Subsea HP/HT Production Technologies –
Current Status and Future Trends

17 May 2012 London Evening Meeting

Chairman Alex Hunt, Engineering Technology Manager, BG Group

Report

Flyer

Overview

Worldwide gas demand is increasing, driven in part by increased demand for LNG in Asia. Despite relatively low prices recently, the oil & gas industry is beginning to look again at the exploitation of High Pressure / High Temperature (HP/HT) accumulations. As well as the overpressured reservoirs in areas such as the central North Sea, advances in seismic acquisition and processing have enabled opportunities to be identified in deeply buried reservoirs, in some cases at reservoir depths exceeding 10,000 metres. However, many of these are also in deep water and subsea technology will be required if these are to be brought into production.

HP/HT fields are classified under one of the following tiers:

• Tier I – High; 689 bar (10,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 1034 bar (15,000 psi) or 149°C (300°F) ▪ T ▪ 177°C (350°F)
• Tier II – Extreme; 1,034 bar (15,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 1379 bar (20,000 psi) or 177°C (350°F) ▪ T ▪ 204°C (400°F)
• Tier III – Ultra; 1379 bar (20,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 2068 bar (30,000 psi) or 204°C (400°F) ▪ T ▪ 260°C (500°F)

The current status and future trends of subsea HP/HT technologies have been the focus of a project by a group of Cranfield University students. The following areas have been reviewed:

• SCSSVs and wellheads
• Trees, chokes and sand management
• Multiphase meters, controls and high integrity protection systems
• Manifolds, flowlines, risers and jumpers
• Umbilicals and flying leads

The work has just been completed as a Group Project that forms part of the M.Sc. in Offshore and Ocean Technology – option in Subsea Engineering. At this evening meeting, members of the team presented their findings.

Presentations

Review Team, Cranfield University

Al-Ameen (Toby) Abdullai, Japheth Joel Charima, Gurinderjit Singh Dosanjh, Chimene Elechi-Amadi, Filimon Gonidakis, Noor Hafiz Kamaruddin, Olusola Oguntuberu, Michael Okeligho and Julian Richter

This project has reviewed current HP/HT fields, either in production or under development. The current status of subsea HP/HT technology has been assessed. Possible technology gaps have been identified and a number of recommendations were presented.

Dr Fuat Kara, Course Director and Head of Offshore Technology, Cranfield University

Group and individual projects and reviews offer benefits to both industry and academia. The elements required for successful collaborations were discussed, along with current focus areas.