No limit to innovative technology at OTC .04

Future energy supply drives current developments

Jaime Kammerzell
Gulf of Mexico Editor

For 35 years, the Offshore Technology Conference has presented the latest tech- nology for global offshore exploration. This year's OTC will continue that trend as it presents Innovation Without Limits to offshore oil and gas leaders from around the world.

The offshore industry's largest event complements state-of-the-art technology exhibits with concurrently running technical sessions. Attendees can catch additional presentations at one of the three industry breakfasts, nine topical luncheons, two general sessions, and one Active arena, where international industry experts will explore issues affecting the offshore industry worldwide.

Active arena and general sessions

OTC has gathered top company executives, experienced government officials, and industry innovators for two roundtable discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 2-4:40 p.m. The general sessions are designed to include almost everyone involved in the offshore industry. The first session will address the LNG value chain.

Liquefied Natural Gas – Understanding the Value Chain is scheduled for Tuesday, May 4. Moderator Rodney Schmidt, managing director, PFC Energy, will outline the history and project the future direction of LNG. Participants will discuss upstream operations, LNG processing, transportation, regasification, and distribution. They will also address market forces and regional supply and demand requirements that underlie growth in the use of LNG.

"LNG supply plays a very significant role in making sure that future gas demand in North America is met," Schmidt said. "Worldwide oil and gas companies already have begun committing billions of dollars to the development of fields, liquefaction facilities, LNG tankers, and regasification facilities to make certain this supply will be available to US consumers."

Another topic of great importance is deep-water or frontier projects. Risks and Chall-enges to the Successful Execution of Major Offshore Projects is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5. The presentation focuses on the future of the offshore industry, which lies in deep-water and in frontier regions. Costs for these projects tend to be high, ranging from hundreds of millions to several billions of dollars. Recent experience on major projects, as well as recent trends within the industry, indicate executing such projects will involve increased difficulty and risks in the future. Understand-ing these risks is critical to the success of both operators and contractors. This general session addresses the four critical risks key to successful execution of major projects worldwide – financial, contract, geopolitical, and technological.

Thursday's active arena will focus on independent operators in the North Sea. Similar to the Gulf of Mexico in the 1980s and '90s, small finds by independents outnumber huge discoveries by majors. Moderator Jerry Streeter, JP Kenny Inc., will facilitate a discussion addressing the following questions:

Can the lessons learned during the Gulf's metamorphosis be applied to the North Sea?
Will the lessons being learned today in the North Sea enhance operations in the Gulf?
Are current UK tax and regulatory practices friendly to this transformation?
Are current changes required before independents can profitably exploit fields in the North Sea, thereby maintaining a healthy UK service industry?

Plus, G. Steven Farris, Apache Corp. president, CEO, and COO, and T. Paul Bulmahn, ATP Oil and Gas Corp. chairman and president, will relate their company's experiences and why they chose to invest in the North Sea.

Industry breakfasts

Attendees can start each day by hearing global industry leaders discuss current trends in key developing areas. The breakfast sessions will start Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m. with a talk on compressed natural gas capabilities. William J. Sember, corporate officer and vice president of energy development for the American Bureau of Shipping, will present the status of the compressed natural gas industry and describe how it will be deployed and become a valuable tool for E&P developers in the commercialization of the world's stranded gas resources.

Continuing on Wednesday, Minister of Petroleum Desiderio de Costa, CEO of Sonan-gol Manuel Vicente, and George Yapuncich of Baker Hughes will examine Angola's offshore opportunities. The US Department of Comm-erce will host this breakfast, which will highlight commercial opportunities and Angola's desire to attract new investors to its energy sector. A question and answer session will conclude the program.

Wrapping up the week, the US Department of Commerce will host representatives from Qatar's Ministry of Energy and Industry and Qatar Petroleum. The breakfast presentation will highlight commercial opportunities off Qatar and the Qatari government's role in stimulating investment in its offshore energy sector.

Topical luncheons

Nine topical luncheons are scheduled for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, covering issues from business strategies to deepwater to important regions of the world. The presentations offer an extended perspective on significant offshore issues. The luncheons are highly attended and participants are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

Deepwater drilling is an important focus, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Jean Cah-uzac, Transocean executive vice president and COO, will present Trends in Drilling Opera-tions for Exploratory and Development Wells in Deepwater. Cahuzac will assess the impact of new deepwater drilling technologies on well costs and the challenges each technology presents versus conventional drilling.

Also Monday, Stephen Timms, UK Minister of State for Energy, e-Commerce, and Postal Service, will discuss the UK North Sea opportunities and measures implemented to encourage investment in the North Sea.

Concurrent sessions on Wednesday will tackle business relationships, energy demand, and the Norwegian oil and gas market. Business relations between oil companies and service companies have changed in the past few years. The balance between risks and rewards is becoming increasingly difficult. The bargaining power of oil companies has increased, and insurance cost increases have led clients to transfer bigger risks and liabilities on to contractors. The Business Relations Between the Operators and the Service Industry – Who Takes the Financial Risk of the Project luncheon presents ways to restore a more balanced and cooperative relationship between clients and contractors.

In another luncheon program, Norway Minister of Petroleum and Energy Einar Steensnæs will share the Norwegian perspective on global oil and gas. He will also offer ideas on efficient exploration and resource management, and deployment of cost-effective technologies.

Matt Simmons' discussion on creating more energy is sure to be a sell-out. Simmons will speak on future investments to ensure a secure and prosperous global society. The program is based on an International Energy Agency presentation detailing the estimated investment needed to grow global energy demand.

Finishing up the week are three very different programs. Graham Searle, director of EP projects for Shell International E&P, will show attendees the intricacies of the $10 billion project, Sakhalin Phase 2, built in the harsh environment of Eastern Russia. This presentation includes how all the project's parts work together, the challenges, and the opportunities for creative solutions. William H. Lash III, assistant secretary of commerce for market access and compliance, International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, will use his luncheon forum to discuss rebuilding Iraq. Finally, Astronaut Michael Gernhardt will explore the physiological and technological parallels between subsea construction and assembling the international space station.

Tuesday is reserved for the Awards luncheon. Andrew Gould, chairman and CEO of Schlumberger, is the keynote speaker for this event. OTC.04 Chairman Rod Allan will recognize F. Richard Frisbie and the Na Kika project. Frisbie won the Distinguished Achievement award for individuals for his vision and leadership over several decades in the advancement of enabling technology to allow the realization of deepwater drilling and production, especially the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Shell and BP won OTC's Distinguished Achievement award for companies, organizations, and institutions for the Na Kika project. OTC recognized these companies for outstanding application in the design, construction, and installation of the Na Kika floating development and production system in 6,350 ft of water, 140 mi southeast of New Orleans, and the associated subsea infrastructure that ties together six dispersed fields in 5,800 to 7,000 ft of water.

Click here to enlarge image

During the luncheon, Allan will also present the OTC Special Citation to the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) and the Offshore Operators Committee for their foresight, initiation, and leadership in the development of the deepwater well control guidelines. The OTC Awards Luncheon costs $40 per ticket.

Technical program

OTC has another outstanding technical program planned for its 35th year. High pressure, high temperature will kick off the week. An HP/HT well combines pressure and temperature conditions exceeding 10,000 psi and 300° F. However, a few projects have reached 15,000 psi and 400° F. BP E&P's Roy Shilling and BP Amoco's Lawrence Muellenberg will lead this program, addressing seven solutions for tackling this high risk drilling environment.

Sandeep Khurana, JP Kenny, will chair Monday afternoon's panel session, Contracting/ Commercial Strategies for Offshore Projects. Keynote speaker C. Tracy Harris, engineering manager construction – EP Projects, Shell E&P, will discuss the heavy losses lump-sum turnkey contracts have caused when failing to fulfill operator expectations. The panel will debate whether to pursue engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning contracts or reimbursable contracts and discuss mutually acceptable solutions for contractors and operators.

Running concurrently Monday afternoon is Materials Technology for Offshore Applications. This program will discuss new, lighter construction materials, such as plastics, aluminum, and composite materials that can be assembled in 10,000 ft of water. Tuesday morning's program discussing the Matterhorn project will focus on the SeaStar TLP, deepwater drilling, and laying the pipeline. Papers will address issues related to start-up of the Matterhorn oil field in Mississippi Canyon block 243 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Total developed the Matterhorn field with a tension leg platform, comprising the wellheads and the separation and treatment installations. The platform has throughput capacity of 33,000 b/d of oil and 55 MMcf/d of natural gas. Production is transported to shore through flowlines connected to the existing pipeline network.

Wade Schoppa, Shell Global Solutions Inc., and Ziya Atakan, Mentor Subsea Technology Service, will chair the Tuesday afternoon flow assurance design program. A Technip Offshore paper, Flow Assurance Solutions for Deepwater Pipelines, is expected to lay the foundation for the six other papers addressing hydrate plugging, deepwater reserves, multiphase flow performance, and paraffin and asphaltene deposition.

R.J. Gajdica, BHP Billiton, will present his paper on the Boris subsea tieback project at the Marginal Developments Using Subsea Tiebacks program on Tuesday afternoon. Gajdica is expected to explain why and how BHP developed Boris as a subsea tie-back to the ChevronTexaco-operated Typhoon mimi-TLP in Green Canyon block 237.

Also scheduled for Tuesday afternoon is a session on mass-transport complexes in deepwater environments. The goal for this program is to standardize terminology geologists use to discuss deepwater environments.

Dive into the Norwegian Sea's Ormen Lange project on Wednesday afternoon. Orman Lange – The Most Challenging Deepwater Gas Devel-opment in the World is expected to give an overview of the project, which will set the tone for fellow papers addressing subsea facilities, bore wells, flow assurance, pipelines, and gas compression.

Craig Colby, DNV, will chair the FPSO design program. DP FPSOs, the FPSO P-50 project, corrosion control, converting FPSOs, and using an FPSO to develop marginal fields will round out this Thursday morning program.

OTC has selected the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center as its 2004 invited organization to present on Thursday morning. The MATE Center is a national network of community colleges, high schools, universities, research institutions, marine industries, professional societies, and working professionals. Its goal is to improve marine technical education and provide a foundation for the future offshore industry by training young adults as replacements for the industry's aging workforce.

Also running Thursday morning is Advan-ces in VIV Prediction and Suppression. Rep-resentatives from ExxonMobil, Shell, and others will examine how to predict and suppress these vibrations.

Riley Goldsmith will chair the Hubbert's Peak session on Thursday, which will examine the impending oil crisis. This is an important issue and is sure to generate a healthy debate. Bob Williams, Oil and Gas Journal, will present his paper, Timing is Everything – The Infor-mation Crisis on Future Oil Supply, which says there is not necessarily an oil supply crisis, but there is an information crisis. No one is winning the oil supply argument, he says, because the amount of oil reserves is unknown. Williams is calling for a program to inventory the global hydrocarbon resources so the industry can get a sense of timing and cost.

Innovation Without Limits

OTC is offering several new features to enhance attendees' experience at OTC .04. Now participants can register and pay by credit card via the OTC Web site, www.otcnet.org, register online and pay by wire transfer, fax, or mail the registration form.

International attendees do not have to be pre-registered to get a visa this year, which allows foreign visitors more time for the visa process. Last year, OTC assisted in the visa invitation letter process, but attendees had to register before obtaining their visa.

Participants can keep track of programs and events with a personal digital assistant. Two weeks before OTC, registered attendees can log-on to the Web site and download programs, floor plans, exhibitor directories, and much more. Kiosks will also be set up on-site to update information.

Also available online, OTC has launched a new searchable database of more than 9,000 technical papers from all OTC meetings since 1969. The papers are in PDF format and can be downloaded for $10 each.

International visitors and Americans alike may be interested in the OTC Tours program. On Saturday, May 1 and Sunday, May 2, OTC will charter a motor coach to Galveston. After lunch at Rainforest Café, guests will tour the refurbished offshore drilling rig Ocean Star.

From May 1 through May 3, participants may visit NASA/Johnson Space Center. Guests will experience everything required to make adventures in space. In addition, the NASA Tram Tour guides visitors through a behind-the-scenes tour of the Johnson Space Center.

A subsea manifold distribution unit tied back to the Typhoon mini-TLP is to produce Boris, will be the topic of R.J. Gajdica's paper Tuesday afternoon.Click here to enlarge image

null

Those looking for local culture can participate in the Magnificent World of Houston Art tour from May 1 though May 3. This tour begins with a visit to the Bayou Bend museum that offers visitors collections of antiques, art, and furnishings. Then guests will walk through the River Oaks area, one of Houston's most prestigious neighborhoods. Next, guests stop at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, which offers a more traditional collection of masterpieces from around the world.

Spend Saturday or Sunday at the spa getting mentally and physically ready for the important week ahead. Then ease into the party scene with dinner at the Downtown Aquarium or take a break Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park, where OTC .04 chairman Rod Allan will throw the ceremonial first pitch to kick off OTC Night at the Ballpark.

OTC will introduce a new program this year to recognize OTC exhibitors who have new and advanced technologies for the offshore oil and gas industry. To be considered for the Spotlight on New Technology program, the exhibiting technology must be new and innovative, proven, have a broad interest appeal, and provide significant benefits beyond existing technologies. The call for nominations went out last year and the top 25 technologies were announced March 1.

Another new event this year is Oilcareerfair, which provides a forum for conference attendees to interact with potential employers, and offers recruiting companies the chance to meet face-to-face with some of the industry's brightest talent.

Forty-five days prior to OTC, available positions were posted at www.oilcareerfair.com, allowing candidates to contact recruiters before the conference. Oilcareerfair will be located at booth 1266 in the exhibit hall.

Finally, OTC reminds participants of the increased security measures at Reliant Center. All attendees much have a badge and photo ID to enter the exhibition and conference. The organization also encourages attendees to use the new Metro light rail to commute to and from Reliant Center to alleviate traffic and parking issues.

The SeaStar TLP, shown in the KeppelFels yard in Singapore, will be discussed during one of Tuesday morning's technical sessions.Click here to enlarge image

null