Operators know what they want and need

From Subsea Europe '09: It is said that great minds think alike. So maybe it should have been come as no surprise that key technologists from Chevron and BG Group presented very similar wishlists here.

But then these two companies, not known as the most adventurous in the industry in deploying new technology, might be seen as occupying similar positions in a spectrum of major companies who might not be very keen on pushing the technical boundaries on challenging projects.

In fact, Peter Blake, subsea systems manager for Chevron in Aberdeen, admitted as much. In discussing what Chevron sees as its needs as it faces projects like Gorgon off the west coast of Australia, Jack/St Malo in the Gulf of Mexico and Rosebank west of of the Shetlands, Blake said that while his company is good in the early stages of looking at new technology, ie getting an R&D project off the ground and focussing on a required solution, and not too bad once something is proven, it is not particularly good at demonstration projects or deploying prototypes on development projects.

For example, Chevron in the UK looked hard at using CameronDC all-electric technology at Captain (SEN, 25/24), but this stalled and later thought about subsea raw water injection for Alba, but again would not bite the bullet. Blake cited brownfield modifications, development timescales and resource availability as reasons for not moving forward with new technology.

Chevron will also be using large bore xmas trees and completions at Gorgon and needs electrically heated flowliines and multiphase meters for Lianzi on the Angolan/Congo border. It will already be well aware that Statoil, one of its Jack/St Malo partners, has used all of these technologies, some of them several times.

Also on Blake's list are multiphase and downhole pumps, HIPPS and high pressure risers, all of which have been used, even by Chevron. Captain has used the only downhole hydraulic pumps ever deployed.

The technologies that might be seen by most companies as not yet proven and of major importance are long-distance power transfer and subsea power distribution.

The always entertaining Alex Hunt of BG gave away the industry's great 'secret', that is that oil and gas companies are really only interested in making money. Not a surprise, but an unusual admission.

Hunt's xmas list added a few more 'toys', such as an expanded range of high pressure and high temperature equipment is what BG looking for.

According to Hunt, Statoil's Kristin field (11Kpsi, 162oC) in Norway and BP's Thunder Horse field (15Kpsi, 135oC) in the US Gulf of Mexico are the current standards for hp/t equipment, but Hunt said hardware rated for 14Kpsi and 200oC will be needed soon. He also noted that the UK's Energy Dept has set down 15Kspi and 177oC as the markers for special allowances.

He also made special mention of all-electric production systems and could not fail to note that the electric downhole safety valve remains the 'missing link'.

SUBSEA SNIPPETS: Malcolm Webb of Oil & Gas UK suggested that new incentives for the offshore industry from the UK government are unlikely to be in the form of tax breaks considering the current state of the UK 'current account', but could be based on an expansion of what are now know as specialist 'value allowances'.

There seemed to be general agreement here that the current oil price - hovering around $70/bbl - is not a bad place for it to be. Chris Bird of Centrica Upstream - formerly Venture Production - reminded people that if the price is too low there are no new developments and if it is too high, then the world goes into recession.

In its new expanded form, Centrica has a string of gas projects on its drawing board in both the UK and Dutch sectors, including F3-FA which will be based around a self-installing platform and simple subsea production infrastructure to limit future decommissioning costs.

If one looked closely at the Chevron presentation, one would have seen at least one of the subsea configurations for Rosebank. This showed four production manifolds - two in the north and two in the south - with 18 production wells and two water injection manifolds - one north and one south - with 10 injectors, all linked up to the fpso through a pair of riser base manifolds.

Those operators who have had to sit on their hands, because project finance has been hard to come by will not be surprised to hear - from analyst David Phillips of HSBC - that project funding approvals have fallen by 80% this year.

And, finally, here is another example of not brilliant reservoir stewardship by one of the majors. Mark Richardson of Apache North Sea told the audience that when his company acquired the Forties field from BP back in 2003, the booked reserves were 144mmbbls. Now after six years of production and field re-development, he said the recoverable reserves are 199mmbbls.

FROM SUBSEA ENGINEERING NEWS

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