Jules Verne – The Field of the Future
Tim Lowry Chuck Horn
Technip
This describes the original work of Jules Verne, especially in the epic novel20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, written in 1869, wherein Captain Nemo charted the oceans depths in his submarine The Nautilus for a voyage that would take him through new and exciting places on a journey that covered enough distance to circle the globe 2-1/2 times, or 20,000 leagues (the number represented distance traveled, not depth). Now, the oil and gas industry has developed a similar vision, taking us to new and exciting places on a journey that will prove to be just as exciting as the original. Welcome to "Jules Verne – The Field of the Future." In our case, the submarines are unmanned, and the new and exciting places are the technologies that make up what we now refer to as "subsea processing" which covers a large variety of equipment; pumping, separation, compression, power transmission, and distribution, and the sophisticated controls and monitoring systems that make these work.
These new visionaries are the people inside the Deepstar and RPSEA organizations that work within the industry to facilitate front-end research and development at various levels. They have banded together through various meetings and workshops to form this new vision of the deepwater field of the future so that each organizations can align individual tasks within their organizations to work towards a common goal that has become referred to as the "Jules Verne – The Field of the Future."
Subsea processing technology is beginning to be implemented on a variety of field development projects throughout the world. This is demonstrated by the subsea processing and boosting poster issued in the previous issue ofOffshore (March 2010 online at http://www.offshore-mag.com/etc/medialib/platform-7/offshore/maps-and_posters.Par.21618.File.dat/SubseaProcessing-022410ADS.pdf ). The relatively mature technology of full well stream boosting is being adopted for increased flow rates, higher boost pressures, and deeper fields. After initial deployment in shallow waters, the emerging technology required for two-phase separation is ready for operations in deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. However, commercial usage of full three-phase subsea separation (with separate flow of oil, gas, and water from the subsea processing system) has not been deployed in any water depth.
The ultimate goal of three-phase separation on the seafloor is the cornerstone of "Jules Verne – The Field of the Future" and is built upon the successful implementation and adoption of the preceding technologies: standard production systems, full well stream boosting, water/hydrocarbon separation, and gas/liquid separation. As operating companies continue to move into the deepwater regions around the globe, their reliance on these subsea processing technologies will increase.
Study backgroundLast year, the Jules Verne study was commissioned by the DeepStar joint industry technology project to evaluate the technical maturity of an all subsea process development in the deepwater regions of the GoM. The study consisted of a series of vendor interviews and open conversations with operating company personnel to determine the current state of the art in subsea processing technology as well as the required technology development activities needed to bring the various subsea processing components to a project-ready status. A summary of the technology development activities is included in OTC paper 20687,DeepStar Jules Verne Subsea Processing Road Map.
• 50 mi (80 km) tieback, 8,000 ft (2,438 m) water depth
• Long-distance, high-voltage power transmission
• Subsea transformers, switchgear, circuit protection, variable speed drives
• Three-phase separation, produced water treatment
• Gas compression, oil pumping, water pumping.
The technology evaluations developed for the study were framed by the project basis of design with inputs from the project steering committee and previous DeepStar studies. The primary scenarios used for the study consisted of subsea processing equipment in a deepwater region of the GoM and 50 mi (80 km) from the nearest processing facility. The full subsea processing scenario ("Jules Verne" concept) included equipment for power transmission/distribution, subsea inhibitor storage/injection, three-phase separation, produced water treatment, sand handling/management, gas compression, oil pumping, and water pumping for seabed disposal.
Potential benefitsThe potential benefits of subsea processing have been presented in a variety of forums and published extensively. These include minimizing flow assurance risks, enabling/accelerating/increasing production, and reducing topsides processing equipment requirements (primary separation, produced water treatment).
For the Jules Verne concept, some of the drivers for technology innovation included enabling long-distance tiebacks from oil-producing reservoirs, eliminating the need for hydrate inhibitors by reducing the water cut of the produced oil stream/removing free gas, and simplifying the design of long-distance umbilicals through the use of local subsea inhibitor storage/injection systems.
The technology development activities identified by the Jules Verne study have been forwarded to the DeepStar program for further consideration and funding. If selected for funding, the smaller initiatives and early phase technology development projects will be funded primarily by DeepStar during the second round of funding reserved for the Phase X development cycle. The larger technology development projects and groups of related, smaller initiatives with project values over $1 million may be submitted to RPSEA for inclusion in the fiscal year 2010 request for proposals, currently scheduled to be released for bidding in the second quarter of this year.
This is an exciting time for innovative technology developers that are interested in bidding on projects to design, develop, and qualify enabling technologies for "Jules Verne – The Field of the Future." Similarly, operating company personnel have the opportunity to participate in various DeepStar and RPSEA committees to oversee and direct the development of these emerging technologies.
DeepStar overviewThe purpose of DeepStar is to identify and develop economical, low-risk technologies to produce oil and gas from deepwater fields around the world. Dues payments from the operating company members and the vendor contributors to the DeepStar Program are used to fund various technology development activities at the front-end of the technology development lifecycle.
In addition to these technology development activities, DeepStar also is responsible for managing the RPSEA Ultra Deepwater Program (RPSEA UDW), funded by the US Department of Energy. In this capacity, DeepStar provides direction to the RPSEA UDW program to ensure alignment of the two groups' efforts to identify and to develop technologies to support deepwater oil and gas production.
Phase X of the DeepStar Program began in January 2010 and will be concluded in December 2011. The current budget for technology development during Phase X is approximately $7 million. The majority of these funds will be allocated to projects during the first half of 2010, with a small portion reserved for follow-on activities from selected Phase IX projects that are nearing conclusion.
For additional information, please refer towww.DeepStar.org.
RPSEA overviewThe mission of the RPSEA Ultra Deepwater Program (RPSEA UDW) is to "identify and develop economically viable (full life cycle), acceptable risk technologies, architectures, and methods to explore for, drill, and produce hydrocarbons from formations under ultra deepwater." The goals of this development work, funded by the US Department of Energy, are to enable development of ultra deepwater resources and convert discovered resources into proven reserves.
Requests for Proposals for the RPSEA 2010 fiscal year are scheduled to be released for bidding in the second quarter of this year. The available budget for FY2010 is approximately $22 million and may include technology development initiatives recommended by the Jules Verne study.
For additional information, please refer towww.RPSEA.org.
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