DOT in Aberdeen to focus on maximizing resource recovery

Sept. 25, 2014
For the first time since its inception in 1981, the Deep Offshore Technology (DOT) International Conference & Exhibition will be held on the shores of the UK continental shelf Oct. 14-16, 2014, in Aberdeen, Scotland. 

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK –For the first time since its inception in 1981, the Deep Offshore Technology (DOT) International Conference & Exhibition will be held on the shores of the UK continental shelf Oct. 14-16, 2014, in Aberdeen, Scotland.

DOT is the worldwide leading industry forum for addressing technical issues, introducing pioneering technology, and discussing lessons learned while exploring, developing, and producing oil and gas in deep and ultra-deepwater.

This year’s theme is “Maximising Resource Recovery.” While the UKCS is estimated to hold 12-24 Bboe of untapped resources, Sir Ian Wood recently outlined his strategy for maximizing the economic recovery from the UK continental shelf. “I see this as a watershed opportunity to ultimately reshape the regulatory environment, extend the life of the UKCS, and bring at least £200 billion [$334 billion] additional value to the economy over the next 30 years,” Wood said. “We need to step up our game to maximize the recovery of our hydrocarbon reserves and attract more investment.”

The increasing cost and complexity of deepwater developments are impacting project economics. This is prompting the need to develop and apply new technologies to enhance project viability. This allows for improvement of well placement and recovery (e.g. ocean-bottom node seismic), along with subsea engineering innovation such as pumping, long-distance power and tiebacks.

During the opening plenary session, Craig May, managing director of Chevron Upstream Europe, will draw from the major operator’s strong deepwater position internationally to offer his perspectives on the challenges that must be addressed to enable further development in deepwater. Gunnar Breivik, managing director of Statoil Production UK, will give an overview of Statoil’s deepwater activities worldwide and provide an update on the Mariner project, and the company’s plans for the UKCS. John Westwood, chairman of Douglas-Westwood, will discuss the industry outlook in “Deepwater Market – Challenges and Opportunities.”

The “North Sea Outlook: Opportunities and Challenges” portion will feature presentations from Philippe Guys, CEO of TOTAL UK; Tony McGarva, acting project manager and subsurface manager of Chevron Upstream Europe’s Rosebank project; and Tamara Sebire, Catcher area development manager at Premier Oil.

Theconference program will consist of two concurrent tracks of technical sessions. Tuesday afternoon will feature sessions on flow assurance, maximizing resource recovery, floating production facilities, and marginal field development and maximization.

BP will describe learnings from its North Sea enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. The challenge for the industry in the North Sea is how to build this confidence quickly in the short time remaining for the infrastructure in the region.

INTECSEA will present a cellular tendon design developed to resolve the limitations of conventional tendons in ultra-deepwater, thereby allowing the use of TLP floaters in water depths beyond 1,500 m (4,920 ft).

Riskbytes Inc. will cover various methods that can be used to minimize the cost and schedule for marginal fields and how these can be optimized to aid in the economics of marginal deepwater field developments.

Granherne, a KBR company, will describe a DeepStar study that aims to evaluate innovative deepwater floating platforms and riser systems with dry tree or direct vertical access capability for marginal field development.

Wednesday morning will feature sessions on deepwater construction and subsea technology, as well as a panel discussion “Practical Approaches to Reduce Deepwater Project Costs.” Panelists include: Benedicte Nordang, vice president project management, and project manager on the Johan Castberg subsea project, Statoil; Jarand Rystad, managing partner of Rystad Energy; Alan Black, UK and Canada engineering director of Subsea 7; and Mike Wyllie, group technology director of SBM.

The afternoon sessions kick off with talks about field architecture and development concepts and deepwater trends and challenges.

TOTAL E&P UK will discuss its Laggan-Tormore gas/condensate development, which will be the UK’s deepest water producing field when it comes onstream this year. In 600-m (1,968-ft) water depth and 125 km (78 mi) northwest of the Shetland Islands, the Laggan-Tormore reservoirs are located in a hostile environment characterized by extreme wave heights, fast subsurface currents, low seabed temperatures, and a short weather window to install equipment.

Richard D’Souza of Granherne/KBR will cover deepwater development trends, challenges, and solutions. He will discuss fundamental geologic, geographic, geopolitical, and other trends that are driving capex escalation, as well as summarize the more significant challenges that the industry must address, ranging from increasing reservoir complexity to executing mega projects.

The final sessions on Wednesday will cover mooring integrity and subsea boosting and processing.

BP will describe the Schiehallion FPSO mooring integrity management campaign in which the company replaced the top chains of each chain leg in the FPSO’s mooring system. A critical factor to ensure successful change-out was assurance of reserve strength in the top chain’s “weakest link.” BP will discuss the TWI-developed, diver deployed UT system to detect and size fatigue cracks in the top mooring chain link.

Siemens will discuss how its Subsea Power Grid solution offers an infrastructure with standardized interfaces both on the topside/onshore power generation and to the subsea consumers – both for the power line and for the automation line. This is intended to ensure flexible arrangements with the overall process system without challenging the integrity of the power distribution. The presentation will focus on how a subsea power distribution system can be integrated in any pumping or compression system without sacrificing the integrity of modules in the subsea power grid solution.

Thursday morning will start with a session on riser technology. TOTAL will discuss a flexible spools solution at hybrid riser base. Magma Global Ltd. will offer details on materials selection for thermoplastic fiber reinforced risers. And Kvaerner will describe the design and verification of a long-stroke riser tensioning system for use in deepwater dry tree semisubmersible platforms.

Track 2’s morning session will cover emerging technology and development initiatives. Technip will discuss an unmanned surface vessel for support of marine construction operations. SBM Offshore will describe a subsea fiber-optical cable for offshore data transmission. And Kvaerner will offer details on a concrete deep floater for arctic conditions.

Thursday’s program will conclude with a panel discussion: Enabling Technologies to Maximise Resource Recovery. Panelists include Jeremy Cutler, head of technology innovation at Total’s Geoscience and Research Center in Aberdeen; Colin Freeland, project manager, Captain EOR project at Chevron; Andrew Parker, R&D team lead Enhanced Oil Recovery at Shell; and Dr. Shahrokh Mohammadi, head of development technology at Tullow Oil.

Throughout the event, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and greet colleagues on theexhibition floor and to learn about new products and services.

DOT 2014 will conclude with, an awards ceremony, closing remarks from David Paganie, conference director and chief editor ofOffshoremagazine, and an invitation to DOT 2015 from the event host, PEMEX.

For more information on the 2014 Deep Offshore Technology International Conference & Exhibition, please visithttp://www.deepoffshoretechnology.com/index.html