TECHBITS
Mumbai Workshop Explores Deepwater Strategies
Recognizing the growing potential
of deepwater developments off the
coast of India, SPE hosted its second
deepwater-focused applied technology
workshop (ATW) in Mumbai in less
than 2 years. The ATW, “Unlocking
Deepwater Potential: Strategies and
Technologies,” brought together 131
delegates from 11 countries and 40
companies to share information and
help Indian companies assimilate the
knowledge they will need to monetize
India’s deepwater assets.
Sudhir Vasudeva, director (Offshore)-
ONGC and ATW Steering Committee
chair, opened the ATW with an address
describing India’s deepwater potential.
The country’s deepwater regions hold
approximately 51 billion bbl of oil
and gas equivalent in a sedimentary
area spanning 1.35 million km2. Thus
far 31 hydrocarbon discoveries have
been made—26 gas discoveries and the
remaining 5 oil and gas discoveries. The
discoveries are spread over Mahanadi,
Krishna-Godavari, and Cauvery basins
off the east coast of India, which is
poised to be a gas hub of Asia.
Vasudeva projected that given India’s
gross-domestic-product growth rate of
8–9%, hydrocarbon requirements will
increase from the current level of 125
million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe)
to 435 million toe in the next 25 years.
Global energy consumption is expect-
ed to grow by 50% over the same
period, putting the onus on the oil
and gas industry to find more reserves
and curb production declines in exist-
ing assets. After 2012, deep water is
the only sector which is expected to
grow continuously to meet burgeoning
global demand.
R.S. Sharma of ONGC next stressed
that because 43% of India’s sedimentary
basins lie in deep and ultradeep water,
the E&P industry has ample explora-
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tion opportunities here. However, he
acknowledged that the pace of tech-
nological progress is sometimes too
rapid for operators, who need to have
a great deal of confidence and assur-
ance in technologies prior to bidding
for deepwater blocks. He stated that
critical areas for study going forward
include drilling and completions; sub-
sea facilities; and health, safety, and
environmental factors.
Pushing Boundaries
The first technical session provided
case histories highlighting two recent
deepwater developments from differ-
ent parts of the world. K.V.K. Prasad of
Shell Technology India first presented
the development strategy for Shell’s
Perdido oil field in the US Gulf of
Mexico (GOM). Operational and sub-
surface challenges included extreme
water depth (8,000 ft at the platform),
extreme metocean conditions, rugged
sea floor, flow assurance, a high-risk
reservoir (the first Paleogene produc-
tion in the GOM), low pressure, and
high gas-to-oil ratio.
Overcoming these challenges called
for a phased development scheme and
the incorporation of artificial-lift sys-
tems, waterflooding as a recovery tech-
nique, subsea boosting, and reservoir
management using smart-well technol-
ogy. Shell also used wet-tree direct-ver-
tical-access wells, the first such applica-
tion from a spar.
The initial development called for a
total of 6 risers (5 for production and
1 for high-pressure drilling & comple-
tion). An update on the work being
done to prepare for the deepest subsea
well at the Tobago sector (depth of
9,627 ft or 2934 m), which is scheduled
for next year, was also provided.
John de Lange of BG India next
discussed a gas-field development in
offshore Egypt, with water depth rang-
ing from 150 to 1600 m and mainly
consisting of gas reservoirs with sand-
stone formations. Exploration started
from May 1995, and a total of 60
exploratory wells were drilled and
10 drillstem tests performed before
full-scale field development started
in 2008. The deepest well drilled is
at 1429 m water depth. Development
and exploration costs are USD 281
million and USD 46 million, respec-
tively, and reserves are on the order of
2,000 MMscf. The completion strategy
includes dual completion, three zones,
and subsea development spread over
10 phases.
Deepwater Drilling
and Completions
Gavin Munro of BJ Services, UAE,
discussed completion fluids, with an
emphasis on selection criteria, crys-
tallization temperature, and hydrate-
formation inhibition. He also reviewed
insulating fluids and their performance
related to flow assurance.
In selecting the optimum completion
fluid, his recommendations were:
• Perform extensive testing
• Prepare a compatibility-test matrix
• Consider operation implications
• Consider cost impact, but do what
is best for the well
• Perform detailed planning and
review of logistics and operation pro-
cedures
BG’s de Lange returned to discuss
well construction at West Delta Deep
Marine, located in the Nile Delta. Given
that a typical single-gravel-pack com-
pletion might take nearly 49 days and
cost USD 30 million, he mentioned
several cost-saving solutions, which
included: riserless mud recovery (up to
1500 m well depth), expandable casing
for deeper week shoes, and continuous
JPT • JUNE 2010
circulation subs to avoid large bottom-
hole pressure fluctuation.
De Lange was an advocate for remov-
ing risers from any construction sce-
nario possible, but a successful riserless
drilling campaign for deepwater wells
requires a well-informed team that is
familiar with the rig. He also advocated
coordinating rig activities with the proj-
ect’s pipelaying vessel to avoid clashes
in schedule and minimize downtime
for both parties.
Subsea Facilities:
Design and Construction
In this session, Morten Pedersen and
Baard Kristiansen with Aker Solutions,
Norway, discussed conceptual design
considerations for efficient installation
of subsea structures and tie-ins. They
reviewed the criteria for installing rigid
jumpers using a small installation ves-
sel and discussed the installation of
rigid flowlines using a pipelaying ves-
sel. In reviewing connection systems,
they stated that vertical systems are
preferred due to their ease of instal-
lation and are typically used for rigid
jumpers. Horizontal connection sys-
tems are mostly used for flexible and
umbilical lines.
In his discussion of freestanding riser
technologies, Shreenaath Nataranjan
of 2H Offshore, Malaysia highlighted
single-line offset risers (SLORs) and
described how they are engineered to
overcome the limitations present with
other systems. Key SLOR benefits such
as the ability to preinstall and insensitiv-
ity to water depth and vessel type were
demonstrated. Nataranjan said that for
water depths from 800 to 2000 m, an
open-bundled SLOR arrangement with
a guide frame was the optimal design,
and that cost-effective deepwater riser
solutions are possible with a standard-
ized riser design, local manufacturing
capability, and a variety of installation
vessels to choose from.
JPT • JUNE 2010
Surface Facilities:
Design and Construction
In evaluating the value of floating facil-
ities for deepwater field developments,
Francesco Maccagni of Saipem, Italy
discussed the difficulty of converting
existing crude-oil tankers into float-
ing production, storage, and offloading
vessels (FPSOs). He said that con-
verted FPSOs are common in marginal
oil fields (6–10 years operating life)
when the early first oil is the key factor
for the field’s development econom-
ics. In addition, converted hulls tend
to allow for faster field developments
(20–24 months).
Challenges in converting tankers to
FPSOs typically include project fast-
tracking (overlaps between engineer-
ing, procurement, and fabrication),
budget limitations, difficulty in apply-
ing industry best practices and health
and safety factors to state-of-the-art
methods and tools, and limited front-
end engineering and design by the
company for the FPSO.
To optimize FPSO design and con-
version, Maccagni mentioned several
specific execution methods that play-
ers have used, such as keeping the
design simple, using as much vendor-
standard equipment as possible, using
well-organized fabrication yards, and
approaching the conversion project
using marine-industry methods.
Production Surveillance
Pierre-David Maizeret of Schlumberger,
Vietnam discussed the importance of
production surveillance in ensuring
that wells, or even entire fields, are
producing at optimal conditions to
increase their recovery factors. Because
these systems generate huge amounts
of data, workflows need to be devel-
oped to automate the process as much
as possible and identify events to
be analyzed. Examples include flow-
assurance monitors that warn when
a well’s operating conditions reach a
“danger zone” for potential hydrate
formation, and production surveil-
lance that incorporates distributed
temperature sensing (DST) to mon-
itor bottomhole pressure to detect
pressure transients.
Because surveillance methods look
for deviations from models, such as
changes to operating conditions or
buildup, Maizeret stressed the impor-
tance of having a good initial model
that is based on measurements made
during the exploration and appraisal
phase, such as DST and fluid samples.
Pore-Pressure Prediction
In discussing the key concepts and
challenges related to pore-pressure pre-
diction (PPP), Raghu Chunduru with
Shell Technology India discussed the
importance of overpressure from a
safety point of view. He discussed the
major damage that could be caused by
an overpressure event, the potential
environmental impact, and the damage
to a company’s reputation and future
business prospects.
He discussed the positive impact of
PPP in helping in play/prospect assess-
ment and cost-effective drilling, and in
reducing well-development risks and
costs. From a business point of view,
Chunduru said that 30% of total well
cost generally goes into troubles related
to pressure.
He also shed light on the many ways
overpressure indication and estimation
can be done, including qualitative mud-
logging measurement and measuring
sudden drops in resistivity, sonic, veloc-
ity, and bulk densities during logging-
while-drilling measurements. For esti-
mating overpressure, he discussed the
use of pressure cells and compared
seismic-based and pressure-cell-based
overpressure at length. Chunduru con-
cluded by stating that PPP is a key ele-
ment in safe drilling. JPT
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