Technique could render longer North Sea tiebacks economic

Oct. 29, 2018
INTECSEA will perform two studies on the economic impact of its Pseudo Dry Gas technology on fields west of Shetland, and how the same technology could be applied as a gas disposal system across North Sea fields.

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – INTECSEA will perform two studies on the economic impact of its Pseudo Dry Gas technology on fields west of Shetland, and how the same technology could be applied as a gas disposal system across North Sea fields.

In both cases, The Oil & Gas Technology Centre in Aberdeen will provide funding.

Pseudo Dry Gas is designed to make long distance subsea tiebacks commercially viable. By reducing back pressure in the pipeline, it is said to eliminate the need for topsides and costly compression, at the same time reducing carbon emissions.

The technique employs multiple passive separators and a liquid removal pipeline connected to standardized pumps.

Lee Thomas, INTECSEA Engineering Lead for Pseudo Dry Gas technology, expects the studies to demonstrate cuts in capex of more than 40% compared to current alternatives, without any associated loss of recoverable reserves.

Graeme Rogerson, Marginal Developments project manager for the Centre, added: “There are currently 363 marginal developments distributed across the UKCS, each holding an estimated 3-50 MMbbl.

“At present these fields do not meet the current economic requirements to progress to investment, therefore it’s important that we identify technologies…that can help unlock this huge potential which is worth an estimated £135 billion [$173 billion] to the UK economy.”

10/29/2018