EGAS website: www.egas.com.eg 85 El Nasr Road, Tower C, 1st Zone
Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt
Closing Date; Wednesday, December 1st , 2004 at 12:00 hrs (Noon time).
For further information, please contact:
EGAS Vice Chairman for Agreements & Exploration
Telephone : (202) 4055830 Fax : 4055832
E-mail : hhamouda@egas.com.eg

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PRODUCTION

says. After careful considerations of options workover. The new pumps are kept in parts, ture is the main problem in the latter case, but
and completion specifics, the following oper- as the number of stages could be modified as this has been identified, it gives possibili-
ating philosophy was taken as a basis of the with new information gained about the per- ties for side tracking an injector later, he says.
initial period of the Otter field development: formance of each well. All the other equip-
• The lower ESP is started first and runs ment is held in storage. Production operation
until failure with the secondar y ESP If the primar y ESP fails, the secondar y Kelman says that after 12 months of opera-
(upper) being subject to commissioning ESP can be used while a rig is mobilized, tion, all three ESP wells are now operational
checks equipped, and procedures prepared for a full-time, delivering the required field
• Once the lower ESP is not operational, workover. The aim is to start a workover production plateau of over 30,000 b/d. ESP’s
the upper ESP is put into continuous three months after an ESP failure. This are operating at frequencies between 50 and
production mode. ensures long-term production of the field at 60 Hz, lower than planned, due to the delayed
Due to specifics of subsea systems, the steady rates. However, this philosophy is still water breakthrough. First water production
wells are started up against closed production to be tested, as some reluctance may be met was detected approximately seven months
wing valves with the subsea choke partly to temporarily suspend production to later then expected (November 2003), but is
closed (around 24%) until the wellhead pres- workover a well with one fully functional ESP slowly increasing (currently at 18%).
sure exceeds the main flowline pressure. system. The production level had been originally
Afterwards, the choke is opened to a pre- reached with the first two wells flowing natu-
determined value to avoid back-flow issues. Water injection system rally. This continued with the use of the ESPs
The ESP start-up sequence has three built-in Two water injection wells support the and is still the case today, more than 12
protection timers to avoid uncontrolled start- development, with one injecting the water months after first oil and several months after
up scenario. into the underlying aquifer and another into plateau was reached.
the oil-bearing formation. There were no significant ESP-related
Workover philosophy “Ironically the best producer receives the events experienced to date, except for an
According to Kelman, the high status of best water support,” Kelman says. unexpected water-slugging observed in one of
this field development along with the ESP This part of the reservoir is approximately the wells, which has the least water support.
redundancy philosophy led to the develop- 10 bar (145 psi) over-pressured. One other The problem was identified, analyzed after
ment of a separate workover policy. This producer is supported, and the third has vir- three start-up attempts, and eliminated after
included two complete sets of completion tually no support apart from natural aquifer. appropriate modifications to the ESP start-up
equipment that are held in preparation for a The complex heavily faulted reservoir struc- sequence were successfully implemented.

Classified Advertising

For information or to place

your advertisement, contact:
Glenda Harp
Classified Advertising Manager
OFFSHORE

Toll Free (US): 800-331-4463 x6301

Tel: 918-832-9301
Fax: 918-831-9776
E-mail: glendah@pennwell.com

76 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Oil & Gas IQ’s 5th International Floating Production Systems event:

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PRODUCTION

vice president of operations, says.

Hybrid mooring systems Beyond load-offset performance of the

lines, the wave-frequency vessel motions
must be considered as well. Standard cate-
nary lines accept a great deal of vessel wave

enter Gulf of Mexico frequency motions without significant fluctu-

ations in tension. Taut-legs, especially in
water depths less than 5,000 ft, can exhibit
large fluctuations in tensions due to wave fre-
quency vessel motions.
Delmar system balances short, long lines To combat these tension fluctuations, the
engineered systems use several tools to
dampen the preset line. Buoys the size of a
he industry-accepted way to moor a Jaime Kammerzell boxcar can be added to the line to create the

T drilling rig requires eight or more

equal lengths of mooring lines around
the vessel. Most of the industry believes
that if a short line is needed to avoid a
pipeline or other seabed architecture, the same
length line must be installed on the opposite
side to balance the rig’s mooring system, even
lines.
Gulf of Mexico Editor

to adequately load-share between the two

A hybrid mooring system limits the scope

to one side of a rig’s mooring pattern, which
damping effect. When the line with the buoy
moves, it drags a lot of water around it, which
creates additional resistance, absorbing the
tension fluctuations. Even though the
shorter taut-leg is picked up a shorter dis-
tance overall, the force of the buoy and addi-
tional chain or weight added at the bottom of
if there is no pipeline or other obstruction. is made up of standard rig deployed catenary the line tries to match the behavior of the
Delmar Systems Inc., an offshore anchor- systems and short-scope taut or catenary leg long catenary line on the adjacent or opposite
ing and mooring company headquartered in systems. When the rig moves, the catenary line on the other side of the rig.
Houston, is rethinking the balancing meth- line picks up the chain from the seabed, but Delmar used its hybrid mooring system to
ods of a mooring system. Delmar’s philoso- the weight of the chain pulls the rig back on accommodate Diamond Offshore’s Ocean
phy is to engineer different configurations of station. This is called the restoring force of Star and Ocean Victory semisubmersibles in
mooring lines, some long catenary lines with the particular mooring line. A pure or stan- the Gulf of Mexico East Breaks blocks 646
drag embedment anchors, some short cate- dard taut-leg pre-set will pick up the chain and 645, respectively.
nary lines with added weight, and some spe- faster than the standard rig catenary line. To Two different operators wanted to drill
cially configured short taut-leg lines with make the hybrid mooring system work, the their wells in 3,800 ft of water, with the rigs
suction anchors. When the rig offsets and taut-leg system needs to be softer or slow only about 2,600 ft apart. The companies
moves, the short line is designed to pick up down its tension versus offset. wanted independent mobilization and demo-
about the same load as the long line through “With the hybrid system, the long cate- bilization of their rigs with no impact to the
a specific band of tension. Essentially, the nary line will pick up load at a certain rate, other. The rigs would have mooring lines that
preset line is engineered to mimic the perfor- and the taut-leg will pick up load at a com- cross each other, but the mooring lines
mance of a standard adjacent line, allowing it pletely different rate,” Matt Smith, Delmar would have to maintain clearance with each
other even in storm conditions. This added
further complication, because one rig’s lee-
ward line drops in tension, while the other
rig’s line, which crosses the leeward line, is a
windward line increasing tension. Delmar
also had to avoid pipelines and existing wells.
Delmar brought in two pre-sets for each
rig before they came on location. The Ocean
Victory came in first and left first, but its three
pre-set lines had to be left in place until the
Ocean Star came off location. Delmar set the
pre-sets because lines from both rigs had to
cross. The scope of one Ocean Star line was
about 3,300 ft and the Ocean Victory had a
3,500 ft, 3,750 ft, and 6,500 ft pre-set line.
In the GoM, because of the number of
installed pipeline systems, mooring systems
compete with dynamically positioned vessels
in congested fields. It is not uncommon to
have two operators drill at the same time, or
for one operator to work its own field with
multiple drilling rigs. Hybrid mooring sys-
Delmar’s hybrid mooring system allowed Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Star and Ocean Victory semi- tems allow the operators more flexibility in
submersibles to moor independently 2,600 ft apart, with overlapping mooring lines.The two rigs were rig selection. The hybrid mooring system can
moored using a combination of suction piles and drag embedment anchors. (Image created by be used in both deepwater and shallow water,
Manuel Castro, Delmar Systems Inc.) from 500 ft to 5,500 ft.

78 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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A trusted name carries

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0410OS_80.ps 10/5/04 11:17 AM Page 80

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SUBSEA

Prototype AUVs prove capability

for subsea inspection and intervention
arly in July, ECA’s Alistar autonomous For pipeline inspection, the difficulty for an

E
Jeremy Beckman
underwater vehicle (AUV) undertook Editor, Europe AUV lies mainly in the fact that “as-built”
its first significant autonomous pipeline reports giving the positions of the pipeline
inspection task. In a trial mounted off- are not precise enough to allow pre-program-
shore Toulon, southern France, the structures – the company has developed an ming of a trajectory with way points above
AUV tracked a pipeline and recorded video architecture that allows the Alistar to the pipeline (i.e., around 5-10 m). Correct
images over a distance of 500 m. approach structures within a sub-meter dis- video inspection of a pipeline involves flying
Alistar first demonstrated its autonomous tance, which it says is not possible with the the AUV directly above the line with a toler-
inspection capabilities to the industr y last current generation of high-flying “mono- ance of around 50 cm on either side and
November at the Deep Offshore Technology thruster,” torpedo-shaped AUVs. around 1 m above the line.
conference in Marseille. The Alistar 3000 The Alistar provides close-up hovering This is where pipeline tracking sensors and
AUV is the successor to ECA’s shallow water capability by means of eight thrusters config- real-time processing of the sensors’ data
vehicle, the Alistar 300 demonstrator. ECA urable in three axes. These also allow the vehi- comes into play. ECA has been working on
built the latter to provide experimental data cle to perform non-manipulative tasks that these capabilities since early 2004, culminating
needed to refine the current version for oper- only ROVs previously achieved. Another in the recent 500-m pipeline tracking trial off
ations to 3,000 m water depth. advantage, compared with existing AUVs, is Toulon. Here, the pipeline was a 50-cm-diame-
During the DOT trials, the company the vehicle’s ability to autonomously interpret ter steel section. The resultant tracking
proved that it could pre-program its vehicle to its payload sensor information in real time and showed that the position – pre-programmed by
search for, find, and inspect a structure (a to adjust its position automatically in order to ECA from the map for the search phase – was
vertical pipeline) without operator com- undertake acceptable close video inspection. incorrect. By following the pipeline’s track, the
mands. Having located the pipeline, the AUV Thousands of kilometers of submarine AUV allowed the line’s actual position to be
adjusted its offset (by around 1 m) before pipelines are inspected each year using determined, thereby correcting the error.
starting vertical inspection of the pipe while towed fish systems or ROVs equipped with ECA’s future studies for the Alistar 3000
recording video. Finally, ECA towed a verti- sonar, video, and magnetic sensors. ECA include broadening its capabilities to pipeline
cal pipeline to demonstrate the vehicle’s abil- aims to achieve similar capability for the touch-down monitoring and inspecting anchor
ity to follow it, simulating the fist steps of Alistar. mooring lines, subsea trees, and manifolds.
pipeline touch-down monitoring. AUVs require advanced maneuvering This necessitates refinements to side-scan
skills when operating close to a structure. sonar, multi-beam profilers, and 3D cameras,
Close approach They must be able to react quickly when an and adjusting the automatic piloting algo-
ECA has proven its AUVs’ efficiency and order is sent to move up, down, right, or left. rithms to the different shape of the vehicle.
reliability for deepwater seabed survey work. ECA claims this can only be achieved by a Once these changes have been imple-
To take the technology a step further – i.e., vehicle fitted with a set of two thrusters pro- mented, the vehicle should be able to check
sur veying and inspection of under water viding three degrees of freedom. that the pipe is being laid on the right track,

Alistar 3000 inspection AUV. The vehicle in action underwater.

80 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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www.woodgroup.com/pc

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Wood Group Pressure Control

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www.bakerhughes.com

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SUBSEA

and also store data so that it “knows” where the pipeline is during a
subsequent return visit. The technology should reduce substantially
the time taken to inspect a pipeline, ECA maintains, taking into
account the current limitations of towed fish and ROV due to the
umbilicals. The specification of the support vessel should also change,
as the typical spread weight of 75 tons for a deepwater ROV can be cut
to 15 tons for the Alistar.
Further demonstrations to potential clients should be mounted
before the end of this year, allowing further technical and commercial
evaluation. Work to date has attracted interest from subsea contrac-
tors based in Houston and the North Sea.

Intervention trials
Last fall, the autonomous light intervention vehicle, Alive, com-
pleted sea trials off southern France. Project coordinator Cybernetix
is now in discussions to take development forward with a new set of
partners.
The trials in deepwater offshore Bandol, Provence, were the culmi-
nation of a three-year development program part-funded by the
European Commission. Other partners were French oceanographic
research institute Ifremer, Norway’s Hitec Framnaes, the European
Joint Research Center in Italy, and Edinburgh University’s Ocean
Systems Laboratory.
Following a series of tank and shallow-water tests in summer 2003,
the aim of the sea trials was for the AUV to dock autonomously onto a
pre-installed ROV panel and perform pre-programmed tasks, namely
opening and closing valves with the vehicle’s hydraulic manipulating
arm. The Alive was launched from the Ifremer research vessel Europe,
with subsequent supervision via an acoustic link, which also relayed
telemetry data and images from the AUV to the surface.
The AUV’s maneuvers were controlled via video and sonar image-
processing onboard the Europe and matched with a computer-aided
design image of the underwater environment. Following a transit time
of 10 min to the seabed and the subsequent approach to the target,
successful docking and telemanipulation of the panel was confirmed
by an observation ROV supervised from a second vessel, the Cupidon.
During this program, three dives were successfully executed.
According to Cybernetix, these validated the functionality of each of
the vehicle’s sub-systems and also proved the Alive’s ability to perform
in difficult sea conditions. The vehicle has been designed for
autonomous light intervention duties on offshore installations in water
depths to 3,000 m without the need for long umbilicals or a dedicated
support vessel, which can consume 90% of the cost of a deepwater
intervention operation.
Marseille-based Cybernetix claims these results open the way for
extension of the AUV to new tasks other than conventional seabed sur-
veys. They also prove that AUVs can perform intervention of fixed
subsea structures such as wellheads for inspection, maintenance, or
repair operations. Alive’s open frame is designed to allow integration
of different combinations of sensors and actuators.
Recently, Cybernetix was invited to join SeaBee, another EC-funded
project, this time led by Hannover University. Here, the objective is to
develop an autonomous vehicle – a progression of Alive – that would
combine core sampling and environmental data-gathering capabilities.
The other three partners are based in scientific marine laboratories
based in the Baltic Sea (Marilim), Porto (Cimar), and the Corsican Sea
(Corsicologie).
According to Cybernetix’s Offshore Division Director Alain Fidani,
the program will involve mechanical and electronic integration of a
seabed corer, developed by Challenger Oceanic, into the vehicle. the
AUV will also be equipped with skis in an attempt to cushion landings
on the seabed. Test campaigns are planned next summer in the Baltic, AAAAAAAAAAAA
Atlantic, and Mediterranean (off Corsica seas).

www.offshore-mag.com • November 2004 Offshore 83

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SUBSEA

development, which again climaxed in sea trials of southern France.

Soave provides an opportunity to move the R&D further toward
development of a commercial unit. Until recently, Statoil was seriously
interested in taking the Swimmer for subsea inter ventions in the
Norwegian sectors. Cybernetix was also in discussions with numer-
ous US oil companies about potential applications.
For Soave, a new prototype vehicle would be built, with
Oceaneering working on the ROV part of the hybrid system. Other
partners would be the University of Hannover, as project coordinator;
Fugro, in charge of sea trials; and Shell Technology in Norway as a
possible future user. The test program will ideally get under way by
1Q 2006.
In May, Cybernetix presented another new development at OTC,
its miniature ROV Junior, weighing 35 kg. This ROV is designed to be
fitted onboard a work-class ROV, providing the pilot with an extra pair
of “eyes” in water depths to 3,000 m. Junior incorporates advanced
capabilities that include a digital display of up to three video sources
with sensor feedback overlay. Digital images or video sequences can
be recorded by the surface control unit. The vehicle also provides 17
The ROV-deployable deepwater pipeline pigging system, Sapps, is closer to kg of vectorized thrust and can maneuver well even in strong cur-
a commercial launch, following successful tank tests this summer. rents. There has been strong interest from several ROV service con-
tractors, in particular Oceaneering and Sonsub, according to Fidani.
Hybrid studies In another development, Cybernetix has started commercialization
Cybernetix has also been approached to join the EC-supported of Sapps, its deepwater pipeline flushing, pigging, and hydrotesting
Soave project. Soave aims to develop a hybrid ROV/AUV for deep-sea system, following the completion of extensive trials this summer. The
inspection, maintenance, and repair work. Another Maridan- tests were the result of a two-year development program designed to
designed vehicle was to be the focus of this scheme, but work was deliver the first subsea pigging system for commissioning deepwater
halted when the Danish contractor went out of business. pipelines in water depths of up to 2,500 m. The compact Sapps system
Swimmer, Cybernetix’s first ROV/AUV prototype, was a three-year is deployed and connected by a work ROV through a skid.

2003
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84 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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www.saipem.eni.it

People, ideas, energy.

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SUBSEA

Rocket-fuel process
applied successfully
for Kuito anchors
HC Hydrohammer, based in Kinderdijk, The Netherlands, has

I developed the Pyrodriver tool to push an anchor or a pile into the

seabed. By burning a rocket propellant in a combustion chamber,
a large force is created acting upward on a reaction mass, in return
producing an equal and opposite force acting downward on the
follower and the plate anchor.
Maximum internal pressures can be 600-900 bar. The fuel is in dif-
ferent combustion chambers on the device and can be fired individu-
ally from the surface vessel. IHC fitted the power pack to the
piledriver, so there is no need for a large diameter umbilical or hoses
from the surface. Sufficient chambers are present to drive one pile or
anchor to the specified penetration depth.
Energy transfer time from the tool to the pile is very long compared
to the normally used impact hammers, the company says. Where
impact hammers transfer the energy within 5-7 ms, the PyroDriver
can do the same in 150-400 ms. Only limited shots are required to
drive the anchor or pile.

SBM’s 12-sq-m vertically loaded plate anchor can be removed after use.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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SUBSEA

Water is the main component of the reaction mass. Scale model tests The three Velpas were driven to anchor depth at about 15 m below
in France and full-scale tests in Canada have proven the method of mudline using the prototype. The Velpas were first deployed with a
using water as a reaction mass. During an onshore test in Canada IHC follower and self-penetrated prior to being driven to target depth.
drove 42-in. piles in firm clays. An ROV controls the system. Before the When the tool and follower were retrieved, the Velpas were rotated to
tool is lowered, the company sets the electronic module for control of accommodate the required taut mooring system configuration. The
the ignition system to “short circuit” for all the primers and starts data anchor size and depth were limited, so the Normand Progress, which
acquisition. The ROV already has communication lines to the surface has a bollard-pull capacity of 300 tons, could perform a pull-out test.
vessel and also has some spare optical lines that can be used for com- Each anchor was rotated and pulled.
munication with the tool. The ROV docks to the tool at the seabed.
Future plans
Kuito trials Every shot with the device gives information about the soil penetrated.
In July 2003, the prototype of the PyroDriver had its first deployment, The displacement of the pile or plate anchor and the applied load are mea-
installing SBM's Velpa (vertically loaded plate anchor) in an offshore sured. From this, the resistance to driving and the static soil resistance
test campaign of the company's new anchor system. SBM undertook a can be calculated. Penetrations of 1.2 m per shot have been measured.
large R&D program to develop the Velpa plate anchor as an alternative Currently, a new PyroDriver is being developed for the full-scale Velpa.
for the large suction installed piles suitable for permanent taut mooring The new tool will be optimized for penetration of the plate anchor with a
systems in the very soft clays that are common off West Africa. minimum of shots in water depths to 3,000 m. The device is an efficient
Extensive laboratory, centrifuge, and onshore tests were first performed tool to install anchors and piles in ultra-deepwater. Standard IHC
with the Velpa system. Hydrohammers are capable of installing anchor points to a water depth of
Three full-scale Velpas (4, 8, and 12 sq m) were fabricated and suc- 1,000 m. In water depths below 1,500 m, however, the winch with the
cessfully tested offshore West Africa at the Kuito field in the South hydraulic hoses – or alternatively with an electric umbilical when a high
Atlantic Ocean (near mainland Angola) in about 450 m water depth. voltage underwater power pack is used to drive the hydraulic hammer –
The purpose of the test was three-fold: becomes large and heavy. In these situations, IHC Hydrohammer says,
• Testing the pull-out and holding capacity of the new plate the PyroDriver with its compact power pack on the hammer could prove
anchors to be an attractive solution with in principle no water depth restrictions.

• Testing operational capabilities of the prototype
• Proving offshore handling and seabed stability of the Velpa/ For information, contact Samy Alhayari at SBM in Monaco or Rob van Foeken at IHC
Pyrodriver concept. Hydrohammer in Kinderdijk for the PyroDriver.

Introduction to GIS for the

Petroleum Industry
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful tool used in many
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88 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Atlantis
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C O N S T R U C T I O N & I N S TA L L AT I O N

Menck seeks to double depth record

for underwater pile-driving
riving piles to fix platforms to the deck and stabbing onto pre-set piles in ultra-

D seabed has been routine for decades

in conventional water depths. In
shallow-water fields, where the piles
are driven through the platform legs
from the surface, the entire range of pile-
driving equipment is applied, including
steam and diesel-driven hammers.
deepwater. Mooring piles can also be installed
by attaching hammer and pile on the vessel’s
deck, then lowering the assembly to the
seabed.
The hammer-lifting appliances are des-
igned to carry piles of up to 400 tonnes. The
patented connection between hammer and
However, when field development moved piles can be released easily by an ROV before
to water depths of 500 m and beyond, pile-driving gets under way. According to
changes in platform designs required the Menck, the wide range of hammer sizes
piles to be driven under water. This led to available with the power packs allows under-
development of the hydraulically driven ham- water driving of piles as small as conductors
mer that is today used widely for pile driving up to the largest TLP foundation piles.
operations. The hammer is powered by a Last year, an MHU 500T MUP pile-driving
hydraulic power pack onboard the installa- system was selected for ExxonMobil’s Kiz-
tion vessel through a bundle comprising omba A wellhead platform offshore Angola,
hydraulic hoses and an air hose. West Africa’s first TLP. The platform is
Menck, based in Kaltenkirchen, near moored by eight 84-in. OD piles in 1,190 m of
Hamburg, anticipated current requirements water. As the installation vessel Seaway
in 1980. An engineering team was estab- Polaris was equipped with two cranes, the
lished to solve problems associated with the project team decided to maintain the ham-
surface power pack and all hoses connected mer close to the seabed to avoid delaying
to the hammer, as the equipment became too installation operations. One crane lowered
large and heavy for safe handling. Also, the the piling hammer to the seabed while the
large volume of oil needed for such opera- Menck’s MHU 500T pile-driving hammer in vessel handled and stabbed the piles with the
tions was considered unacceptable in terms action at sea. second crane. After each pile was stabbed,
of safety and the environment. the hammer drove the pile to target penetra-
In 1989, a test pile was driven with the tion at pre-determined energy levels.
newly developed system in 1,000-m water to its in-built pressure equalization. All func- Also in 2003, Menck set a new depth
depth. The system consisted of a modified tions provided conventionally by hoses, record of 1,310 m for under water pile dri-
MHU 400T hammer with an integrated power and communications cables are per- ving on the Marco Polo TLP in the GoM.
Menck under water girdle power pack formed in the single umbilical, currently The same model, an MHU 500 hammer,
(MUP) built around the hammer, using only available in lengths of up to 2,400 m. extended the record early this year on
a small amount of hydraulic oil and an umbil- With the hammer being integrated into the ConocoPhillips’ Magnolia TLP, when Sai-
ical to provide electric power and air. Since power pack, hydraulic lines are short, and pem used it to install eight 96-in.-diameter,
the test operation, Menck has performed 25 energy transfer losses become negligible, the 100-m-long foundation piles in 1,425 m of
installations on TLPs and spar platforms in company claims. This combination provides water. Two clusters of piles were driven to a
the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and else- dimensional and weight control of the power pre-set installation tolerance of less than 1°
where, in water depths ranging from 500 pack, which in turn allows a wide range of from the vertical.
to1,500 m. installation vessels to handle the system. Work is now under way to
The deepwater pile-driving system today System handling is designed to stretch the record to 2,500 m
comprises an underwater power pack and a be straightforward, includ- through installation of a long
choice of hydraulic impact hammers with ing upending on jumper between the hammer
driving energy ranging from 200-1,000 kJ. and the main umbilical for a
The electric-hydraulic MUP can function project in the GoM. The water
irrespective of the water depth, due depth is still within the sys-
tem’s rating. Continuing devel-
opment of the MUP includes a
The hammer and MUP program to enhance the control
underwater power pack system, increase accuracy, and to
are connected to a extend the depth rating of the deepwater
single umbilical. version for future operations in 3,000 m and
beyond.

90 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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C O N S T R U C T I O N & I N S TA L L AT I O N

Spar technology meets Atlantic Canada’s

deepwater challenges
Concrete design offers opportunity for local content

eepwater spar technology is ideally John Murray designed to disconnect. When an iceberg

D suited to develop one of the most

difficult regions in the world –
Atlantic Canada’s Orphan basin. A
new disconnectable design allows the
spar to move off station in the case of iceberg
threat. The spar also offers about 1 MMbbl of
storage and the ability to drill, complete, and
Technip Offshore Inc.

Canada’s east coast presents one of the most

hostile offshore environments in the world.
Besides having design wave, wind, and current
threat arises, wells can be shut in at the sea
floor, and the flowlines can be flushed and
disconnected at the spar keel.
Another consideration in Atlantic Canada
is the lack of export infrastructure, which
suggests that shuttle tankers will transport
the oil from local storage. The spar’s ability to
perform well intervention and production conditions similar to the Gulf of Mexico, there store approximately 1 MMbbl of production
from the same platform. is the additional challenge of ice. becomes a critical capability.
Reservoirs lying beneath the frigid waters The spar design can withstand impact Considering the expected size of the reser-
of the Orphan basin at depths to 3,000 m hold from small bergy bits, and sea ice can be voirs, at least five systems of varying capabil-
resources in the order of 2.1 Bbbl of oil, 10 tcf managed through design features of the spar ity are envisioned for development over the
of natural gas, and 450 MMbbl of natural gas system. It is highly unlikely, however, that next 10-20 years. Employing local engineer-
liquids. The challenge is contending with the any floating structure could withstand the ing and construction resources, the new spar
harsh environment to get the resources out impact from a large iceberg. Therefore, the could provide the impetus to start and sus-
of the ground. spar’s mooring and riser systems are tain an industry in that region.

The spar can store about 1 MMbbl of oil and can withstand forces from The spar can be quickly disconnected when threatened by icebergs. The
pack ice and small bergy bits. mooring and riser systems remain in position for subsequent retrieval.

92 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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“ WE NEEDED A SPECIALTY UMBILICAL AND REELER IN AN

INTEGRATED PACKAGE, READY FOR INSTALLATION...
AND THE DELIVERY DEADLINE WAS TIGHT.
WE CALLED JDR.”
“ The Mutineer Field off Western Australia was the
first offshore wet tree development for our client,
Santos. Planning and control were key.
JDR’s project management was first class.
They created an effective ‘team’ environment
that resulted in smooth coordination between us,
operator Santos and our suppliers. And JDR
delivered the workover control package more
than a month ahead of our deadline.”

JDR is fast becoming the leading supplier of

workover equipment worldwide. If you're not
absolutely sure you can depend on your umbilical
and cable systems, be sure you know JDR.
KK Goi, Project Manager/Asia Pacific

Specialty Umbilicals & Cable Systems

Offices:
Houston - Tel: +1 281 240 6600, Email: usa@jdrcables.com
Aberdeen - Tel: +44 (0)1224 331340, Email: aberdeen@jdrcables.com
Cambridge - Tel: +44 (0)1353 860022, Email: uk@jdrcables.com
Rotterdam - Tel: +31 (0) 10 258 6800, Email: nl@jdrcables.com
Bergen - Tel: +47 (0) 563 23058, Email: norway@jdrcables.com
www.jdrcables.com

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C O N S T R U C T I O N & I N S TA L L AT I O N

gral part of the hull, protects the mooring

lines from ice at the waterline.
Fairleaders are attached to the spar at the
buoyancy chamber. Moorings can be attached
at this low level because of the large GM
(metacentric heights that are a measure of the
initial stability of the system). The connection
between the buoyancy chamber and the spar
is a design consideration because it transfers
mooring restraining forces to the main part of
the hull from the buoyancy section.
The riser system is made up of bottom-ten-
sioned risers connected at the top directly to
the deck. The upper section of risers passes
through the centerwell and consists of a bun-
dled array of single casing tubulars passing
through the interior of the hull, where they
are protected from the environment. Riser
and well control lines at the keel connect by
means of an interface template at the top of
the lower buoyancy section. At the bottom,
Subsea wellheads arranged in a close pattern can provide direct access for intervention from the the riser bundle surrounds a pile driven into
spar platform. the seafloor, allowing the bundle to move ver-
tically in response to vessel motions. Weights
Design and construction GBS, could perform this work. can be added to the bottom section to tension
The spar hull comprises six or eight stor- In this scenario, the topsides are assem- the risers as required.
age cells arranged in a circular pattern, with bled on a barge, the hull is ballasted down to A flexible jumper connects the bottom of
each cell compartmentalized into a buoyancy the appropriate draft, and the topsides are the riser and the wellhead. Depending on the
chamber at the top and a reser voir in the floated over. The spar is then deballasted to currents in the region, the riser bundle can
lower section to store oil-on-water. As oil is its tow draft and towed vertically to the instal- be straked to suppress vortex-induced
taken on, water is displaced through a port at lation site. motion on the risers. Each riser can be shut
the bottom of the cell. The mixing layer at the The buoyancy chamber at the keel is sized off at the wellhead and flushed between the
oil-water interface is small because of the to support the mooring and riser systems wellhead and the spar to prepare for discon-
small sectional area in the cells. A similar when disconnected from the main hull. There nect. These flexibles have excellent resis-
arrangement has been used successfully for is sufficient buoyancy in the chamber to sup- tance to fatigue damage.
a number of years on the Condeep platforms port moorings and risers in the water column The spar can be equipped with a riser used
in Norway, maintaining contaminant levels after a disconnection and to hold them in posi- for drilling, completion, and subsequent
well below stringent local requirements. tion until the section of the spar that has workover. This riser enters the subsea well-
The spar’s hull can be constructed of steel floated away is returned and reconnected. heads vertically above the well. One of the
or concrete. Each material has advantages. A The fairleaders and risers are supported in design constraints of this approach is that the
steel hull offers the flexibility of being con- the water column away from the ice about pattern must be tight enough to access all
structed in a wide range of facilities world- 700 ft below the surface. Because of the wells by positioning the spar directly above
wide and can be transported to the mating water depth in which the spar is deployed, the well using the mooring system. The max-
site, up-righted, and topsides installed. The the influence of waves on the buoyancy imum offset is generally a function of water
main advantages of steel are a smaller hull chamber is small. depth, in the order of 7-10% of the depth.
and fewer moorings. However, additional Reconnecting the system is relatively Basic economics illustrate the advantage
costs for hull transportation and more steps straightforward. The spar is positioned above of drilling and performing well completion
in the assembly process have to be taken into the support of the section buoying the risers and workover from the same platform. The
account. and moorings. A connection made through spar design is well suited to provide these
Concrete, on the other hand, has better the center well reconnects the bottom sec- capabilities, and with the high potential for
insulation properties in cold water and would tion. An ROV could perform this procedure. local content in the construction and delivery
be more attractive to local industry because During the disconnect procedure, support of the systems, it is an attractive solution for
most delivery scenarios favor construction vessels control the hull. The moorings are deepwater Atlantic Canada.

near the deployment site – in this case, run down the sides of the spar and arrested
Newfoundland. at the fairleaders, which are run on messen-
A construction method similar to that used ger lines that remain lowered to accommo-
on the Hibernia GBS could be used. A base date re-connection. Author
section could be constructed on land and John Murray, PhD, PE, is a principal engineer with
Technip’s Floater Product Line in Houston, where he is
floated to the deeper water location nearby. Mooring and riser systems involved in developing new deepwater systems. Murray has
The concrete hull would then be slip-formed The mooring system is made up of a chain- held positions as lead engineer and engineering manager
to the required draft. The construction facil- steel-chain or chain-polyester-chain configu- for deepwater systems in the Gulf of Mexico. About 14 of his
ity at Bull Arm in Newfoundland, originally ration. Preset moorings secure the hull at the 25 years in offshore engineering have been spent in R&D.
commissioned to construct the Hibernia installation site. A shroud, which is an inte- For more information, contact JMurray@Technip.com.

94 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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a new global company…

…with an international
network already

At Vetco Gray, we’re building on

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worldwide at more than 60 locations
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onshore and offshore.
Vetco Gray is a Vetco International
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www.vetcogray.com/today

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C O N S T R U C T I O N & I N S TA L L AT I O N

Decomissioning awards imminent

for giant MCP-01 compression platform
Jeremy Beckman
Program to coordinate with Frigg platform removals Editor, Europe

otal E&P UK has opened consultations 2005, followed by removal during 2006-07.

T over the future of its redundant MCP-01

platform. The 386,000-tonne structure,
which includes a concrete gravity base,
was installed in 1976 in the UK North
Sea. Its main role was to serve as a pigging and
compression station for gas transported through
the Frigg pipeline system to eastern Scotland.
“Currently, we are in the tender phase for
the removal work,” Lemercier adds. “We hope
to award this contract in October. It is likely
that one consortium of contractors could oper-
ate the entire project; i.e., both MCP-01 and
the Frigg platform removal jobs.”
The concrete gravity base, which is 100 m in
Decommissioning was originally planned diameter and 102 m tall, features a perforated
for 2024. However, according to recent studies, Jarlan external wall with around 1,250 holes
future costs of maintaining a safe environment designed to reduce wave impact.
on the platform for periodic visits by operations Four disposal alternatives have been con-
and maintenance crews could rise substan- sidered for the concrete substructure:
tially. Total E&P UK has therefore opted for an • Re-float, tow to shore, demolish and dis-
early decommissioning, possibly starting in pose of onshore
2006. The main activity will likely be coordi- • Remove external and internal steelwork,
nated with decommissioning of topsides and re-float and dispose of at a deepwater
jacket removal operations on six platforms in location
Total E&P Norge’s Frigg complex. • Remove internal and external steelwork
MCP-01, an acronym for manifold compres- Total’s MCP-01 platform was installed in 1976. and cut down substructure to provide a
sion platform, is in 94 m of water in block 14/9, clear draught of 55 m
170 km northeast of the St Fergus gas recep- Ownership of the various facilities on • Leave in place, removing the external
tion terminal. MCP-01 is split among Total E&P UK, the steelwork where practicable.
Frigg’s transportation system originally com- Piper/Tartan Group (operated by Talisman), “We are looking at the technical feasibility,
prised two 32-in. pipelines. The “Norwegian” and Norway’s Gassled partnership – the lat- the risk to personnel, the environmental
Frigg pipeline, recently renamed Vesterled, ter comprising 10 oil companies. Shared impact, and the potential cost in our compar-
also accommodates gas produced from the assets include the concrete substructure and ative assessment of the disposal alterna-
Heimdal catchment area. A 24-in. spur line integrated concrete support frame, sec- tives,” Lemercier explains. “Doris Engineer-
takes gas from Total E&P UK’s Alwyn complex ondary structures (topsides equipment), and ing did the initial work in establishing a method
directly southeast to TP1 for subsequent feed- the platform’s utility and safety systems. statement for the four disposal options.”
through into the Frigg UK line. Over the years, Much of the platform’s total weight of Other contractors involved in the program
pressure-controlled gas from the Bruce, 386,000 tonnes is taken up by the 373,000- to date include Safetec in Stavanger for person-
Captain, Ross, and Piper area fields have also tonne concrete substructure, including con- nel safety analysis; Wood Group in Aberdeen
been injected into the “UK” line. crete and sand ballast. The topsides’ dr y for topsides removal studies; COWI in Copen-
In 1992, two pipelines were modified to pass weight is estimated at 13,000 tonnes, includ- hagen for technical risk assessment; and DNV
through the bottom part of the concrete sub- ing a 900-tonne living quarters, helideck, in Aberdeen and Stavanger for the environ-
structure, rather than via the deck. Topsides diesel generators, diesel storage, and a tem- mental impact assessment. Independent spe-
facilities associated with the lines were then porary refuge on the south side of the plat- cialists have contributed to the verification
cleaned and shut in. Thereafter, the only live form. process.
process equipment on the platform has been “Maintenance is most problematic in areas Both the British and Norwegian authorities
associated with the tie-in of the 18-in. export featuring gratings and handrails,” Lemercier are involved in the decommissioning program
spur line from the third party Piper area fields. says. “There are restricted areas which are for MCP-01, under the provision of the Frigg
Whatever happens to MCP-01, Total E&P out of bounds to all staff. The maintenance Treaty signed by the two governments in 1976.
UK plans to maintain gas imports to St Fergus crew is changing gratings where possible to “They have provided very good advice in
through the Frigg/ Vesterled lines for years to maintain safe access. We have removed other this process,” says MCP-01 decommissioning
come. To ensure uninterrupted supply, work bits and pieces as soon as they constitute a program manager Erik Hjelde. “We have also
started this summer on a two-phase program hazard, but we have not been obliged to re- observed that there is a very good coopera-
to install new bypass sections for the two build any sections of the platform.” tion on the subject of decommissioning across
pipelines and the 18-in. spur line. Subsea 7 The topsides will be removed to the shore. the border, with good sharing of information,
should by now have completed the first phase. If all goes to plan, cleaning could start in not just at departmental levels in Aberdeen

96 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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C O N S T R U C T I O N & I N S TA L L AT I O N

and Oslo, but also between, for example, the

UK’s Northern Lighthouse board and the Alwyn
Norwegian Coastal Administration.”
TCP2
Total E&P UK is considering options for
removal to shore for re-use, recycling, or dis- 24-in.
posal. But as a concrete platform, MCP-01 is
a candidate for derogation under the condi-
TP1
tions of Ospar Decision 98/3, which recog- Bruce
nizes the difficulties of moving some large,
heavy installations. The comparative assess- 32-in.
ment (EIA) of the various disposal options
may therefore lead to the concrete substruc- 32-in. Frigg spurline
32-in. UK line Heimdal
ture being left largely in place.
According to Hjelde, letters were sent in 32-in. Vesterled line
January to 49 potentially interested parties at
the initial phase of the public consultation on MCP-01
the decommissioning of MCP-01.
So far, 12 potentially interested parties 18-in. Piper spurline
have been identified, including Scottish and Captain
Piper area fields
English fishermen, Greenpeace, academics, Ross Piper/Claymore/Tartan/
and individuals. McCulloch/Galley/
Ivanhoe/RobRoy
“A draft of the environmental impact
assessment report was presented at a stake-
Vesterled line
holders’ workshop in London in May, having UK line
St. Fergus
also been sent to the participants in advance,” Scottish & Southern
Hjelde says. Stakeholder suggestions will be Electricity (Boddam Power Station)
incorporated into the decommissioning pro- NTS
posal, which will then be submitted to the Numerous UK fields are connected to the Frigg pipelines.
authorities in the UK and Norway for consid-
eration. A three-month review is then expec- spur lines, Frigg UK was depressurized to 28 The spools are concrete weight coated, and
ted, followed by statutor y 45-day consulta- bar via compression facilities at St Fergus. the affected parts of the lines have since been
tions over the entire document. Two high-pressure isolation tools (HPITs) rock-dumped. Once both bypass operations
As MCP-01 is technically very similar to were then launched into the pipeline from were complete, the HPITs were recovered to
the Frigg CDP1 platform, experience will be TP1, propelled with seawater. One was posi- the subsea skid for removal.
transferred up to a point from the previous tioned via acoustic equipment in the 24-in. The pig launchers were then removed and
disposal studies for the Frigg Field Cessation Alwyn line just northwest of TP1, while the replaced with a U-shaped transition spool to
Plan, which took four years from start-up to other was set just to the south of this platform join together the two pipeline sections.
final approval. Over the last few years, DNV in the 32-in. line. A third tool was launched For the Frigg UK line bypass, a 1.8-km
has refined a methodology for assessing non- from St Fergus using seawater and set into long, 32-in. pipe housed in a 40-in. bundle was
quantifiable environmental impacts of off- position just north of MCP-01. Once all HPITs installed east of MCP-01 beyond the 500-m
shore installation, decommissioning, and had been set, the flooded sections of the safety zone. This operation was performed by
disposal. This method was used for other pipeline were depressurized to around 10 bar. two tugs, using the controlled-depth tow tech-
recent large decommissioning projects such As the Alwyn export line approaches TP1 nique, followed by flooding of the bundle.
as Ekofisk and Frigg. from the northwest, it crosses the Frigg UK Isolation of the Vesterled line, scheduled for
export line. Twenty-five meters west of this next summer, will follow the same methodol-
Bypass project point, a subsea skid has been placed on the ogy, with an HPIT launched this time from
Late in July, Total shut down the 360-km seabed, comprising 24 and 32-in. pipework Heimdal and set in position just west of MCP-
UK Frigg pipeline for about one month to and valves for joining the new sections of the 01. This bypass line will have the same dimen-
allow installation of new sections, which will bypass lines. sions as the Frigg UK bypass section. In this
bypass both the TP1 and MCP-01 platforms. Following flooding and isolation, both the case, cuts will be made to the existing 32-in.
The UK Frigg line normally has transport 24 and 32-in. lines were cut 25 m up and down- line 1-km north and south of MCP-01. A short
capacity of 32 MMcf/d, although throughput stream of the crossing point, an operation tie-in spool will be used to join the existing line
prior to the shutdown was closer to 16-19 involving de-burial and raising of 100 m of the to the 40-in. bundle.
MMcf/d. The pipeline serves around 20 32-in. line to ensure access for concrete Once welding has been completed, the
fields providing 15% of the UK mainland’s removal, cutting, and welding. The 24-in. line flooded pipelines will be de-watered to the sea
needs. Spur lines tie in supplies from Bruce is not buried, but the concrete coating still had from valves in the MCP-01 bypass sections.
upstream of MCP-01, Captain and Ross down- to be removed close to the cuts. Around 370 sq Both bypass operations are being managed
stream of the platform, and the Piper area m of seabed was affected at each location. by Subsea 7 under a $70-million contract.
fields via a direct link to the installation. Both pipelines were then connected back Vessels involved in this work were the
Bypass works were timed to coincide with to the subsea skid using a 30-m long, carbon DSVs Pelican, Toisa Polaris, and Bar Protector;
maintenance shutdown programs at Alwyn, steel spool piece, hyperbarically welded into the survey vessel Highland Eagel; Tideway’s
Bruce, and St Fergus. Following shut-in of the place at the cut pipeline end with a flange con- rock-dumper Rollingstone, and water-winning
Alwyn and Bruce platforms and the various nection employed at the subsea skid end. barge Brabo.

98 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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0410OS_99.ps 10/5/04 11:31 AM Page 99

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0410OS_100.ps 10/5/04 11:33 AM Page 100

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PIPELINE & TRANSPORTATION

Seismic analysis used in pipeline design

eismic ground waves produce strains Qiang Bai

S in buried pipelines. However, because

there are little or no inertia effects
from dynamic excitation, the strains
tend to be small and often are well
within the yield rupture threshold of the
pipeline material. The direct effect of seismic
waves is, therefore, generally not expected to
Wenjun Zeng
Li Tao
OPE Inc.

data from the fault of similar earthquakes

might be used in selecting a value for design-
ing pipelines because of a big deviation in
The direct effect
of seismic waves
is generally
cause rupture or buckling failure to buried earthquake surface displacement data on
not expected
pipelines. which the equation is based.
Nonetheless, seismic waves can cause Two typical analytical methods under cer-
to cause rupture
damage to unburied pipeline systems, espe- tain assumptions were suggested for the fault
cially in the interfacing area, such as in the crossing analysis, Newmark-Hall and or buckling failure
pipeline transition section from buried-to- Kennedy. Kennedy and others extended the
unburied and the pipeline tie-in spool to the ideas of Newmark and Hall and incorporated to buried pipelines.
subsequent structure. In general, the seismic some improvements in the method for evalu-
analyses of the permanent ground deforma- ating the maximum axial strain. They consid- pipelines, and subsea manifold connection
tion for buried pipes and unburied pipes, and ered the effects of lateral interaction in their because of its capability to accurately simu-
seismic ground waves for unburied pipes are analyses. The influence of large axial strains late solid objects, pipes, elbows, material, and
required for designing pipeline systems. on the pipe’s bending stiffness is also consid- geometric non-linearities, and interactions
Offshore pipelines are normally buried for ered. O’Rourke and Liu reported that the between soil and pipelines. The software also
stability and mechanical protection; other- Kennedy model for strike slip faulting, which provides analytical models to describe the
wise they are laid on the seabed. results in axial tension, provides the best pipe-soil interaction. These models describe
match to finite element results, based on an the elastic and perfectly plastic behavior by
Seismic design methodology independent comparison of the available ana- defining the force exerted on the pipeline and
Several seismic analysis approaches for lytical approaches. its displacement.
pipeline design were developed to predict the Abaqus is the selected program to develop The ASCE guidelines give a detailed
pipeline behavior in response to differential finite element models of ground soil, description of both the Newmark-Hall and
ground movements. Two main structural Kennedy schemes. It must be emphasized
response models were considered: Buried pipeline under that both schemes are only valid for pipe
• Static model for buried pipelines sub- a fault crossing. under tension, since this condition may not
jected to fault crossing due to soil failure
• Dynamic analysis model for unburied Anchor
pipelines subjected to ground wave load. point Initial pipeline position
Fault crossing is one of the major hazards
to offshore pipelines, whether buried or Anchor
unburied. Numerous investigations have point
been carried out for fault crossing with dif-
ferent soil movements. The pipeline’s ability
to deform in the plastic range under tension Ground
helps prevent rupture at fault crossings. If motion
compression of the pipeline in a fault cross-
ing is unavoidable, the compressive strain
should be limited to within the local buckling Unanchored length Unanchored length
criteria.
Plan
The amount and type of ground surface dis-
placement is the main factor for designing
pipelines to resist permanent ground deforma-
tion at fault crossings. Bonilla summarized a
Unanchored length Unanchored length
simple equation relating the maximum dis-
placement at ground surface to the earthquake Initial ground position
surface-wave magnitude as log L = -6.35 +
0.93Ms, where L is the maximum surface dis- Ground position
placement in meters and Ms is the earthquake after earthquake
surface-wave magnitude. Anchor
The earthquake magnitude is one of the point
Initial pipeline position Anchor
design criteria based on the historical seis- point
micity and geological data. Displacement Elevation

100 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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PIPELINE & TRANSPORTATION

be guaranteed under other various combined

modes of fault movement.
Due to the largely non-linear nature of the
problem, a finite element analysis (FEA) is
the most general tool for pipeline fault cross-
ing design. Non-linear finite element model-
ing allows accurate determination of pipeline
stress/strain at various locations along the
pipeline route with a wide range of parame-
ters. The pipe-soil interaction can be modeled
as discrete springs in three dimensions. The
pipeline is represented as a sequence of finite
straight beam elements supported on the
bottom by the bearing springs. The imposed
fault movement is then input into the FEA
model as a static displacement boundary con-
dition. The analysis is performed to deter-
mine the equilibrium nodal position of the
pipe, bending moment, axial force, strains,
and stresses.

Ground wave analysis

Both permanent ground deformation and
seismic ground wave can cause severe dam-
ages to unburied pipelines and connected Deformations of pipeline in y and z directions.
equipments. There are three basic methods
available for analyzing the responses of a seismic maps and soil characteristics. The response spectrum analysis and is best suit-
structure subjected to seismic ground wave: higher the damping, the lower its accelera- ed to the transient loadings where the profile
• Static analysis tion. The responses of displacements (trans- is known.
• Response spectra analysis lations and rotations), loads (forces and
• Time history analysis. moments), and stresses at each point for Seismic level of design
In general, a static analysis is sufficient for each natural frequency of the system and for Two design levels are normally adopted
the long-term response of a structure to each direction are obtained after analysis. for the design criteria, contingency design
applied loads. However, if the duration of the The calculated loads, displacements, and earthquake (CDE) and probable design earth-
applied load is short, such as in the case of an stresses of the piping system are typically cal- quake (PDE).

A static analysis is sufficient for the long-term response of

a structure to applied loads. A time history dynamic analy-
sis is required if the duration of the applied load is short.
earthquake event, a time histor y dynamic culated by taking the square root sum of The CDE represents a higher-level earth-
analysis is required. squares of the response in each of the three quake, established on the basis of a geo-seis-
Under static analysis, the pipeline is directions. The response spectra method is mic evaluation with a typical return period of
divided into individual spans or into a series approximate, but is often a useful, inexpen- 200-1,000 yr for pipelines. The intensity of
of segments. Static seismic loads are consid- sive method for preliminary design studies. CDE is taken as the design limits, exceeding
ered to be in direct proportion to the weight The time history analysis method involves causes of pipe failure, or at least sufficient
of pipe segments. The peak acceleration from the actual solution of the dynamic equation of damage to cause an interruption of service.
the response spectrum is applied as a lateral motion throughout the duration of the On the other hand, the PDE is a lower level
force distributed along the pipe and bending applied load and subsequent system vibra- earthquake, which assumes only minor dam-
stresses and support reactions are calcu- tion, providing a true simulation of the sys- ages to the pipeline system without interrupt-
lated. The seismic static coefficients are usu- tem response at all times. In time histor y ing the ser vice. These events are likely to
ally obtained from the seismic “zone,” which analysis, the seismic time histor y ground occur during the life of the pipeline and are
corresponds to a level of seismic accelera- motions (displacement, velocity, or accelera- therefore incorporated as part of the design
tion. Many design software programs can tion as a function of time) of seismic ground environmental load. PDE is usually taken to
perform static analysis, but these methods waves in three directions are applied to a have a return period of 50-100 yr.
are primarily used in building seismic design. finite element model of a system to obtain
In response, spectra analysis, the ground time history excitations of the system, includ- Analysis examples
motion versus frequency method, is used. ing stresses, strains, and reaction forces. To explore the seismic responses of off-
The maximum acceleration for a given fre- Time histor y analysis is a more accurate, shore pipeline systems, two study examples
quency and damping is determined based on more computationally intensive method than are presented here:

102 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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PIPELINE & TRANSPORTATION

stresses shows it always occurs in the spool

Offshore pipeline areas. The difference of natural frequencies
system with a and weights for the subsea manifold and
subsea manifold. pipelines causes the response difference
between subsea manifold and pipelines.
Therefore, the maximum stress occurs in the
spool areas.

Analysis assists in design

This seismic design and analysis method-
ology was developed for offshore pipeline
design. It has been successfully applied in
seismic analyses of buried pipelines under
fault crossing and unburied pipelines with a
subsea manifold by using a static analysis
and a dynamic time history analysis. The sen-
sitivity analysis results show that the buried
depth of buried pipeline and the soil stiffness
in the pipeline-soil interaction are the pri-
mary factors affecting pipeline stress in an
• Static response of a 42-in. buried pipeline 1,450 kN/m and corresponding maximum earthquake. As discussed, the seismic analy-
to permanent ground deformations deformation zq is 0.13 m. sis within this technical note is intended for
where the pipeline is fully buried under The line graph shows the displacements of assistance in developing seismic analysis and
the natural seabed the pipeline in y and z directions under the design guidelines for offshore pipelines. 
• Dynamic response of a 42-in. unburied fault crossing. The maximum stress exceeds
pipeline system to seismic waves where 80% of SMYS of the pipe, which is within
References
the pipeline is laid on the seabed and ASME criteria. Therefore, the designed ASCE, 1984, “Guidelines for the Seismic Design of Oil
connected to a subsea manifold. buried pipeline is not suitable for the seismic and Gas Pipeline Systems”.
level, which can cause inputted fault dis- ASCE, 2001, “Guideline for the Design of Buried Steel
Buried pipeline responses tances. Pipe”.
ASCE, 2002, “Seismic Design and Retrofit of Piping Sys-
for a fault crossing Sensitivity calculations of different buried tems”.
A buried steel pipeline with a 42-in. diame- depths of the pipeline also show that the max- ASME B31.4, 1998, “Pipeline Transportation System
ter and a 0.875-in. wall thickness, material of imum stress and strain of the pipeline are for Liquid Hydrocarbons and Liquids”.
API 5L Grade-X65, contains oil at a specific proportional to the buried depth, when other Bai, Y., 2003, “Marine Structural Design”, Elsevier.
Bonilla, M. G., 1982, “Evaluation of Potential Surface
gravity of 0.8. The pipeline is backfilled with a parameters are the same. To decrease the Faulting and other Tectonic Deformation”, Open File
3-ft sand depth median, with a density of 120 damage of the pipeline, in the possible area of Report 82-732, U.S. Geological Survey.
lb/cu ft and a friction angle of 35°. the seismic fault cross, the pipeline should DNV-OS-F101DNV, 2000, “Submarine Pipeline Sys-
This sketch shows a buried pipeline under not be buried. tems”, Det Norske Veritas.
Kennedy, R. P., Chow, A. W., and Williamson, R. A.,
a fault crossing due to an earthquake. The 1977, “Fault Movement Ef fects on Buried Oil
fault length in the plan direction 6Y is set as Responses of unburied Pipeline”, Journal of the Transportation Engineering
1.2 m, in the vertical direction, with 6Z set as pipelines for a ground wave Division, ASCE, Vo. 103, No. TE5, pp. 617-633.
1 m. The unanchored length varies depend- A seismic dynamic analysis was per- Newmark, N. M. and Hall, W. J., 1975, “Pipeline Design
to Resist Large Fault Displacements”, Proc. US
ing on the pipeline size and axial pipe-soil formed for an offshore pipeline system. This National Conference on Earthquake Engineering,
interaction force (friction force). The 1,000 m analysis consisted of two 42 in. OD x 0.875 in. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
long pipeline, with both ends fixed, is mod- WT (API X65 pipelines) and a 300-metric-ton O’Rourke, M. J. and Liu, X., 1999, “Response of Buried
eled by using pipe elements in the example. subsea manifold. The pipelines contained oil Pipelines Subject to Earthquake Effects”, Monograph
No. 3, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engi-
Non-linear pipeline-soil interactions in at a specific gravity of 0.8 with an internal neering Research.
axial, lateral, and vertical directions are mod- pressure of 600 psi. A settlement of 0.1 m for
eled with pipe-soil interaction elements and the subsea manifold, due to sand liquefaction
soil characteristics in ft-xt, fp-yp, and fq-zq in the earthquake, is considered. Authors
force-deformation curves. Based on the for- In the Abaqus model, the subsea manifold Li Tao, P.E. is the engineering manager for OPE Inc. His
mulas suggested in the ASCE guidelines, the was modeled as a solid box. The straight and experience includes 14 years in offshore project
maximum axial interaction force per unit curved pipeline sections were modeled as 3D management, engineering, and installation.
length at the pipe-soil interface (ft is 36.6 beam elements and elbow elements, respec- taol@opeinc.com
kN/m, and corresponding maximum defor- tively. The seabed was modeled as a rigid sur- Wenjun Zeng, Ph.D., is a subsea analyst for OPE Inc. His
mation, xt) is 0.004 m. The maximum lateral face with frictions in both longitudinal and experience includes riser stress and fatigue analysis,
offshore pipeline design and installation, and finite
interaction force per unit length (fp is 175.4 lateral directions. The pipeline-soil interac-
element analysis. zengw@opeinc.com
kN/m and corresponding maximum defor- tion was modeled by a linear contact pres- Qiang Bai , Ph.D., brings more than 10 years’
mation, yp) is 0.08 m. The maximum upward sure relationship. The accelerations in three engineering/research experience to OPE Inc. as senior
interaction force per unit length fq is 38 directions were applied to the seabed. The pipeline engineer. His experience includes flow assurance,
kN/m and corresponding maximum defor- maximum Von Mises stress of 191.9 MPa subsea pipeline and riser systems mechanical design, and
mation zq is 0.044 m. The maximum down- (27.8 ksi) occurs at the spools. finite element analysis (FEA) of subsea structures and
ward interaction force per unit length fq is A time histor y of maximum Von Mises flowlines. baiq@opeinc.com

104 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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The Devil is in the Details.

SUBSEA TIEBACK FORUM

March 1-3, 2005 • Moody Gardens Hotel and Convention Center
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Achieving success depends upon how well you handle the details. The fifth annual Subsea Tieback Forum, presented annually
by PennWell, will specifically address how some of the industry’s most successful individuals have handled these details.

Operators, field engineers, and project managers who have gained worldwide recognition for their technical achievements
and solutions to challenges will divulge how they achieved their success. They will discuss various life-cycle aspects ranging
from engineering and technical development, to intervention and abandonment. Attending this Forum will be the only way
for you to obtain this valuable insight since members of the press will not be present to report on the conference. Similarly,
Proceedings are not published for this forum.

For more information visit us on line at www.subseatiebackforum.com or contact:

Event Manager, Gail Killough, Phone: 713 963 6251, Fax: 713 963 6201, Email: subseainfo@pennwell.com

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PLATFORM ELEVATORS

Original Buchan lifts refurbished with

little disruption to field operations
ince the mid-1970s, Alimak passenger elevators have been kept within the confines of the elevator shaft.

S providing access to offshore personnel from the deck level Alimak and Intervect’s offshore technical support staff together
down each of the five legs of the Buchan Alpha Pentagon- surveyed the existing lifts, shafts, fixing points, and access routes,
design platform in the UK North Sea. Originally, the elevators prior to submitting their pre-engineered proposals for the project.
were expected to have a working life of 15-20 years. Following This also enabled method statements and risk assessments to be
operator Talisman Energy’s decision two years ago to invest heavily developed for Talisman’s team to use in their mechanical, electrical
in an extension of their operations on the Buchan field, a contract site preparation and enabling works. A program was drawn up to
worth over $1.4 milion was placed with Intervect UK, covering major replace two elevators in the columns most frequently operated, fol-
refurbishment of all five Alimak elevators. lowed by the final three units in phased
Intervect is a Swedish holding company completions.
with engineering subsidiaries around the Talisman’s performance specification
world. These include Alimak, the group’s has been incorporated into the design of
OEM arm, which is designing, manufactur- these elevators. All safety-critical compo-
ing, and testing all the equipment at its dedi- nents will be tested off site, with Talisman’s
cated plant in Skellefteå, northern Sweden. representatives inspecting and witnessing
The elevator cars and structural back this certification process. In addition to
frames are fully assembled, wired, and their own equipment and offshore opera-
tested. Talisman’s agent also undertook tions, Intervect’s project management team
inspection at the plant – an unusual proce- will help guide and monitor the progress of,
dure for an oil company client, according to supplementar y safety screens, lighting,
Alimak. Completed cars or major sub- guarding, and other third-party engineering
assemblies will remain in a built-up condi- work needed to comply with EN-81.
tion when delivered to the platform, to With the removal of the first elevator to
minimize the lifting and installation time. form a void, the usual installation method
The Buchan platform remains in constant to install the replacement elevator first
use, despite the rolling program of modern- requires scaffolding the shaft to gain
ization affecting a variety of equipment access. This is time consuming, costly, and
onboard, including accommodation, cranes, difficult in a restricted space. Inter vect’s
and elevators. The challenge facing Intervect solution was to use the original lift car,
UK is to replace the elevators to an agreed modifying it into a bespoke “installation-
sequence aimed at minimizing disruption to working platform” complete with purpose-
Talisman’s operations, while still providing designed drive and brake units. The old
adequate access for safety. The elevators are elevator car was returned to Inter vect
used for essential access by personnel and UK’s engineering workshop, which is
for the removal of compact but heavy equip- equipped for fast-track fabrication and test-
ment such as pumps and valves. ing. The car cabin was removed and steel-
In recent times, elevator design and shaft work added to form a new and safe
construction, access, and safety require- working platform. When returned to the
ments have undergone radical reform, plac- platform, this was then used running on
ing higher demands on owners and suppliers the newly refurbished guide rails, to assist
to meet more stringent safety codes and with the installation of elevator wiring and
engineering standards. In Buchan’s case, the Roof area of new Buchan A elevator with inclined gearbox. shaft ancillar y equipment. After wards, it
new EN-81 European guideline for elevator was returned to the client’s shore base for
installation, together with relevant UK Health and Safety Legislation, temporary storage, ready for re-use for the next lift. This solution
must both be correctly interpreted, with practical solutions deter- saved the client significant expense and time on the project.
mined and the work harmonized to satisfy the codes, product certifi- Intervect will also remove the original elevator’s structural sup-
cation, and independent certification of the finished installation upon porting mast, completely refurbish it, apply the latest hot dipped
final commissioning. galvanizing techniques and replace the units ahead of the new ele-
One particular challenge facing Alimak was to supply new equip- vator installation. The contract is due to be completed during
ment of modern design into the restricted dimensions determined 2005, followed by a separate contract of rolling maintenance and
by the original installation completed in 1976, while still meeting inspection.

the current rules on safe working areas. A special range of Alimak
drive units and couplings enabled the motors and gearboxes to be For more information contact Steve Williams, Alimak. Tel: +44 1527 879279, Fax: +44
inclined from the vertical, to reduce their plan footprint and to be 1527 879279, steve.williams@intervect.co.uk, www.alimak.com

www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 107

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FLOW ASSURANCE

to transport proppant particles into the frac-

Surfactant prevents aggregate ture. The proppants act to keep the enlarged
fractures open once the pressure is reduced.
The fluid then has to be removed to allow the

build-up in multiphase wellstream hydrocarbons to flow, and the visco-elastic

surfactant allows this to be done more effi-
ciently and faster than alternative chemicals,
such as polymers.
ne recent application for surfactants in visco-elastic surfactants can be used in two dif-

O the oil and gas industry is inhibiting the

formation of gas hydrates in pipelines.
The surfactant supplied for this role by
ferent methods. In acid stimulation, it can be Drag reduction
added to thicken the acid that is pumped into Statoil wanted to increase the heating
sandstone formations to dissolve impurities capacity of the hot water lines that maintain
Akzo Nobel Surface Chemistr y is an anti- that cause damage around a wellbore or to the temperature of the bundled production
agglomerate that is adsorbed on the ice crys- generate highly conductive wormholes by dis- pipelines running from Gullfaks South to the
tals that form in a multiphase flow, thus solving the rock in carbonate formations. The Gullfaks field center. This was achieved by
preventing them forming larger aggregates visco-elastic surfactant has a gelling developing a surfactant-based drag-
capable of disrupting the flow or even halting effect, making the acid solution reducing additive (DRA), which
it altogether. According to Ingemar Uneback, more viscous and thus prolonging allowed the flow of water to be accel-
application development manager for petro- its effectiveness. Alternatively it erated without raising the pressure
leum applications in Europe, the new product may act as a diversion mechanism beyond the limits the pipes were
– having proved its effectiveness in tests – is to make sure the acid is distributed designed for. Within hours of the
now being applied successfully in a North more evenly among high and low DRA being added to the heating
Sea field. permeability areas. medium, the flow rate was increased
The same kind of surfactant can by 50% and subsequently remained
Reservoir stimulation also be added to a fracturing fluid, at the new level.

Surfactants are chemical compounds that which is pumped under high pres- Ingemar Uneback
influence the inter-facial behavior between two sure into a formation to hydraulically induce For more information, contact Ingemar Uneback, Akzo
liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. a fracture that acts as a highly conductive Nobel Surface Chemistry. Tel +46 303 851 55, fax +46
Another application recently developed by path for the oil and gas to flow out to the well- 303 889 10, ingemar.uneback@akzonobel.com,
Akzo Nobel is in reservoir stimulation. Here, bore. The fracturing fluid also needs viscosity www.surface.akzonobel.com.

or using fingerprints as the unique source of

SECURITY identification.
Card and locks are programmed in accor-
dance with who is allowed into which rooms

Swipe card system improves monitoring or areas. Access can be allowed at some
times of day and denied at others. As with all
the company’s systems, the information on

of offshore crew movements the cards is encrypted to ensure that it can-

not be changed or tampered with.
CrewSafe is well suited for offshore appli-
ard-based systems for monitoring per- tems, which can be applied to crew, passen- cation, says Nyrud. It provides on-board man-

C sonnel movements offshore increase

both safety and security, according to
Entry Systems. The company is a
leading provider of such systems to
both marine and onshore users.
Entry Systems was the first company to
introduce swipe cards with magnetic stripes
gers and other parties such as suppliers. All
those allowed access to the vessel are issued
with secure identity cards based on RFID
communication between card and
reader or traditional magnetic stripe,
agement with full and updated reports of who
is on board and who has accessed which
areas. The system can be programmed to
give alerts when deviations occur from per-
mitted access patterns.
The safety manning module ensures
that the ship will always put to sea with
for card lock control in Scandinavia, accord- the right crew on board in terms of num-
ing to Managing Director Odd Nyrud. The ber and qualifications.
company has a 40-strong R&D department. CrewSafe forms part of the delivery to a
The importance of monitoring access is cruise liner, which will also be equipped with
reflected in new regulations, such as IMO Entry Systems’ new semi on-line lock sys-
rules which recently came into effect requir- tem. This is a safe and reliable system costing
ing full security at all access points onto and little more than an offline system. Commu-
off a vessel, so that the disembarkation of all nication between the central database and
persons from a passenger vessel into a new the electronic lock units takes place via the
country can be monitored. Ethernet and CANbus technology.

Entry Systems’ CrewSafe, PaxSafe, and
For more information contact Odd T Nyrud, Martin
online/offline access control are all fully com- Härröd or Hans-Christian Jönsson, Entry Systems. Tel
pliant with all IMO regulations and the ISPS Fingerprints are just one source of identification +46 31 725 4400, fax +46 31 725 4499,
code. These are gangway/access control sys- used in Entry Systems’ access control systems. odd.nyrud@entrysystems.se, www.entrysystems.se

108 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Rock Steady. Eight Days a Week.

When it comes to designing state of the art custom living quarters

for customers worldwide, we have found the groove. From superior

single bed cabins to super efficient multi-bunk units. Our wide expe- NO 1 WORLDWIDE IN LIVING QUARTERS
FOR THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
rience in the business gives us the edge. – THE MODULAR WAY

www.emtunga.com
Challenge us – We’ll stand and deliver!
SWEDEN +46 512 773 000
NORWAY +47 51 70 96 30
USA +1 713 789 8957
FACTUM

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O I LY WATER TREATMENT

Fail-safe discharge
Phased treatment is first Marinfloc has also developed the White
Box System (WBS), which ensures that water
with an oil content exceeding a pre-set level

to satisfy IMO water regulations cannot be accidentally pumped overboard.

Water from the oily water separator is fed to
the WBS, which controls a three-way discharge
valve. It passes a ppm monitor, which can be set
n May, Marinfloc became the first comp- ing free oil that is subsequently skimmed from between 5 and 15 ppm. The discharge valve

I any worldwide to comply with new IMO

rules for bilge water cleaning, MEPC 107/
49, which come into force on Jan. 1, 2005.
Ship operators face a considerable tough-
ening of standards, including a new require-
the top. It then passes to a new flocculation
system that works with constant flow based on
flotation, with flocculants being added to
break up the emulsions. The old system relied
on settling tanks.
only opens once the monitor has determined
that the oil content is below the set level.
All discharge is logged for the time pump-
ing overboard began and ended, ppm level,
total quantity of water discharged, and the
ment that approved treatment systems can Remaining water then ship’s position and course.
demonstrably clean bilge water of emulsions passes through three types When rain falls on a deck,
as well as heavy fuel oil and diesel oil. of filter – one containing the oil level in the resultant
Marinfloc passed the test with its Mark III aqualight mineral, the oth- drain water is highest early
type CD, a fully automatic, constant flow, er two activated carbon. on. The White Box system
emulsion breaking bilge water cleaning sys- Once the oil content has enables discharge to take
tem. Tests by the Institut Fresenius in been reduced to less than 5 place when the oil level has
Germany found no oil content in bilge water parts per million (ppm), the fallen below regulatory
treated by the system. water can be discharged. requirements. This will
Tackling the contents of the bilge water The system will be avail- minimize the amount of
tank is a formidable challenge. It consists of a able in sizes from 500-5,000 drain water that needs to be
mix of 85% water and 15% hydraulic oils, lube l/hr and with a footprint collected for cleaning.

oils, detergents, and other substances that only half the size of previ-
combine to form emulsions. ous systems. For further information contact Benny
The Mark III type CD is a phased treatment Carlson, Marinfloc. Tel +46 304 104 98, fax +46
system. The bilge water is first heated, releas- Marinfloc’s Mark III type CD. 304 100 51, benny@marinfloc.com, www.marinfloc.com

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MOORING COMPONENTS

Moorlink chasing repeat

Kizomba deliveries
he Kizomba A FPSO, which achieved first oil in August, is using

T
market.
mooring and tethering components supplied by Moorlink. In
July, the Gothenburg-based company also completed delivery
of components for the Kizomba B FPSO. Both developments
are operated by Esso Exploration Angola. Success on these
projects marks Moorlink’s breakthrough into the floating production

Kizomba A’s mooring components – four installation swivels – were

ordered by Hyundai/FMC, the main contractor for the FPSO. The lat-
ter is moored in 1,200 m of water. Moorlink was responsible for the de-
sign and manufacture of the swivels, which also needed to be capable
of passing through the chain stopper assembly. The components had
to undergo a rigorous testing program to gain approval from classifi-
cation society DNV. This
included side-load testing
and torsion testing in
addition to the usual in-
line pull tests.
A full-scale test pro-
gram was performed in
the presence of DNV rep-
resentatives. For the
measurement of break-
out torque values, a
method of installing the
two swivels back-to-back
in the test bed was
adopted. Side-load test-
ing simulated the swivels
passing through a fair-
lead or over an anchor-
handler’s stern roller.
Moorlink’s tethering
Moorlink MD Björn Palmquist with one of the system order for Kizomba
Kizomba A tether components.
A order was placed by
Saibos, which was responsible for riser installation. This consisted of five
tether components that form a structural connection between the stand-
ing steel catenary risers and a large support buoy. The support buoy pro-
vides some 400 tonnes of uplift to the risers, reducing the weight hung off
the FPSO. Each component consists of an 800-kg padeye welded to a pipe
that in turn is bolted onto a flange at the bottom of the buoy. The latter is
designed to remain in service for 25 years.
Moorlink followed up its success on this project by winning an order
for the Kizomba B development. Placed by Saipem, this was in effect a
repeat of the tether component order, again for a set of five. A similar
design was used, but with larger sizes to handle an increase in the line-
load requirements. The main difference was the fabrication of forged
cones that are welded to the padeyes. The equipment was delivered on
schedule in July and is expected to be installed by early next year.
The company now plans to bid for the Kizomba C development,
which is still in the planning stage. This project is also based on an
FPSO, with a requirement for similar equipment to that used in the
first two stages.

For more information contact Björn Palmquist, Moorlink. Tel +46 31 721 3801, fax +46
31 708 7900, bjpa@moorlink.se, www.moorlink.se
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HEAT EXCHANGERS

Alfa Laval survey reports good reliability

for plate heat exchangers
late heat exchangers were first intro-

P
40
duced to the oil and gas industry in Number of failures reported
35
the 1960s, and now represent a signi-
ficant portion of all heat exchangers 30
used by the sector worldwide. Many, 25
however, still consider this a “new” technol- 20
ogy, a tag that implies something unproven
15
and with an element of risk.
In 2002–2003, Alfa Laval commissioned a 10
study to provide neutral documentation 5
detailing the reliability of its plate heat 0
exchangers as used in offshore topsides t er
lin
g
io
n
ou th bly ue io
n
sio
n wn
production processes. The survey was con- u at n O m t ig os ro no
Fo c or ss
e Fa Er or k
slo tw Un
ducted in cooperation with the Institute of di ke re
-a C
et as
Technology at Lund University in Sweden, sk G ng
G
a ro
and was based on feedback from process W
engineers and maintenance personnel on 174
installations. These included 309 plate heat been in operation for 10 years or more at the been in service for many years and will there-
exchangers on platforms in the USA, UK, time of the survey. fore inevitably need cleaning eventually. After
Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Brazil, Despite the wide scope of the definition of new cleaning routines, these installations
Australia, China, and West Africa. failure used as the basis for the survey, fault encountered no more fouling problems.
The units were all operating in topsides oil rates were low. Incidents were reported on The second (and significantly smaller)
and gas production, mainly in crude oil dehy- only 51 installations, and there were only 104 group consists of installations that seem
dration, secondary cooling, gas compression, registered incidents during a combined 17 more prone to fouling and to recurring faults.
and gas dehydration. Of the installations sur- million hours in service. One example put forward was the absence of
veyed, 67% featured gasketed units, 24% semi- Faults can be detected in a number of a filter when using dirty media. Another was
welded units, and 9% were fully welded. ways. The sur vey allowed respondents to the occurrence of severe biological growth.
The sur vey adopted the Maintenance register these as internal or external leakage, The survey points out that fouling can be
Terminology European Standard definition unexpected performance, and unknown. The considered a result of the operator’s mainte-
of reliability, namely the ability of an item to most common fault reported was external nance philosophy rather than a failure of the
perform a required function under given con- leakage, representing 45% of the reported heat exchanger itself. Whether a gradual per-
ditions over a set period – in other words, to failures, followed by unexpected changes in formance reduction is considered a fault or
function without faults developing. It was left performance levels, such as reduced thermal not depends not only on the degree of perfor-
to each process engineer or maintenance efficiency and reduced flow. Only 23% of the mance reduction and the specific require-
manager to determine whether the individual failures resulted in an internal leakage. ments, but also on the user’s expectations
plate heat exchanger encoun- External leakage is mainly and perception of failure.
tered any faults or not. Unreliable No answer caused by gasket dislocation “Reliability” appears to be down to individ-
The installations surveyed 5% 7% or worn-out gaskets. Unexpec- ual perceptions. Basically, a product is reli-
were between nine months and 25 ted changes in performance able when it fulfils the user’s requirements.
years old. The estimated aggregated levels are largely caused by foul- The survey therefore specifically polled the
time in service for all the units ing, including scaling, deposi- respondents for their overall opinions regard-
amounted to 1,933 years, corre- tion of solids in the system, ing Alfa Laval plate heat exchanger reliability,
sponding to nearly 17 million and biological growth. based on experience in offshore oil and gas
hours in service. Ninety-five Internal leakage is the industry operations. The answers are shown
percent of the installations are result of damaged heat in the figure on the left.
still in operation, and 16% had exchanger plates, fatigue, Among the respondents, 88% considered
erosion, or corrosion. these products reliable, 7% did not respond,
The fouling problems and only 5% considered the products to be
reported in the survey are unreliable.

Respondents’ overall opinions
divided into two general
regarding Alfa Laval plate heat groups of installations.
exchanger reliability. The first (and signifi- For more information contact Tobias Svensson, Alfa Laval.
Reliable cantly larger) group Tel: +46 46 36 7000, Fax: +46 46 12 1228,
88%
includes units that have tobias.svensson@alfalaval.com, www.alfalaval.com/oilandgas

112 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Finish machining of HIPed section of

manifold with integrated branches
HIP Steel Products
and connecting flanges. A highly competitive alternative to
Isotropic properties, design
freedom and reduced forgings, castings and fabricated
welding are some of materials for offshore applications
the advantages.

HIP Steel Products have now entered many

major critical offshore areas to revolutionize
design, fabrication and material properties.
Powdermet manufactures all major stain-
less steel grades and produces components
such as flanges, fittings, wye-pieces, elbows,
manifolds, valve bodies etc that offer entirely
new technical and economic opportunities for
improving YOUR competitiveness.
Availability and flexibility. Our dimension-
less stock reduces delivery time. Short produc-
tion runs and short delivery times are typical
benefits.Tooling costs are often totally elimi-
nated.
Design freedom. Near net shape capability
eliminates or greatly reduces machining requi-
rements and cuts out the need for critical
welds.
Metso Powdermet AB Material properties. The homogeneous
Box 54
microstructure and freedom from segre-
S-735 21 Surahammar
gations in the HIPed component ensures cor-
Sweden
rosion resistance and mechanical properties in
Phone: +46 220 348 80
each direction (x-y-z) at least equal to wrought
Telefax: +46 220 334 90
material in its best direction.
E-mail: powdermet@metso.com
Webb: www.powdermet.com

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PIPELINE COATINGS

Polyolefin-based solutions
for deepwater pipelines
orealis, a polyolefins producer specializing in polyethylene (PE)

B and polypropylene (PP) for pipeline applications, is seeing

increasing demand for its services from the offshore industry.
For several years, the company has worked closely with Statoil and
Bredero Shaw, the pipeline-coating group, on polyolefin-based solu-
tions for subsea pipelines. The collaboration began with the Åsgard
project, for which Borealis developed a five-layer PP pipeline coating to
meet demanding requirements for creep (shrinkage), insulation, and
mechanical strength. It also delivered a protective jacketing with a
very high impact strength for the heating cable in a direct pipeline
heating system.
The company has since supplied pipe coating materials for two
more Statoil-operated field developments, Kristin and Snøhvit.
Continuing invest-
ment in product devel-
opment and production
facilities is a priority,
says Tony Lindström,
sales manager for the
pipe business unit at
the company’s Stenung-
sund, Sweden plant,
which is also its innova-
Clean Air Solutions tion center for poly-
olefins for pipe, wire,
for Turbomachinery and cable applications.
Borealis is currently Borealis supplied polymers for a seven-layer
installing a cross-head pipeline coating manufactured by Bredero Shaw
How to get the most out of your engine?
extrusion production for BP’s Thunder Horse project in 2,000m of water.
Well, keeping it clean is a good start. With clean particle free line – a technique used
air you can start improving your power output, fuel consump- frequently for offshore products at its pilot polyolefins plant in Porvoo,
tion and maintenance costs for optimum Life Cycle Cost. Finland. The plant also has in-house testing facilities for steel pipelines
with PE and PP coatings. No other raw material supplier can match
Operation in a salty and corrosive environment require unique these facilities, says Lindström.
products and designs. We at Camfil Farr can help you to opti- Many of the company’s products are made with Borcoat and Borstar
mise your engine performance by reducing degradation due to PE polymers manufactured using proprietary bimodal technology,
compressor fouling and lower pressure losses over the inlet which allows the polymer properties to be tailored to the application's
system. The tools we have are world leading filtration as well requirements.
as cooling and heating technology, turbomachinery knowledge The company is currently setting new depth records for polyolefin
and a global organisation which can support you on a local use offshore. It supplied PP polymers to Bredero Shaw Norway for use
basis. in the manufacture of a seven-layer pipe-coating system for BP’s
All technical features are built into complete Inlet & Acoustic Thunder Horse development in 2,000 m of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
Systems, tailor-made to match individual site requirements all The system is capable of withstanding pressures of 200 bar and tem-
over the globe. peratures up to 132° C.
PE is more typically used for onshore applications requiring good
Camfil Farr, with headquarters in Trosa, Sweden, is the world’s mechanical strength, while PP products tend to be more applicable to
leading air filtration group with operations in more than 60 offshore applications, in part because this material is very resistant to
countries. Gas turbine activities are co-ordinated by the Euro- high temperatures and pressures, Lindström says. But PE can also be
Asian group in Borås, Sweden and the American group in applied offshore – the most recent delivery, to BP’s Sullom Voe termi-
Laval, Canada. nal in the Shetland Islands, was a pipe to protect subsea flowlines. The
pipe, with a 1,400-mm diameter and 100-mm wall thickness, was made
from a newly developed PE material. A pipe with this wall thickness
info.gt@camfilfarr.com www.camfilfarr-gt.com and the required properties could not have been made from previous
materials.

Camfi l Farr Camfi l Farr
Europe / Asia Americas
Tel: +46 33 178500 Tel: +1 800 976 9382 For more information contact Tony Lindström, Borealis. Tel +46 303 867 17, fax +46 303
Fax: +46 33 178555 Tel: +1 281 861 8488 817 46, tony.lindstrom@borealisgroup.com, www.borealisgroup.com/pipe.
Fax: +1 450 629 1199

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IN-SITU REPAIRS
• RELIABLE
• PROFITABLE

Norne turret machined • PROFESSIONAL

without halting production

etalock Engineering, which specializes in on-site machining,

M saved the day for Statoil when it repaired a damaged part in

the turret system of the Norne FPSO without production
having to be interrupted.
The Gothenburg-based company was called to the ship in the
Norwegian Sea when bearing pads came loose in bad weather, causing
ALIMAK® Rack & Pinion lifts for
passengers and goods have been
operating in hull columns, on derrick
towers, platform structures and out-
side platform modules since 1974.
extensive scratches to the 22 m-diameter bearing surface of the turret.
Our lifts are ideally suited for almost
Statoil was concerned that the damage might be bad enough to cause any offshore application.
the surface to gall, leading to total breakdown in the system, recalls
Ronny Asp, senior supervisor for Metalock’s on-site machining division. Contact us for the best access solution.
Inspection showed that 1 mm had to be machined off around the total
diameter of the bearing surface, both axially and radially, and then the
machined area had to be polished. Statoil further specified that the work

OFFSHORE LIFTS

Milling machine performing repair of derrick rails on Sleipner A platform.

should be done while full production continued, and that no sparks should
be caused, as the bearing section is in an area of high explosion risk.
Metalock developed the necessary tools, including two machine hold-
ers, one acting in the vertical plane and one in the horizontal. The bear-
ing surface was machined in sectors of 7° at a time, each one first milled
and then polished. When one sector was finished, the ship was turned to
make the next sector available. Water was sprayed on during the opera-
tions to prevent any sparks.
Statoil has since commissioned the company to perform similar work
on the Åsgard A production ship. In this case a 110° sector was repaired.

Snorre realignment
Metalock has also worked on other Statoil installations. Last year, for
instance, it was called out to the Snorre A tension-leg platform by mainte-
nance contractor ABB when a generator shaft was out of alignment.
Repair work involved remachining part of the shaft to a tolerance of
±0.008 mm. In this case Metalock developed a machining tool that rotated
around the shaft.
Similar rotating machinery was used when the company machined Alimak AB, P O Box 720,
the surface of a gasket in a heat exchanger on Statoil’s Statfjord C plat- SE-931 27 Skellefteå, Sweden.
form. It also repaired two 8-m rails which form part of the derrick sup- Phone +46 910 87000.
port on the Sleipner A platform. In this case up to 12 mm had to be Fax +46 910 56690.
E-mail: info@alimak.se
removed to a tolerance of less than ±1 mm.

www.alimak.com
For more information contact Ronny Asp, Metalock Engineering. Tel: +46 31 707 1331,
fax +46 31 707 1313. ronny.asp@midroc.se, www.metalock.org
ALIMAK – an Intervect company

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H E A LT H & SAFETY

Pressure increases for routine

drug/alcohol tests among offshore crews
ue to the risks to health and safety arising from drug and This covers planning the test, collecting the samples, ensuring that collec-

D alcohol use, more offshore companies are insisting on regular

tests to ensure that their employees are drug free. One of the
first offshore assignments for Marconova, a specialist in this
field based in Sweden, was for Heerema Marine Contractors
in the Gulf of Mexico.
Marconova ran a series of quarterly tests for Heerema last year out-
side Louisiana, where three of the contractor’s crane-barges, Thialf,
tors and local agents follow all the procedures, transporting the samples to
Sweden, carrying out an initial screening, and sending samples giving a
positive reading to a hospital laboratory for confirmation analysis.
The samples are tested for nine kinds of narcotic and alcohol. Each
sample given is divided into two. Screening and possible further analysis
is performed on the A sample. In the event of a positive result the B sam-
ple, still sealed, has to be stored for a year. About 2% of samples screened
Hermod, and Balder, were based. Also included in the testing program by Marconova are classified as “pending positive,” says Jakobsson.
were the crews of supply vessels working under contract to Heerema. Strict precautions have to be taken to identify false positives. About
Following this program, Marconova plans to target the offshore half the “pending positive” samples prove to be false alarms. These can
sector more actively, according to partner Captain Anders Jakobsson. be caused, for example, by medicines innocently taken. In China there
With its a global network of some 40 collectors, mainly medical per- are anti-flu pills that contain amphetamine, while some painkillers con-
sonnel such as nurses and doctors, it is one of the few testing compa- tain codeines, which can metabolize into morphine.
nies offering worldwide services, and already has some three dozen The trend toward testing in the offshore and marine sectors was
marine customers. started by ExxonMobil in the 1990s, after it turned out that alcohol con-
When a crew is due to be tested, the collector at the relevant port of sumption played a role in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaskan waters.
call is mobilized. On the vessel itself, usually only the master has Many oil companies have followed ExxonMobil’s lead, though testing
advance warning of the test. According to the new ISPS code, the mas- itself is not a legal requirement.

ter must be given at least 24 hours’ notice. Normally everyone on board
is tested, supplying urine samples which are then sent to Marconova. For further information contact Captain Anders Jakobsson, Marconova. Tel +46 31 769
The company is responsible for controlling the whole chain of custody. 1060, fax +46 31 769 1069. dps@marconova.com, www.marconova.com

Sunnex Inhouse 2004.06

Rough environments
need reliable lamps.

For over 30 years Sunnex has provided the finest task lighting products light enhances operator comfort and efficiency, and the
for industrial as well as offshore and marine applications. Sunnex offers lamp arm and head option allow for stable and drift-free
a variety of models and configurations, among others compact models positioning.
for small spaces, and moisture-proof models for harsh environments. Sunnex products are backed by a solid warranty on
The classic, ergonomic design of Sunnex lamps is engineered for ease- performance and parts, with a lifetime customer support
of-use and installation, and years of dependable operation. The Sunnex guarantee.

www.sunnex.com Certified ISO 9001:2000 by

Sunnex is an ISO 9001:2000 registered company

Sunnex Equipment AB Sunnex GmbH Sunnex Equipement Sarl Sunnex Inc.

Box 8064, SE-163 08 Spånga Ricarda-Huch-Str. 2, D-14480 Potsdam Z.I. Les Milles B.P. 154 000, 13794 Aix En Provence, Cedex 3 3 Huron Drive, Natick, MA 01760-1314
Sweden Germany France USA
Tel: +46 854 680 230•Fax: +46 854 680 259 Tel: +49 331 600 77 27•Fax: +49 331 600 77 63 Tel: +33 442 39 78 96•Fax: +33 442 39 78 77 Tel: +1 800 445 7869•Fax: +1 508 651 0099
E-mail: info@sunnex.se E-mail: h.wickstrom@t-online.de E-mail: sunnex@sunnex.fr E-mail: sales@sunnex.com

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SPILLAGE PREVENTION

Couplings ensure safer transfer of liquid cargoes

reakaway couplings developed by Todo to ensure no spillage of both sides of the line are fully sealed prior to disconnection, Staaf says.

B harmful substances in the event of unintended or emergency

demands for no spillage.

The Todo Break-Away Coupling was originally developed for the
At present, sizes up to 3-in. are available, but larger sizes are under
disconnection are attracting interest from the offshore industry. development. The products come in 316L stainless steel as standard,
The new product comes to the market amid increasing and in a full range of elastomeric seals. They comply fully with the
European Pressure Equipment Directive.
The dry-break couplings for which Todo is well known have the
onshore transfer of chemical media and LPG, but it is also applicable to environmental benefit of ensuring zero spillage. They are used widely
offshore operations such as the transfer of liquid cargoes (drilling in the offshore industry. In addition to the safety aspects, the dry-
muds, chemicals, fuels, and waste water) between supply boats and off- break coupling is lightweight and simple to use, Staaf says. Compared
shore installations. with bolted or threaded couplings, it is much easier and quicker to
As any spillage in such a situation has detrimental environmental connect and disconnect.
effects and could entail heavy fines for transgressors, both oil companies Onshore users such as Shell Chemicals have testified to its bene-
and supply boat owners have responded positively to the new develop- fits, noting that connection is made in a matter of seconds compared
ment, reports Area Sales Man-ager Magnus Staaf. In addition, damage to with 30 min for couplings with bolted flanges, and that vapor emis-
hose strings, vessel, and platform equipment is prevented, and there are sions are virtually eliminated.
safety benefits for crew and platform personnel. The coupling contains valves consisting of pis-
The breakaway coupling is designed as the weak tons that are automatically displaced to the open
point in the transfer connection, so that if, for exam- position only when the coupling has been fully
ple, the supply boat drifts out of position, the cou- connected. Conversely, the pistons automatically
pling breaks apart before the integrity of the hose is revert to the closed position, excluding any media
threatened. Inside the coupling are break-pins that from the space between them, before disconnec-
come under pressure as force is exerted to break tion can take place.

the coupling. At a set load the pins break, activating
closure of the valves on either side of the coupling For more information, contact Magnus Staaf, Todo. Tel +46
so that no spillage takes place. The Todo coupling Todo’s breakaway coupling improves envi- 506 199 40, fax +46 506 199 44. Magnus.Staaf@todo.se,
differs from some other designs in ensuring that ronmental protection and safety. www.todo.se.
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WATER PURIFICATION

Oxidation technique eliminates bacteria in

industrial/potable water treatment systems
Nick Terdre
Process could also be extended to reservoir injection Contributing Editor

dvanced oxidation technology (AOT)

A
Valve open
is a patented process from Stockholm-
Valve Closed BenRad
based Benrad that can solve water AOT purifier
purification problems encountered
offshore. Applications are wide-rang-
ing, although the company’s current focus is Schematic illustrates
in marine and industrial process water, Benrad’s ballast water
potable water, and cooling systems. treatment technique.
The process has been applied successfully
on cruise ships in applications such as pool, Filter
Jacuzzi, and AC systems, lowering operational Piping system
Pump
costs and reducing use of chemicals such as
chlorine. Technical waters are another poten-
tial problem area onboard, particularly in
engines where there is a risk of bacteria and
bio-film growth and corrosion. Installing a
Benrad system here can lead to a bacteria-free
operation, in turn reducing maintenance. Sea
The AOT process, introduced in 1997, chest Ballast tanks
exploits the synergy effect that arises from
combining ultra violet light, catalysis, and
ozone to create hydroxyl (OH) radicals. These the water an unpleasant smell and taste. It teria and all plankton types, leaving no resid-
are potent in breaking down microorganisms could also be applied to produce drinking uals or remaining toxicity.
and bacteria, and react in the Benrad process quality water from the condensed water Benrad has now been invited to take part in
within nanoseconds. No substances or side drawn from air conditioning units. a test program to be run by the US Coast
effects are introduced into the process, and no The AOT process is not primarily intended Guard as it prepares for the new regulations. It
residuals are created. The redox potential of to combat corrosion in water systems, but has also participated in the European Union’s
the OH radicals is almost double that of chlo- can have this beneficial effect as it uses oxy- Martob program, one aim of which is to
rine, which is still used widely in water treat- gen and reduces its content almost to zero in demonstrate methods for the on-board treat-
ment applications. Benrad-AOT has also a re-circulation system. ment of ballast water.
proven effective against legionella and in the
dissolution of bio-films, two phenomena that Ballast water Injection water
are considered extremely hard to treat. Ballast water issues have come to the fore The ballast water treatment system could be
Titanium is applied within the system’s in recent years with the growing realization of interest to the offshore sector as a means of
chambers to help the process function in most that the flora and fauna carried in the water treating water for injection into oil reservoirs.
types of environment. The three base products can damage the native marine ecosystems in The AOT technology is also applicable in other
in the range are the M300, M600, and M900. the area where they are discharged. The ways to offshore rigs and vessels. The M900
All are of a modular design, which allows them International Maritime Organization (IMO) is system, with 25 cu m/hr treatment capacity,
to be adapted to most capacity requirements. preparing regulations for ballast water treat- would be suitable for use in the cooling system
The problem of bacterial growth has inten- ment, which are due to be enforced in 2009. in a diesel-electric engine-room, and also in
sified as the chemical means used to combat Benrad has developed a ballast water treat- potable water systems. Each U-shaped unit is
it are being increasingly phased out. The ment process in which the seawater under- about 1 m tall and weighs 35 kg. Capacity can
AOT process, in contrast, is environmentally goes pre-filtration via a back-flush filter, then be easily increased by manifolding several
friendly, and can be used with all forms of passes through the AOT purifier before units together. The power consumption for
water. being pumped into the ballast tanks. On dis- each unit is only 150 W. The M300 and M600,
With potable water systems, it provides a charge it again passes through the purifier. with 2.5 cu m/hr capacity, are suited for
beneficial alternative to traditional methods Laboratory tests at the Kristineberg marine smaller capacity needs.

of treating the water, such as silver ionization, research station in Sweden showed that the For more information, contact Peter Svensson, Benrad.
which has the drawback of adding heavy process is able to meet the proposed IMO Tel: +46 85 2272 231, fax: +46 85 2272 299,
metal to the water, and chlorine, which gives standards, achieving a 100% kill rate on bac- peter.svensson@benrad.se, www.benrad.com.

118 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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www.hagglunds.com
Reliable strength,
precise control
Hägglunds hydraulic drive systems are engineered
to perform under severe conditions and to provide
reliable power to vital marine applications above
or below water around the world. Our high torque,
low speed motors have extremely low moment of
inertia and can drive and brake with precision in
both directions. Precise control, strength and relia-
bility are key considerations.

Hägglunds Drives AB, SE-890 42 Mellansel, Sweden.

Tel: +46 (0)660-870 00. E-mail Business Area Manager:
ingemar.borg@se.hagglunds.com
A company in the Arcorus Group.

Our Drive is your Performance.

100% think you should have it!...

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Simply the most cost effective
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PROCESS EQUIPMENT MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

Gullfaks degassing consignment Devices improve personnel

B
erglunds Rostfria, which produces pressure vessels, heat
exchangers, and similar products in corrosion resistant materials,
has its sights set on Statoil’s Snøhvit project. The Norwegian oil
tracking, emergency response
company already figures on the company’s reference list – early this apid and efficient communications can be achieved with mobile
year it completed delivery of three degassing vessels, one for each of
the Gullfaks platforms.
The vessels, which are almost identical, are made of 2205 duplex
R personnel on offshore installations, using Ascom’s wireless products.
These facilitate swift response to events such as production
breakdowns and accidents to personnel. The company’s systems are in
stainless steel. Each is 2 m high, with a diameter of 600 mm, a weight service on 90% of platforms in the Norwegian sector, according to Stefan
of around 1 tonne, and with the capacity to handle up to 350 kg/hr of Brämberg, vice president technology for Ascom Wireless Solutions.
liquids and 50 kg/hr of gas. The order for the vessels came through Ascom offers a complete range of mobile
platform contractor Fabricom. communications products including location
Berglunds has joined forces with the Arctic Suppliers, a group of devices, message receivers, and transmit-
some dozen northern Norwegian and northern Swedish companies ters, alarm transmitters, and cordless and
formed specifically to seek orders for Snøhvit. wireless telephones, including phones for use
The company has one product of its own, a lamella heat exchanger. in hazardous areas, which now conform to the
The lamella element consists of two thin metal strips welded together new Atex regulations.
in pairs along the edges a short distance apart. A number of lamella The products can be customized to suit the
elements are stacked in a bundle, thus forming channels both within environment in which they are used. A user mov-
each pair and between each pair. ing around in a noisy environment such as the
This design offers a number of benefits, Granberg says. A high production plant on an offshore platform may be
degree of heat recovery can be achieved, and it is more efficient in some alerted to an incoming call or message by vibration
applications than conventional heat exchangers. It is also compact – rather than sound. The products can also be inte-
allowing it to be installed in relatively small spaces – and lightweight, due grated with the customer’s other systems.
to its low retention volume.
Ascom has been developing on-site communications
For more information, contact Bernt Granberg, Berglunds Rostfria. Tel: +46 921 34 25 01, systems since the 1950s, and currently supplies 80% of the European
fax: +46 921 34 25 10, bernt@berglunds.se, www.berglunds.se. market for paging systems. Its equipment operates with protected fre-
quencies on the DECT – digital enhanced cordless telephony – plat-
form for on-site communications.
The products have so many functions that the company should be
seen as providing the pieces of a Lego system which can be put
together in many different ways, according to the customer’s needs –
what Brämberg calls `smart integration’.
Central control is able to keep in close touch with all personnel dis-
persed around a work-site. If required, positioning systems are available
which pinpoint the location of all users together with their identity. If an
emergency arises requiring rapid on-site response, the nearest person
We Know the importance of can be identified and alerted. Messages can be sent from central control
skilled personnel. to an individual, a group or to all personnel.
The system can be set to operate on an escalating scale of alerts, so
that if the first user does not respond, a second set of users is alerted.
Once a user responds, the alerts cease.
Rapid mobilization of personnel to an event such as a production
breakdown can lead to great savings for the customer compared with
a delayed response due to inefficient communications, Brämberg says.
The equipment can be linked to the users’ Internet provider, so that
when they are out and about on the work-site they can be alerted to
incoming emails, with brief details, if they are expecting an important
message.
If something unexpected happens – an individual suffering a heart
attack, for example, and therefore making no movement for a pre-set
Diplomaed courses in period of time – an alarm can be automatically sent to the central control.
drinking water treatment One of Ascom’s most established customers is Statoil, which uses
its products on 12 of its offshore platforms in the Norwegian sector
for offshore personnel and at four onshore centers. It has also ordered products for use on
the new Kristin platform. Seven of Norsk Hydro’s installations also
E.C.T. OFFSHORE SERVICE AB deploy the company’s products, including Grane. Another customer is
Ovädersgatan 14 Telephone +46 31 53 00 40 Vat se.556266 5884 01 ConocoPhillips’ Ekofisk complex.

S-418 34 Göteborg Telefax +46 31 53 00 45 Vi har F-skatt
Sweden For more information contact Stefan Brämberg, Ascom Wireless Solutions. Tel: +46 3155
For more information, see our homepage: 9322, fax +46 3155 8313. stefan.bramberg@ascomtateco.se, www.ascom.com/ws
www.ectoffshore.se or E-mail: info@ectoffshore.se

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GALLEYS/LAUNDRY EQUIPMENT

Merger expands options for offshore constructors

lectrolux Marine, a specialist provider the Alborz semisubmersible drilling rig Estaleiro Itajai yard in Brazil.

E of galley and laundry equipment for the

offshore sector, has been acquired by
Finland’s Loipart group and now trades
under the Loipart name.
Previously, the two companies had worked
together regularly, according to Kristian
Vidfar, sales manager for merchant ships and
under construction at the Sadra yard in Iran;
the VS 4408 platform supply vessel being
built at the Jinling shipyard in China, and an
anchor-handling tug and supply vessel for the
For further information contact Kristian Vidfar, Loipart.
Tel +46 322 668385, fax +46 322 637747,
kristian.vidfar@loipart.se, www.loipart.fi

offshore. Electrolux Marine’s strength was in

planning and implementing large marine
kitchens, while Loipart’s focus was on produc-
Innovative and safe
ing and installing stainless steel furnishings.
Electrolux Marine was able to supply
around 80% of all galley and laundry products.
mooring technology
The enlarged Loipart is more of a one-stop-
shop. Loipart can also offer decoration mate-
rials for public spaces, including linings,
railings, and furniture, from its associate com-
pany Trapiol in Finland.

Typical Loipart consignment.

Managing Director Björn Palmquist Technical Manager Morten Gundersen with
Altogether Loipart has 1,500 products for with one of 1800 MT Kizomba tether the first produced weather tight
connections. chain locker device for 150 mm chain.
offshore customers, including the world’s
smallest combi oven, which uses both convec-
tion and steam. The company can also offer MoorLink holds a leading position in mooring technology.
modular galleys supplied in a finished state We design our products according to your needs and speci-
with all linings and penetrations. The modular fications, and supply equipment that meets the demands
system, which was developed by Electrolux
made by greater water depths and heavier loads.
Marine in the 1990s and is patented, can be
implemented rapidly, so that retrofits also can
be performed at sea. At MoorLink we are continually developing our products to
The enlarged company supplies 20-30% of meet the requirements of the offshore industry. We develop
the offshore market, according to Vidfar. cost effective products together with our clients worldwide.
Current orders include the galley and laun-
dr y for the FPSO for BP Angola’s Greater
Plutonio development. It has further links
with BP via orders for the Chirag I and
info@moorlink.com www.moorlink.com
Chirag Full Field projects in the Caspian Sea.
Elsewhere, the company is supplying gal-
ley and laundry appliances to the Shell-led
Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. for the Luna Get linked to deep down safety
A platform, part of the Sakhalin II develop-
ment in the Russian Far East. Other galley Moorlink AB, Theres Svenssons gata 15, SE-417 55 Gothenburg, Sweden
and laundry deliveries in progress include Phone +46 31 721 38 00 Fax +46 31 708 79 00

www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 121

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TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF

Countering legionella outbreak Airborne surveillance

Operators need to be more vigilant to prevent outbreaks of legion- Swedish Space Corp. has launched MSS 6000, a new generation of
naires’ disease on their installations, says Yvonne Putzig of E.C.T. its maritime surveillance system, which is used for oil spill tracking,
Offshore Service. Legionella can have a devastating effect offshore, as search and rescue, economic zone protection, fishery, and ship traffic
respiratory infections spread three times as quickly in an environment in control and ice patrol.
which people live in close proximity than in a typical onshore situation. MSS 6000 includes new features such as improved sensor and sen-
E.C.T., which specializes in designing, installing, and maintaining sor handling flexibility, integrated digital chart display, and reporting
offshore water treatment systems, was last year called in to eradicate by satellite as well as conventional data link. Sur veillance is per-
legionella from a rig in the Dutch sector. Its preferred method involves formed using a range of sensors, including side-looking airborne
disinfecting the water systems with chlorine dioxide. Being acidic, radar (SLAR), infra-red/ultra-violet (IR/UV) scanners and photo-
chlorine dioxide is effective at penetrating the slime in which the bac- graphic and video cameras.
teria thrive. Such an approach could not be applied, however, in Some of the MSS 6000 features are incorporated in a current deliv-
Norway, where chlorine dioxide is banned on the grounds that it could ery of two MSS 5000 systems to the Portuguese air force.

pose risks in drinking water.
Clear policies should be adopted on combating legionella, Putzig For more information contact Christer Colliander, Swedish Space Corporation. Tel +46
says. At present, different countries take various approaches. In the 8627 6328, fax +46 898 7069, christer.colliander@ssc.se, www.ssc.se
Netherlands, operators have to take a specific legionella sample once
a month, while in Norway, no particular action is required. She would
like to see the North Sea countries introduce preventive legislation, as Volvo extends engine range
Sweden is now doing.
Volvo Penta has extended its marine diesel engine range for the off-
shore sector through a recent agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy
For more information, contact Yvonne Putzig, E.C.T. Offshore Systems. Tel +46 3153
Industries. The new range of engines, which provide high reliability
0040, fax +46 3153 0045. info@ectoffshore.se, www.ectoffshore.se
and good fuel efficiency, are available with ratings up to 2,200 HP,
compared with Volvo Penta’s previous upper limit of 700 HP. The main
Fireproof/waterproof doors application for the Mitsubishi engines in an offshore context is as gen-
Electrically operated doors have been introduced by Hellbergs erating sets for supply vessels. As such, they are supplied complete
International that are both fireproof and semi-watertight. Both hinged with generator and mounted on a base frame ready for installation.
and sliding versions are available. All of the company’s doors are They can also be used as propulsion engines for smaller supply ves-
approved and certified to the latest applicable standards.
Electrical operation offers the benefits of ease of installation and min-
imal noise, especially compared with a pneumatically operated system,
which also requires an air supply, says Lennart Hellberg. Control sys-
tems are provided by Hellbergs’ German partner AP Marine. Battery
back-up is provided in case of an interruption in normal power supplies.
The doors are rated up to A60 in terms of fire-resistance. Water
tightness is achieved by locking them against rubber seals and steer-
ing guides. Although defined as semi-watertight, they permit only a
small leakage, being rated as watertight against a four-meter head of
water. An important safety feature is a safety strip fitted to the front
edge of the door. This is a steel profile with a sensor attached that
detects the presence of objects such as fingers in the door-gap, and
alerts the computer controlling the door operation to open it.

For more information contract Lennart Hellberg, Hellbergs International. Tel +46 522 665
666, fax +46 522 665 777, info@hellbergs.com, www.hellbergs.com

Dalia mooring chain

Chain-maker Ramnäs has been hauling in new orders since it was The D49A-MT, one of the marine engines produced by Volvo Penta under
restructured earlier this year. Its main contract awards this summer, its new agreement with Mitsubishi.
since new Swedish owners took over, are:
• Mooring chains for Total’s Dalia FPSO in Angola, ordered by
main contractor Technip, calls for 1,500 tons of grade R4 chain of sels, says Volvo Penta's Bertil Börjesson. Among the first deliveries
108 mm and 114-mm diameter were propulsion engines for M/S Peregrino and M/S Atrirado, two
• 340 tonnes of 81-mm diameter, QR 3S studless-type chain for the harbor tugs working in the Brazilian offshore sector.
Sadra CALM buoy. The company has also launched its first electronic engine for com-
• 506 tons of 3-in. diameter grade R4 chain for Stena Drilling for the mercial use, including Zone 2 application. This is the D12, a 12-liter
semisubmersible rig Stena Dee. engine that provides improved injection monitoring, in turn making it
Ramnäs is also supplying 100 tons of grade 2 chain for mooring possible to manage fuel use precisely and thereby minimizing emis-
buoys for the UK’s Ministry of Defense. sions at all working levels, including high loads.

For more information contact Carina Andersson, Ramnäs Chain. Tel +46 220 22000, fax For more information contact Bertil Börjesson, Volvo Penta. Tel +46 31 322 1644, fax +46
+46 220 35837, carina.andersson@ramnas.com, www.ramnas.com 31 51 0595, bertil.borjesson@volvo.com, www.volvopenta.com

122 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING

New tools and technology for the offshore industry

Deepwater fiber rope deployment system
Traditional materials used as lifting or
mooring lines in deepwater exploration and
production are steel chain and wire. These
materials have limitations, particularly in
deepwater, primarily due to their weight. For
example, a very large winch system must be
in place to hoist the steel wire itself – the
weight of the steel doubles the winch power
consumption at >2,000 m water depth. Also,
smaller vessels may not support the weight
of the steel wire.
Whereas the rope has no limitations with
respect to water depth and represents no
impact on size and weight (only size of stor-
age winch), the steel wire causes a substan-
tial increase in weight, diameter,
power-consumption, and eventually size of
the handling gear as water depth increases.
Although fiber ropes have been and are
still used extensively in deepwater, the loads
tend to be very low. The challenge has been
to develop a suitable rope construction and
material combination that will overcome
some of the specific problems associated
with deploying large bodies into deepwater.
These include the effect of constant bend
over sheave cycling. As a result, there have
been a number of initiatives to investigate
the use of fiber ropes as a replacement for
steel in deepwater operations.
Honeywell’s Specialty Materials division,
the makers of Spectra fiber, along with
Celanese and The Cortland Co. have focused
on this problem for the last three years.
This full-scale CTCU assembly includes a storage reel for 3,500 m, 56 mm BOB.
During this period, substantial testing of mate-
rials and constructions has resulted in the to be considered when developing a fiber rope wraps around the capstan. The change in
development of a new type of rope braid opti- handling system: a very low coefficient of fric- rope length during the de-tensioning process
mized for bending (BOB). BOB is made up of tion, and rope elongation with load. Careful results in slippage on the drum surface,
a blend of Honeywell’s Spectra fiber and consideration needs to be given to these dif- which causes heat build-up within the rope.
Vectran fiber from Celanese. The combination ferences, or the fiber ropes will slip on the Traction winches suffer from the same prob-
of fibers and special coatings has been winch sheaves, resulting in severe wear and lems, although the careful use of controlled
designed to endure repeated flexing around premature failure, the company says. back tensions can minimize this problem.
rotating sheaves. The 12 x 12 braid blends Like the development of fiber ropes, there Norwegian company ODIM ASA has
another fiber into select sections of the rope. are a number of industry initiatives to developed the cable traction control unit
The rope can be made any length without the develop suitable winches for fiber ropes. (CTCU) technology. The recently built-for-
need for large splices. It can be repaired in the Winches can be categorized into three purpose ODIM CTCU winch was designed
field, has zero torque, and has high-strength groups: drum, capstan, and two-drum trac- to match the rope properties and, among
translation efficiency, the company says. tion winches. Each winch type has specific other features, prevents the rope from slip-
Although there is now a suitable fiber rope limitations when used with fiber ropes. Drum ping against the traction sheaves caused by
designed specifically for deepwater lifting, the winches store the ropes at their working load, the elongation of the fiber rope under load.
next challenge is how to best handle the rope. which can result in premature damage to the The CTCU also includes active heave com-
Conventional winch systems have been rope. Also, if care is not taken, very high pensation as an integral part of the system.
designed for use with steel wire. There are flange pressures can result in catastrophic This technology has been workshop tested
two major differences in the properties of failure of the drum winch. Capstan winches and barge tested in 100 m of water, using
fiber ropes compared to steel wire that need rely on de-tensioning the rope over multiple various dimensions of BOB rope.

www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 123

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EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING

tem comes pre-assembled and is available in

Coiled tubing compensation three operating modes.”
system for deepwater operations The CT TComp system can be used as a
motion-compensated jacking frame, a 350-
ton tension-lift frame, or an internally
Schlumberger Oilfield Services has intro- conventional systems, the compensated tension-lift frame. It
duced the CT TComp coiled tubing total company says. comes assembled in three skids:
compensation system for the Gulf of Mexico To develop this new sys- New one each for the hydraulic
and other offshore areas. tem, Schlumberger con-
tools a power unit, BOP, and injector.

techno nd
The CT TComp system protects wellhead ducted a two-year field The system requires fewer
integrity during coiled tubing operations by study that included over than half the minimum number
limiting wellhead stresses, and it compen-
sates for vertical and horizontal wellhead
5,000 hours of operational
data to identify efficiency logy of lifts required to load conven-
tional equipment onto the plat-
motion inside or outside the derrick. It is and safety issues that could form, the company says.
faster to rig up than conventional systems, be addressed by improving The BOPs, flow cross, sidewinder,
and it enables operations on floaters, includ- compensation equipment design side-door stripper injector, and gooseneck
ing spars, TLPs, semisubmersibles, and drill- and packaging. The study showed that 13- are delivered to the platform pre-assembled
ships, that might not be possible with 16% of the average 87 hr required for the rig- within frames, in contrast with conventional
up and rig-down process could systems that require each of those pieces to
be eliminated, enabling signifi- be assembled on site. The Schlumberger Coil
cant savings. Tubing team can assemble the CT TComp
“Based on our research, we system in about four hours.
saw the need to design a system Virtually every feature of the CT TComp
that would change the way system is designed to save time and reduce
deepwater coiled tubing opera- costs in deepwater coiled tubing operations,
tions are conducted,” Warren the company says, including an adaptive pas-
Zemlak, business development sive system for wellhead stress manage-
manager of Coiled Tubing, ment, a titanium flex joint for horizontal
Schlumberger Oilfield Services, wellhead movement, and an injector trolley
says. “To improve operational system and winches to permit simultaneous
safety and efficiency, the sys- operations.

Smart Shim solves wellhead movement while drilling

Furmanite, an industrial specialty mainte- the recent initiative on the Shell Expro doubt that when serious damage does occur,
nance service company, has introduced Nelson platform in the North Sea. This job the safety implications and costs of shut-
Smart Shim to its North American customer was the largest Smart Shim installation down and replacement are significant. The
base. undertaken to date. Smart Shim solution and accompanying
Smart Shim is an advanced-materials solu- “The problem of extreme wellhead move- FEA seems to provide an innovative and reli-
tion manufactured from a PVC-proofed ment is recognized throughout the oil and able alternative.”
nylon that features good abrasive resistance gas industry,” Ken Brown, senior mechani- Following FEA by AMEC, it became
and is ultrasonically welded for water-tight- cal engineer at Shell, says. “There is no apparent that the Smart Shim was needed at
ness. According to Furmanite, the Smart the Nelson offshore site. Furmanite techni-
Shim is filled with a specialist polyurethane cians installed the Smart Shim on eleven
resin, which reduces excessive wellhead 26-in. conductors, each at elevations of 46 ft
movement caused by wave action on cas- and 75 ft. Overall, Furmanite installed 90
ing conductors. Following precision finite chocks at the site.
element analysis and design, Smart-Shim The Smart Shim is designed to achieve
chocks are cast in-situ so that the chock the resilience required to hold the conduc-
forms to fit the exact dimensions of the gap tor firmly in place, prevent damage in the
between the conductor tube and guides. guides, and provide sufficient absorption
Furmanite and its European project qualities necessary to avoid further shock
management supplier, AMEC, introduced damage. Furmite says each Smart-Shim is
the Smart Shim to the oil and gas industry fitted on-site to the exact required dimen-
in 2002, and are providing North American sions, eliminating all difficulties related to
customers with a full-service solution – fitting or staying in place.
from on-site measurement, design, and The Smart Shim technology tailors a
Finite Element Analysis (FEA), to manu- chock that fits perfectly, stays in place, and
facture and on-site casting of the chocks. meets the wear resistance strength and
This alliance and the Smart Shim Solution elasticity requirements needed to provide
have delivered exceptional results, the an ideal, long-lasting solution, the company
company says. One such success story is says.

124 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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EQUIPMENT & ENGINEERING

Wire line monitoring

RC Technology has developed Data Stem, a line monitoring sys-
tem that allows the operator to acquire well log information in the
form of pressure and temperature during any slickline, braided line,
or electric line operations. The system offers reduced intervention
costs by using the latest in miniature memory gauge technology and
force recognition sensing. As well as pressure and temperature, the
Data Stem also incorporates an accelerometer that records and
stores all loads applied to the wireline during operations in the well-
bore, the company says.
RCT has employed an existing weight bar system commonly
used in wireline in 2, 3, and 5-ft lengths for 1 1/2-in., 1 7/8-in., and
2 1/2-in. diameter weight bar that incorporates single or dual
embedded gauges. The application of the Data Stem removes the
need, in many applications, for a separate gauge run in the well-
bore to acquire pressure and temperature logs. Whenever a wire-
line intervention is required, Data Stem is included in the
wireline string. cator of seating nipples, restrictions, doglegs, and other fit-
The application of embedded gauges within the tings.
toolstring does not impact the structural strength
of the system. Data Stem has been designed to New According to RCT, the Data Stem enhances both the
service company’s and operator’s understanding of
accommodate the impact forces of both
tools a the downhole environment and workings of the wire-

techno nd
hydraulic and mechanical jars with a built-in line toolstring. This will enable and enhance future
springs and damping system. The embedded wireline operations by allowing data files to be com-
accelerometer is a memory system capable of
logging forces applied to the wireline during oper- logy piled that will inform service companies and
operators of particular intervention problems encoun-
ations. The combination of memory gauges and tered on a particular well and offer alternate wireline
accelerometer can be analyzed to give a precise depth toolstring configurations, thereby reducing guesswork
measurement, when combined with the wireline depth indi- and downtime.

300-ton hydraulic crane for construction vessel

National Oilwell recently delivered its cylinders, one 400-mm and two 380-mm- May 2004. The vessel is under long-term
largest-ever hydraulic telescopic crane, a diameter telescopic cylinders, and a four- contract to Sonsub on deep-sea projects.

300-ton system, for the Solstad Shipping sub- chamber-active heave-compensation
sea construction vessel Norman Cutter. accumulator with a linear positioning sys- For more information, contact Anders Nielsen, phone +45
Hydra tech partnered the company in devel- tem. The package also included numerous 98980200, email: ann@hydratech.dk
oping and manufacturing the accumulator smaller cylinders, all DNV certified.
and cylinder equipment. Hydra tech designed the AHC accumula-
The 300-ton crane hydraulic package con- tor to allow servicing in very limited con-
sisted of three 550-mm-diameter main boom fines, as it is being built in under the deck. It
is easily separated in the middle,
and the sealing can be changed
with less than one extra meter of
space. The built-in length trans-
ducer is of a flexible type that can
be changed without having to
demount the accumulator. The
length positioning system is a new
type with profibus, which can be
connected directly to the data bus
of the vessel.
Ulstein’s yard in Norway con-
verted the state-of-the-art Norman
Cutter vessel. During conversion,
the vessel’s width increased by 3.5
m, and the 300-ton crane was fit-
ted along with a moonpool and
carousel for flexilay operations.
Accumulator in Hydra tech’s workshop. Conversion was completed in 300-ton crane on the Norman Cutter.

www.offshore-mag.com • October 2004 Offshore 125

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B U S I N E S S B R I E F S
Jaime Kammerzell • Gulf of Mexico Editor

People Pumping and Stimulation division. Larribas GlobalSantaFe Corp. has appointed Chuck
TGS-Nopec shareholders have elected was most recently operations manager for the Hauf as president of Challenger Minerals
Claus Kampmann as the company’s new division. Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
chairman of the board of directors. Transmeridian Exploration Inc. has GlobalSantaFe.
Kampmann was first elected to the TGS- appointed Earl W. McNiel as vice president Well construction performance manage-
Nopec board in June 2002, and has served as and CFO of Transmeridian. McNiel brings ment company Peak Group (Aberdeen) has
the chairman of the board’s Compensation financial experience to the company, having appointed Hugh Mackay as business devel-
Committee over the past two years. served as vice president and CFO of Pride opment director, based in London.
Daniel S. Sanders, president, International Inc. from 1997 through 2003 and
ExxonMobil Chemical Co., and vice president, most recently as its vice president of planning Companies
ExxonMobil Corp., retired on Aug. 31 after and corporate development. ABB Offshore Systems has been divested
more than 43 years of service. Sanders joined ALTRA Energy Ltd. has recruited David from ABB to a consortium of Candover, 3i,
the company in 1961 and started at his latest Brown and Graham Gaffney as senior and JP Morgan Partners. The divestment
position in January 1999. process engineers. The new additions bring from ABB also includes ABB Vetco Gray,
Devon Energy Corp. has hired Stephen J. ALTRA’s workforce up to 20 – double the ABB’s oil and gas activities in Brazil, and
Hadden as senior vice president – exploration number employed by the company just nine ABB’s global oil and gas modification and
and production. Hadden months ago – and follows the recent appoint- maintenance business. A new holding com-
will work out of Devon’s ments of International Director Steve Duvall pany, Vetco International Ltd., has been
Oklahoma City head- and Business Development Manager Irina established. Vetco International has two sub-
quarters and will report Sokolova-Pirie. sidiaries – Vetco Gray Inc. and Vetco Aibel
to John Richels, the Starting Oct. 4, Peter AS.
company’s president. Voser is group manag- Costner Industries Texas has partnered
Workstrings LLC, a ing director of the Royal with Astra Evangelista, a Repsol YPF com-
Superior Energy Dutch/Shell Group of pany, to offer engineering, procurement, and
Services company, has companies (The construction services to the upstream oil and
named Ray Dixon as Hague/London). gas industry.
vice president – opera- Dixon Mel Fitzgerald, for- Classification society ABS has signed a
tions and general man- merly VP for Halliburton memorandum of understanding with the
ager of Workstrings’ Energy Services Group Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for
Superior Inspection in Western Europe, has Voser Emergency Situations, which represents the
Services division. replaced John Smith as Kazakh Coastal State Authority. The MOU
Cornado Rubio is the CEO of Subsea 7. The company has also establishes a formal framework for technical
company’s new general named Michael Dravitzki as general man- collaboration between the two organizations
manager of the Latin and ager (Middle East) for its integrated Remote with respect to offshore oil and gas opera-
South America division. Technology division, while Steve Browne has tions.
Workstrings has also become regional manager (Americas) for the LandWorks Inc. has agreed to acquire
named Morley “Rock” same division’s Veripos business. Geodynamic Solutions Inc., a petroleum
Dupré vice president — Rubio Wood Group ESP has appointed Brian exploration-oriented geographic information
International. Sevin to vice president — Latin American systems company. This transaction provides
ENSR International has appointed Michael operations, with responsibility for further LandWorks with a suite of enterprise software
Clark, vice president, Petroleum Services. developing the company’s electric sub- products including Petrolynx and Spatial
EOG Resources Inc. has elected W. D. mersible and surface pump activities in Search Engine technology. In addition,
(Bill) Stevens and H. Leighton Steward to Mexico, and Central and South America. LandWorks expands its consulting and custom
its board of directors. Sevin was previously vice president, Business application development division. Geodynamic
Knowledge Systems has promoted Development and Marketing. Solutions will operate as a wholly owned sub-
Eamonn Doyle to vice president of opera- C&C Reservoirs has added Robert Trice, sidiary of LandWorks.
tions for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. an expert in carbonate and fractured reser- Technip Of fshore UK Ltd. has awarded
The company also announced that John voirs, to its team of reservoir specialists. Weatherford International Ltd. Pipeline
McIntosh has joined the company as account Working in the London office, Trice will be and Specialty Ser vices and Norson
manager for Europe, Africa, and Middle East responsible for developing E&P solutions ser- Ser vices Ltd. a multi-million dollar contract
operations. vices on carbonate and fractured reservoirs. for the provision of pipeline pre-commission-
Marco Cercato is the new president of He will also provide customer support and ing services as part of the Simian, Sienna,
Eurogif, the European oil and gas suppliers selective proprietary consulting to C&C and Sapphire development project. The con-
forum (Brussels). Reservoirs’ clients. tract, which will be managed from project
Superior Energy Services has promoted ConocoPhillips has named President and offices in Aberdeen, was awarded to
Warren Rusich, Matt Hallinan, and Pat CEO James J. Mulva to the additional post of Weatherford Free Zone Egypt in February
Larribas to new managerial positions. Rusich chairman. 2004.
has been promoted to Corporate QHSE (qual- Geotrace has hired Deborah Walker as Pemex Exploration and Production has
ity health, safety, and environment) assurance controller based in Houston, Texas. Prior to awarded Houston-based Paragon
director. Hallinan has been promoted to vice joining Geotrace, Deborah spent 12 years with Engineering Ser vices Inc. a contract to pro-
president — QHSE for the Well Intervention Western Geophysical/WesternGeco. John vide basic and detailed engineering for the
Group. Larribas has been promoted to district Weigant has joined Geotrace as depth migra- Ayin-A and Ayin-B drilling platforms in 600 ft
manager of the Broussard, Louisiana, tion manager. of water offshore Mexico.

126 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Abuja, Nigeria

EXPANDING
EXPAN DING FRONTIERS
Offshore West Africa (OWA) is now fully recognized as the premier
forum for presentation of critical technical issues surrounding the
exploration, development and production of Africa’s vast natural
resources. Over the past nine years, OWA has grown in stature and
has become a pivotal technical conference and exhibition for those
who need to understand the complexities of this vast region.

Very few new frontiers remain as enticing to oil and gas exploration
and development as what is now occurring in West Africa. Within
the next five years West Africa will see huge increases in capital
expenditures leading to positive economic development throughout
the continent.

As the event organizer, PennWell recognizes the importance of this

vital market and will provide a topical, informative conference and
exhibition to those interested in exploring Africa.

Come participate and exhibit your products and services as we

Expand Frontiers in an ever growing and exciting Africa oil and
gas industry.

Supporting Organizations
GEP – French Suppliers Council

PESA – Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association

The Corporate Council on Africa

UKWAAG – United Kingdom West Africa Action Group

Hosted by: US - Africa Chamber of Commerce

Information about event sponsorship and exhibitor

packages are available today by contacting:
Event Director
Frances Leon
Flagship media sponsors: Phone: +44 1992 656 653
Fax: +44 1992 656 735
Email: owaconference@pennwell.com

Exhibit & Sponsorship Sales

Sue Neighbors
Phone: +1 713 963 6256
Fax: +1 713 963 6212
E-mail: owasales@pennwell.com

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NEW PRODUCTS, SERVICES

Jaime Kammerzell • Gulf of Mexico Editor

Coiled tubing fracture system On-board riser simulation engineering tool

Baker Oil Tools has introduced FASTFrac Systems, a portfolio MCS, www.mcs.com, an off-
of coiled tubing fracture systems developed to selectively stimu- shore software and engineering
late previously bypassed pay, providing an alternative to conven- services firm, has developed a
tional stage fracture techniques. With FASTFrac systems, new on-board riser simulation
operators can isolate and treat multiple intervals on one trip into engineering tool to maximize the
the well, cutting workover costs and reducing the total time of weather-related operating win-
completion, the company says. The coiled tubing conveyed sys- dow of dynamically positioned
tem helps to optimize production quickly, the company says, (DP) drilling vessels. The on-
because kill weight fluid is no longer needed to contact production board riser/vessel drift-off simu-
intervals. Wells can be completed and stimulated “live” with no lator, DeepDrift, will be installed
need for costly and time-consuming well kill. FASTFrac tools on GlobalSantaFe’s fleet of DP
incorporate an Auto-J system that allows coiled tubing to push drill ships. Until recently, MCS
or pull the systems into or from a wellbore. Upper and lower says, modeling the complete well drilling system was time consuming
packoff elements isolate one or multiple production intervals for and not always feasible. DeepDrift provides a fully coupled riser and ves-
treatment. Once the first treatment is completed, the FASTFrac sel analysis capability that simultaneously determines the drift-off path
system can be unset and repositioned across another production of the vessel and the riser drift-off response, the company says. This
interval to start another treatment. provides operational personnel with an easy-to-use tool that gives confir-
mation of the alert offsets under the prevailing met-ocean conditions.
Slimline process monoflange assemblies
Swagelok Co., www.swagelok.com, has introduced the Temperature, signal transmitter
Kenmac series slimline process Moore Industries’, www.miinet.com, TMZ PC-programmable MOD-
monoflange assemblies to replace BUS temperature and signal transmitter delivers high input resolution
multi-valve assemblies with a and exceptional digital measurement accuracy, the company says. The
single manifold. The compact unit accepts a direct signal from a wide array of sensors and analog
design minimizes potential devices, including resistance temperature detectors, thermocouple,
leak points, reduces stress ohms, mV, current, voltage, and potentiometer. The unit converts the
from loading and vibration, inputs to the standard MODBUS RTU (RS-485) protocol ready for
and can reduce installation and direct interface with MODBUS-based monitoring and control systems.
maintenance time, the company says. The TMZ offers significant savings on wiring and installation costs by
The company’s monoflange assemblies concentrating multiple monitoring points onto a single MODBUS RTU
offer an efficient instrumentation feed from communication link, the company says. Up to 32 units (without
process systems for light process fluids. A full repeaters) can be multi-dropped onto a single low-cost communication
range of configurable monoflange assemblies is avail- link, eliminating the need to run a dedicated wire for each signal.
able in block, block-and-bleed, and double block-and-bleed flanged mani-
folds. Valve options include bolted bonnet, outside screw and yoke (OS Smart temperature transmitters
& Y) bolted bonnet, and integral screwed needle valves. A second variant Endress & Hauser,
of the monoflange assembly is the two-valve isolating and venting gauge www.endress.com, has introduced
block monoflange available specifically for instrumentation applications. the iTEMP TMT162 smart tempera-
ture transmitter with stainless steel
Pumping system strainer housing. The TMT162 is capable of
Viking Pump’s, www.vikingpump.com, Lid-Ease strainers are spe- single or dual sensor input, meaning
cially designed to protect any pumping system by preventing solids or the transmitter is capable of accept-
foreign materials from enter- ing input from two different sensors
ing the pump. As a result, at the same time. The stainless steel
pumps and downstream housing on the TMT162 offers a corrosion prevention solution. The
process equipment experi- housing will not peel, rust, or dissolve, which creates a safe work envi-
ence fewer repairs, reduced ronment, the company says. In addition, corrosion protection detects
downtime, and longer life, corrosion on thermocouples and resistance temperature detectors
the company says. Several before it corrupts measured values, which allows for a quick mainte-
features of the Lid-Ease nance intervention and avoids a potential shut-down.
strainers ensure reliable per-
formance and maximum Marine decking
pump uptime. High differen- The PolySpec, www.polyspec.com, Flex-IMO vinyl chip flexible seam-
tial pressures are accommodated by a perforated stainless steel basket less floor is in compliance with IMO-SOLAS’ newest mandates for safety
with maximum hoop strength, which supports an inner stainless steel of life at sea. PolySpec’s Flex IMO system is easy to install and provides
screen. Differential pressure indicators that show when the basket longer service life than tile, carpet, or vinyl sheet products, the company
needs to be cleaned are optional. To stop entrained solids and foreign says. It requires no waxing or stripping, is fire retardant, and offers
materials, the strainer basket comes in numerous options from 10 to excellent wear properties and chemical resistance. Furthermore, the
100 mesh screens, or no screen. The basket can include optional mag- Flex IMO system provides a seamless, flexible, waterproofing barrier to
netic inserts for trapping ferrous particles. Also, a breech lock lid protect the rig’s steel decking from moisture buildup and corrosion,
enables top removal of the basket for cleaning. even in the most hostile sea conditions, the company says.

128 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Be the first
in your office to receive Offshore.
Offshore Digital Edition

Read Offshore magazine exactly as it appears in print – on your computer screen. You can download
the entire magazine to your laptop or desktop, then read it offline, whenever and wherever you want –
traveling, at work or at home. You'll be able to do keyword searches, move easily through pages and
sections, link to advertiser's websites, zoom in and much more. If you’ve been frustrated with the postal
delivery of your issues or you can’t seem to get off the waiting list for the magazine, subscribe today to
get your digital issue of Offshore.

Subscribe to the digital edition of Offshore at www.offshoresubscribe.com

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C L A S S I F I E D A D V E R T I S I N G

The Offshore Marketplace

• Word Ads: $1.80 per word. Minimum of 20 words. Telephone & fax numbers and e-mail & website addresses count as 2 words
each. No agency commission and no 2% cash discount. Centered & bold heading is $7.00 extra per line. 10% discount for
placement in 3-6 issues. 15% discount for placement in 7-12 issues. Company logo available with word ads for additional
$60.00. Logo will be centered above copy with a maximum height of 3/8 inch.
• Display Ads: $180.00 per column inch. Same discount as above. 15% agency commission. $180.00 minimum charge for inser-
tions. Page size is 3 columns wide by 10 inches deep. One Column = 2-3/16” wide, Two Columns = 4-9/16” wide, Three Columns
= 6-15/16” wide. Minimum Size: 1 Column X 1 Inch.
• Deadline for classified advertising is the 15th of the month preceding publication. Contact TIFFANY TOSH, (713) 963-6277, or
fax your ad for a quote (713) 963-6259. E-mail: tiffanyt@pennwell.com
• No special position available in classified.

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

TM
Electronic Poster Data Available
As Contained In
Offshore Magazine (Excel format)
❑ 2004 Deepwater Drilling Rigs (>4000’)
It's What We Do. ❑ 2004 Deepwater Jack-Up Rigs (>350’)
To find out how we do it visit us on-line at:
www.hannonhydraulics.com OR Contact: Barry W. Harding
Harding Resources, Inc.
www.remcohydraulics.com
For information call
e-mail: info@hannonhydraulics.com
Dallas: 1-800-333-4266 Houston: 1-800-580-0210 Phone: (713) 782-4584
San Antonio: 1-888-651-9988 Email: barryharding@att.net

R E A L E S TAT E EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

Kaufman Ranch For Sale

Minature, Scottsbluff County, Gas & Oil Treating Facility
Nebraska for more information
This famous ranch was once www.ventechequipment.com/guatemala.htm
owned by oil tycoon Dr. Armand Ventech Process Equipment, Inc.
Hammer (Occidental Petroleum) Ph. (713)477-0201
and is located in the Nebraska
Panhandle near Scottsbluff, the North Fax (713)477-2420
Platte River, and the old Oregon and
California trail.
The ranch has 17,908.92 deeded acres
and 960 Nebraska Sate lease acres. Of BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
these, 647 acres are sprinkler irrigated,
260 acres are flood irrigated with water
rights from the Pathfinder Irrigation FINANCING WORLDWIDE
District, and five irrigation wells that
can be used to run any sprinkler. Acquisitions Mortgage Corporation, 3146 Bristol Road, P.O. Box 538,
The owner-rated carrying capacity is Warrington, PA 18976, U.S.A. Call 215-343-9180, Fax: 215-343-5969.
1,500 mother cows, plus 80,000 bushels www.amcfinance.com. E-mail: info@amcfinance.com.
of corn sold.
There are new homes, barns and corrals.
Excellent deer, antelope and goose
hunting.
Hiring? Selling Equipment?
100% minerals plus old Need Equipment?
production go with the Ranch.
Priced at $7,500,000. Contact: Glenda Harp
+1-918-832-9301 or 1-800-331-4463, ext. 6301
For instant viewing visit
www.bohnrealestate.com Fax: +1-918-831-9776
Or call for color brochure & map Email: glendah@pennwell.com
303-809-4939

130 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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ADVERTISERS INDEX
A M
Acquitistions Mortgage Co ..............................130 McCrometer ........................................................13
www.amcfinance.com www.mccrometer.com

SALES OFFICES Alimak ................................................................115

www.alimak.com
Ariel Corp ............................................................40
Metso Powdermet..............................................113
www.powdermet.com
MIE Forum..........................................................106
www.arielcorp.com www.mieforum.com
Arctic Shelf Conference & Exhibition................33 Moorlink AB ......................................................121
www.articshelf.ru www.moorlink.com
GULF STATES • SOUTHWEST • USA Atlantia Offshore Ltd ..........................................56 Mustang Engineering Inc ..................................89
1700 West Loop South, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77027 www.atlantia.com www.mustangeng.com

PHONE +1 713 621 9720 • FAX +1 713 963 6228 B N

Baker Oil Tools........................................32a & 32b National Oilwell ..................................................C2
David Davis davidd@pennwell.com www.bakeroiltools.com www.natoil.com
Darrin West darrinw@pennwell.com Baker Petrolite ....................................................82
www.bakerpetrolite.com
Betty Kight (Advertising Services) bettyk@pennwell.com O
Bruce Anchor ......................................................62
Glenda Harp (Classified Sales) glendah@pennwell.com www.bruceanchor.co.uk Odim ASA ............................................................57
www.odim.no
NORTHEAST • MIDWEST • NORTHWEST • USA C Offshore Magazine Online Reader ....................18
C & C Technologies Inc ....................................103 www.offshore-mag.com
1700 West Loop South, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77027 www.cctechnol.com Offshore Digital Edition ....................................129
PHONE +1 713 621 9720 • FAX +1 713 963 6228 Cameron ..............................................................79 www.qmags.com/os/
www.camerondiv.com Offshore West Africa ........................................127
David Davis davidd@pennwell.com Camfil Industrifilter AB ....................................114 OGJ Russia Petroleum Technology Forum ......C3
www.camfilfarr-gt.com www.ogjrussiaforum.com
SCANDINAVIA • THE NETHERLANDS • Caprock Pipe & Supply L.P.................................38 OPE Inc ................................................................67
MIDDLE EAST • AFRICA ClampOn AS ........................................................55 www.opeinc.com
Villa Borghese II, www.clampon.com
13B Avenue Guillaume, L-1651 Luxembourg, Luxembourg COGNIS Duetschland GMBH & Co KG..............25 P
www.cognis.com Pathfinder Energy Services................................11
PHONE +352 2645 8580 • FAX +352 2645 8581 Coiltech ..............................................................110 www.pathfinderlwd.com
David Betham-Rogers davidbr@pennwell.com www.coiltech.com PETROCOM..........................................................99
Cybernetix............................................................87 www.petrocom.com
UNITED KINGDOM www.cybernetix.fr PennWell Book Dept. ....................................62, 66
www.pennwellbooks.com
Warlies Park House, Horseshoe Hill D PennWell Reprints ..............................................84
Upshire, Essex EN9 3SR UK Delmar Systems Inc ............................................12 Pharmadule Emtunga ......................................109
www.delmarus.com www.emtunga.com
PHONE +44 (0) 1992 656 657 • FAX +44 (0) 1992 656 753 Dominion Exploration & Production ................65
www.dom.com R
Chris Angel chrisa@pennwell.com
Doris Engineering ..............................................53 Ramnas Bruk AB ..............................................111
www.doris-engineering.com www.ramnas.com
FRANCE • BELGIUM • PORTUGAL • Dril-Quip ..............................................................63 Reed Hycalog ........................................................9
SPAIN • SOUTH SWITZERLAND www.dril-quip.com www.ReedHycalog.com
Prominter Duco Limited ......................................................34 Reflex Instrument ..............................................113
www.technip.com www.reflex.se
8 allee des Herons
78400 Chatou, France E Roxar ....................................................................39
www.roxar.com
ECT Offshore ....................................................120
PHONE +33 (0) 1 3071 1224 • FAX +33 (0) 1 3071 1119 www.ectoffshore.se
Eddie Bohn Real Estate LLC ............................130 S
Daniel Bernard danielb@pennwell.com www.bohnrealestate.com Saipem ................................................................86
EDG Engineering ................................................36 www.saipem.eni.it
GERMANY • NORTH SWITZERLAND • www.EDG.net SBM, Single Buoy Moorings ..............................54
DENMARK • AUSTRIA • EASTERN EUROPE EDO Specialty Plastics ......................................71 www.singlebuoy.com
RUSSIA • FORMER SOVIET UNION www.fiberbond.com Schlumberger
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company ..........75 Oilfield Services ........................................4, 59
Verlagsbüro Sicking, Emmastrasse 44, www.egas.com.eg www.slb.com/oilfield
45130 Essen, Germany Energy Equipment Corporation ......................101 Shell Global Solutions ........................................23
www.energy-equipment.com www.shellglobalsolutions.com
PHONE (49) (20) 177 9861 • FAX (49) (20) 178 1741
F Socotherm ..........................................................43
Wilhelm F. Sicking wilhelms@pennwell.com www.socotherm.com
FMC Sofec Floating Systems ............................C4 Steel Pipe & Tube Consultants ..........................69
www.fmcsofec.com www.starr-networks.com
ITALY Frontier Drilling ..................................................49
www.frontier-drill.com Stolt Offshore ......................................................91
Medias Int’l. www.stoltoffshore.com
Via Trieste 17 - 22066, Mariano Comense (Co) Fugro ......................................................................1 Subsea 7 ..............................................................15
www.fugro.com www.subsea7.com
PHONE +39 (03) 175 1494 • FAX +39 (03) 175 1482
G Subsea Tieback Forum ....................................105
Jean-Pierre Bruel medias@pcbrianza.net www.subseatiebackforum.com
Gas Turbine Efficiency ......................................119
www.gte.se Sunnex Equipment AB......................................116
www.sunnex.com
BRAZIL / SOUTH AMERICA H Superior Energy Services ....................................3
SMARTPETRO (Expetro Group) - Ave. Erasmo Hagglunds Drives..............................................119 www.superiorenergy.com
www.hagglunds.com
Braga 227 - 10th floor, 20024-900
Halliburton Energy Services ................................7 T
Rio de Janeiro RJ BRAZIL. www.halliburton.com Taylor Forge Engineered Systems ....................20
Telephone: +55 (21) 2533 5703 or 3084 5384; Hannon Hydraulics ..........................................130 www.tfes.com
www.hannonhyraulics.com Tenaris..................................................................73
Fax: +55 (21) 233 4593; Email: ogjbrasil@ogjbrasil.com.br www.tenaris.com
Harding Resources, Inc ..........................................
Jean-Paul Prates or Marco Antonio Monteiro. www.heerema.com
Heerema Marine Contractors ............................51 V
JAPAN www.heerema.com Vallourec & Mannesmann Oil & Gas ................47
Japan Advertising Communications, Inc., Hempel A/S ..........................................................41 www.vamservices.com
www.hempel.com Varco ....................................................................97
Three Star Building 3-10-3 Kanda Jimbocho, HYTORC ..............................................................38 www.brandtvarco.com
Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 101 Japan www.hytroc.com Ventech Engineers Inc ......................................130
PHONE +81 3 3261 4591 • FAX +81 3 3261 6126 I
www.ventechequipment.com/gaviota.htm
Vetco Gray ..........................................................95
Shigeru Kobayashi jac@media-jac.co.jp IHC Handling Systems........................................61 www.vetcogray.com/today
www.ihchs.nl
mkonishi@media-jac.co.jp Vicinay Cadenas, S.A. ........................................19
IHC Hydrohammer ..............................................83 www.vicinaycadenas.com
www.ihchh.com
SINGAPORE
INTEC Engineering Inc ......................................53 W
1 Tanglin Road #04-14/15 Orchard Parade Hotel www.intecengineering.com
W Industries ........................................................17
Singapore 247905 IQPC ....................................................................77 www.w-industries.com
www.iqpc.co.uk
PHONE +65 6 737 2356 • FAX +65 6 734 0655 Wartsila Corporation ..........................................45
Isolamin..............................................................117 www.wartsila.com
Michael Yee yfyee@singnet.com.sg www.isolamin.com
Weatherford International ..................................21
www.weatherford.com
INDIA J
J Ray McDermott, Inc ..........................................27 WesternGeco ......................................................85
Interads Ltd., A-113, Shivalik, New Delhi 110 017 www.westerngeco.com
www.jraymcdermott.com
PHONE +91 11 628 3018 • FAX +91 11 622 8928 JDR Cable Systems ............................................93 Willbros ................................................................31
www.willbros.com
www.jdrcables.com
Rajan Sharma rajan@interadsindia.com Wood Group Pressure Control ..........................81
K www.woodgroup.com/pc
KOREA Karmsund Maritime ............................................35
www.karmsund.no
KES Korea Co., Ltd. #406 Shinwon Bldg.,
1-1, Samsjeon-Dong, Songpa-Gu, Seoul 138-180, Korea L
PHONE +82 (2) 420 1293 • FAX +82 (2) 420 1294 Landmark Graphics ............................................29
www.lgc.com
Paek Kwon keskor@korenet.net Lankhorst Mouldings ..........................................49
www.lankhorst-mouldings.nl
Louisiana Department of The index of page numbers is provided as a
Economic Development ................................60 service. The publisher does not assume any
www.led.state.la.us liability for error or omission.

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B E Y O N D T H E H O R I Z O N

Newfoundland and Labrador:

A beckoning territory for exploration
I have been a part of Canada’s East Coast oil and gas industry for Today, we have the Hibernia platform producing 200,000 b/d.
25 years, primarily working for a medium-sized independently We have an FPSO at Terra Nova that has produced beyond expec-
owned engineering company in Newfoundland and Labrador. I tations for the past couple of years. And we have our third offshore
have witnessed the emergence of a new industry in our country’s project, White Rose, coming onstream in the next year or so.
youngest province. I have worked with many others to help grow Beyond these successful producing fields, we also have some of
the petroleum industry to where, within a year or so, we will be the world’s most exciting geology. Exploration has led to discov-
producing close to 50% of Canada’s conventional light crude. ered hydrocarbon resources totaling 2 Bbbl of oil and almost 10 tcf
Some say that is quite an accomplishment, considering that less of natural gas. There are extensive seismic surveys happening off
than 10 years ago we did not produce any oil. That’s fair commen- the south coast of Newfoundland in the Laurentian basin, where
tary, but I believe our place in this global industry should be more the Geological Survey of Canada estimates there could be 8-9 tcf of
advanced. natural gas. And there is a large seismic program being conducted
I fully understand the price of oil has to be high enough to justify off the east coast of Newfoundland just north of the prolific Jeanne
the costs of drilling. This is particularly a factor here in d’Arc basin – the home of the Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose
Newfoundland and Labrador, where there are long supply lines, and Hebron-Ben Nevis fields. This acreage is within the Orphan
icebergs, and a harsh environment. We counter that with the sig- basin, which carried a work expenditure commitment of C$673
nificant discoveries made offshore Newfoundland and Labrador million and was recently awarded to ExxonMobil and Chevron
with a success rate of one discovery per six wells drilled. And we Canada.
also know that, based on experience with our existing projects, the Industry has barely scratched the surface – drilling only 131
challenges of the industry in Newfoundland and Labrador can be exploatory wells since the start of exploration off our coasts. Of
conquered – and conquered profitably. Today, there are many high these wells, the Canada Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board
risks facing the oil and gas industry globally: has determined that 23 warrant significant discovery designation.
Internationally, this is considered a solid rate of success.
• Fear of a terrorist attack against oil installations in Saudi Our untapped potential has been estimated at 6 Bbbl of oil and
Arabia, which currently produces 10 MMb/d over 50 tcf of natural gas. This undiscovered potential is awaiting
• Concerns about sabotage to the Iraqi oil pipelines, currently confirmation by the bit.
pumping 2 MMb/d Our governments understand the need to create an environ-
• Instability because of strikes and political unrest in Venezuela, ment to attract exploration investment, and it is important to rec-
now producing about 2 MMb/d ognize the recent changes, if not milestones, that we have
• Civil unrest in Nigeria, which produces 1.5 MMb/d achieved.
• Concern about the future of Yukos, which supplies about 1.7 Our national Minister of Natural Resources, John Efford,
MMb/d. announced at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference in
Houston that there would be a five-year moratorium on import
These are but a few of the risks in our industry. To those con- duties for MODUs. This alone will save operators tens of thou-
cerned about terrorism and political unrest, I say, “Look to Canada. sands of dollars every day. And there are more changes coming –
Look to the east, to Newfoundland and Labrador.” designed to shorten the length of time to get an offshore project
Here, there is an environment where political risk simply does approved.
not exist. There are no terrorists in this part of the world who are There is no better time than now to set your sights on this virtu-
trying to blow up our oil fields. There are no major strikes, nor ally untapped exploration frontier. To quote Ed Byrne, minister of
political risk. And we are in close proximity to one of the largest natural resources for Newfoundland and Labrador, “A great deal
markets for energy in the world – a market that can simply be more offshore territory beckons to those who are searching for
described as energy-hungry. the next lucrative discovery.”
These advantages seem like reasons enough to get drilling rigs Besides all that, we’re nice people!
positioned off our shores, don’t they?
But even if we set aside those positive attributes, there is one Rob Strong
critical reason remaining. That is our prospectivity – the untapped Vice president, Davis Engineering
potential of another significant discovery offshore Newfoundland St. John’s, Newfoundland
and Labrador.

This page reflects viewpoints on the political, economic, cultural, technological, and environmental issues that shape the future of the petroleum industry. Offshore Magazine
invites you to share your thoughts. Email your Beyond the Horizon manuscript to Eldon Ball at eldonb@pennwell.com.

132 Offshore October 2004 • www.offshore-mag.com

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Where Power and

Petroleum Meet
International Conference and Exhibition
c 9-11 MAR 2005
Expocentr, Moscow

The latest conference from PennWell is the OGJ Russia

Petroleum Technology Forum (RPTF), brought to you in con-
junction with the highly acclaimed Russia Power Conference
and Exhibition, to be held in Moscow on 9-11 March 2005.

Both the Russian petroleum and power industries are attracting

substantial amounts of investment and are intertwined in numerous
ways. As business development expands in Russia, now is the time to secure
your place in the market, develop necessary contacts and build your brand
awareness in Russia.
This inaugural year the RPTF will focus primarily on four areas of oil and gas
targeted conference tracks; Downhole High-Tech Well Technologies,
state of the art Drilling Technologies,
Offshore Operations and LNG in Russia. Event Information:
For more information
Plan on making this the year you solidify existing on participating in, sponsoring
or exhibiting at this forum,
relationships and build new contacts through please contact:
Frances Webb – Event Director
exhibiting or attending PennWell’s highly focused Phone: +44 (0)1628 810562
OGJ Russia Petroleum Technology Conference. Fax: +44 (0)1628 810762
Email: rptfconference@pennwell.com
For more information contact the below or visit For more information within Russia
on participating in, sponsoring or
us on line at www.ogjrussiaforum.com. exhibiting at this forum,
please contact:
Katya Ocheretyanaya
Phone: +7 916 580 3827
Co-located With: Partners: Informational Email: katyao@pennwell.com
Russian Oil & Gas Support: For sales information
Contractors Union Offshore inside Russia contact:
Union of Russian Oil & Gas Oil and Gas Journal Svetlana Strukova
Equipment Producers Oil Capital Phone: +7 095 999 9014
Oil & Drilling Email: svetlanas@pennwell.com
Sponsor:
Saint-Gobain Oil Industry For sales information inside
the United States contact:
Media Sponsor: Oil Market Sue Neighbors
www.ogjrussiaforum.com Oil & Gas Eurasia Neftegaz.ru Phone: +1 713 963 6256
Email: rptfsales@pennwell.com

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