Making strides in subsea production
Offshore staff
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The number of fields employing subsea production systems is growing, and companies need to find ways to meet the changing demands. Jon Harald Kilde, vice president of aftermarket technology at Aker Kvaerner told an audience at the Offshore Asia Conference & Exhibition his company is pursuing solutions.
The outlook for subsea solutions is "very optimistic," according to Kilde, who said there will be three times as many subsea installations in 2010 as there are today. Large and novel solutions will be critical to some of those developments, he said.
Kilde gave present-day examples of large and novel systems starting with Total's deepwater Dalia development offshore Angola, where 67 wells are producing to nine subsea manifolds. He explained how Aker approached the issue of hydrate formation in the subsea system to meet the operator's specifications.
Kilde also talked about Reliance's KG-D6 development in the Krishna-Godavari basin offshore eastern India. The novelty in this instance was a light architect wellhead system that adds flexibility for installation, increases water depth reach for drilling rigs, and allows completions without pulling the tree.
The future will require more changes and advances in subsea production system technology, Kilde said.
1/17/2007