SUBSEA SYSTEMS

Gene Kliewer • Houston

ESP application first

The first installation and start-up of an electric submersible pump to produce heavy oil has occurred in the Siri field offshore Brazil. Centrilift began the two-year test of the system, which includes a 1,000 hp motor and new pump stage to produce 12,500 bbl of 800 Cp liquid per day. The well is tied back some 5,000 ft (1.5 km) to an FPSO.

Following the test, an 18-well field development program is scheduled to begin in 2012.

Petrobras is busy with other subsea applications, including the following:

• Petrobras has signed a four-year frame agreement with Prysmian Cables & Systems for design and supply of flexible pipes for offshore application. The $135-million agreement includes a range of dynamic risers and static flowlines to be developed within a Technical Cooperation Agreement with Petrobras. Prysmian plans to build a $110-million manufacturing plant in Brazil to complement the plant opened in 2007 to supply subsea umbilicals.
• Cameron has been awarded a $100-million contract to supply 25 subsea trees to Petrobras for use in its Campos basin developments offshore Brazil. The trees will maintain Petrobras’ standard design, and previously supplied tools and equipment will support the installation. Initial delivery is slated to begin in 2Q 2009, and completed by year-end. According to Jack Moore, president and CEO, Cameron, the trees are not currently designated for a specific project, but will be allocated as needed to developments within the Campos basin.

In other Brazilian activity, Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás S.A. has signed Aker Solutions to supply a $55-million deepwater drilling riser system in 3Q 2010. The agreement covers tools and buoyancy modules forAlpha Star for water depths to 2,700 m (8,858 ft). It is to be manufactured at Aker Solutions’ new Rio das Ostras, Brazil, facility. Aker will employ its CLIP Connector technology to the riser system.

Additional drilling riser projects at the Rio das Ostras facility include projects for the rigOlinda Star, which will operate in water depths up to 1,100 m (3,609 ft); the Gold Star, which will operate at depths up to 2,000 m (6,562 ft); and the Lone Star, which is capable of operating in water depths up to 2,400 m (7,874 ft), according to Aker Solutions.

TSMarine, Woodside mark intervention firsts

Operating from its Perth facility, TSMarine working for Woodside Energy Ltd. using the well intervention vesselHavila Harmony reports successful deployment, installation, and tests on seven subsea trees plus wireline interventions on all seven wells. This was the first of 2008 work which is scheduled to include installation and completion of as many as 11 subsea trees in Vincent field plus a number of other commissioning and decommissioning projects for the vessel.

Among the project milestones was the first deployment and installation on wire of subsea christmas trees from a monohull vessel in the region. It also marked the first use of wireline subsea well intervention from a monohull vessel in Australian waters. The intervention included WellOps South East Asia and Schlumberger.

“The world record water depth for subsea wireline intervention from a monohull vessel is 377 m (1,237 ft). In our first ever subsea well intervention project we operated in a water depth of 372 m (1,220 ft), a significant achievement within this hugely successful project,” says Alasdair Cowie, TSMarine CEO.

The trees were run using theHavila Harmony’s 150-metric ton (165-ton) active heave compensated crane and a simple mechanical running tool. Locking and testing was supplied by the vessels ROV systems, which were fitted with a specially developed hydraulic power and tooling pack. Hanger and deep-set plugs were removed by slick line intervention using Wellops subsea lubricator (SID) and Schlumberger Wireline Services.

TheHavila Harmony is on long-term charter to TSMarine and was delivered in March 2007.

Ormen Lange, Vega monitoring on order

Bjørge has a letter of intent with FMC Technologies to supply Naxys condition and leak monitoring systems for the new subsea production installation for Ormen Lange and Vega fields.

CEO of Bjørge, Stig Feyling, reports that Bjørge previously supplied similar systems to Troll Pilot, Ormen Lange Phase I, Tordis IOR subsea processing facility, and Vigdis production template.

Also in the North Sea at Åsgard field, StatoilHydro has contracted FMC Technologies to manufacture and supply subsea equipment including four horizontal subsea trees, wellhead systems and extended tubing hangers, flow control modules, multi-phase flow meters, and permanent guide bases. The equipment will be manufactured at FMC’s Kongsberg, Norway, and Dunfermline, Scotland, sites with deliveries expected to begin this summer.

“We have manufactured more than 50 trees that have been deployed at the Åsgard field and are also in the process of supplying subsea gas compression control systems for the Åsgard development,” says Tore Halvorsen, FMC’s senior vice president of Global Subsea Production Systems.