SUBSEA SYSTEMS
Gene Kliewer • Houston
Australia to get big gas boost
Santos is reporting that new gas supplies will be going to Western Australia from the Halyard field if plans are fulfilled. The Halyard and Spar fields are operated by Apache Energy Ltd.
Operation plans call for completion and tieback of the Halyard well in WA-13-L. Also, depending upon the results of the Spar 2 appraisal well in WA-4-R, Spar will tieback as part of the same development.
Halyard is expected online in mid-2011 and Spar to follow in late 2012. Production from the combined development is expected to come on line at an initial gross rate of 50 TJ per day and is then expected to increase to over 100 TJ per day by early 2013, depending on the outcome of the Spar 2 well.
Santos considers that the expected recoverable resources in Halyard and Spar are around 335 PJ gross and should supply Western Australia with gas until at least 2025. There are additional opportunities in the Greater East Spar Area for future developments.
“Halyard and Spar are perfectly positioned to be developed in the near term by tying the gas fields back to the existing gas hub at Varanus Island,” says John Anderson, Santos VP for Western Australia (WA) and Northern Territory.
“Along with our ongoing joint venture constructing the Devil Creek Gas plant, the Apache-Santos partnership is poised to add significant additional supplies of natural gas for WA through further exploration and development at Halyard and Spar,” says Tom Maher, Apache Energy Ltd. managing director.
Santos and Apache say there is further upside potential in the Greater East Spar Area and plan additional work later this year with the drilling of an exploration prospect called Beam, and in 2011-2012 with the completion and tieback of East Spar 9.
Statoil after faster, ready-made tiebacks
Statoil is looking to halve development time of some of its Norwegian marginal discoveries.
Staale Tungesvik, senior VP EPN Business Development, said at ONS that the company’s overall goal is to maintain current levels of production on the Norwegian shelf for 10 more years.
“That’s an enormous ambition,” said Tungesvik. “Increasing recovery from existing fields will remain a big contributing factor, but three-quarters of our new projects will be subsea, based on a few wells and a flowline tied into a platform. For that to work, we need to move away from tailor-made to ready-made solutions.”
Spar and Halyard production will go 70 km (44 mi) east to Varanus Island.
A first group of four tieback programs are under review as a “Wave 1” program. These include the recent discoveries Pan Pandora and Katla, both 60 MMboe prospects, which will be connected to the Gullfaks C and Oseberg South platforms, respectively. Both should come onstream in 2012. Another priority is Gygrud in the Norwegian Sea, which could be produced via the Draugen complex.
“Wave 2” options include the Snorre area of the North Sea and near Norne in the Norwegian Sea, both of which have spare capacity. Statoil is focusing on the 37-63 MMboe Forsekall in the Norwegian Sea and Dompamp in the same area, which it hopes to bring on line in 2013.
Statoil says its goal is to develop these marginal fields as subsea tiebacks within two and a half years of discovery, and if possible to shorten that time frame. Advance scheduling plays a big part:
“Once we know the necessary time for delivery of equipment, we can allocate a rig to drill the wells, and schedule template, flowline installations and so on,” said Tungesvik.
“Suppliers also recommend ways of cutting costs, particularly by going for standardized subsea solutions. That way, they claim, they can cut down on re-engineering, and can give us better prices, as it becomes easier for them to produce this equipment cheaper. Some standardized solutions could be 30-40% cheaper.”
Riser ‘first’ due for North Sea
Also in the North Sea, Apache has contracted Aquaterra Energy for a high-pressure marine riser system. The 10,000 psi system will be a full-bore drilling riser and its H4 compatible subsea connector is the “first” on the project.
The Merlin connector developed by Oil States Industries (UK) Ltd. will be used on the project and is a major advance over flanged connections at this pressure. This change to a weld on connector brings 10,000 psi risers into line with other jackup riser systems.
The riser is scheduled for use in Apache’s 2011 drilling program to develop the Bacchus field in the North Sea, drilling three subsea wells from theRowan Gorilla VII jackup rig.
FMC orders subsea fixtures for Kirinskoye field
FMC Technologies has signed a letter of intent for the Grenland Group to fabricate and deliver a manifold and foundation plus two protection structures for use on Gazprom Dobycha’s Kirinskoye field offshore Sakhalin Island.
Delivery is scheduled to start in 2Q 2011 and the total weight of the hardware will be around 450 metric tons (496 tons).
Kirinskoye is a subsea-to-beach gas and condensate field off Russia’s Pacific coast. It is located in water depths of approximately 300 ft (90 m) within the Kirinsky block of the Sakhalin III project, 17 miles (28 km) offshore Sakhalin Island.
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