Even as European stalwarts like Statoil champion for a standardized, “Lego-style” subsea factory, it was the topic of the day at the Houston Technology Center’s Deepwater Technology Symposium.
Speakers from DeepStar, FMC Technologies, GMC Ltd., and FMC Schilling Robotics spoke at the event, which was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Charles Powell, of Norton Rose Fulbright.
DeepStar is a technology joint industry project comprised of 12 operators, including Petrobras, ExxonMobil and Statoil, that concentrates on deepwater research.
“It is a cross-pollination of brilliant minds in the industry to talk through issues,” DeepStar Director Joseph Gomes described it, when he kicked off the event to provide an operator’s perspective on the challenges faced in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which is home to such potential roadblocks as tight reservoirs and rocks with low-permeability.
He said that increased oil recovery techniques were necessary in the Gulf of Mexico, where operators can experience a recovery factor of less than 10% through natural flow.
“Within deepwater, much of the oil is left behind,” he said, calling for a “holistic, life-of-field perspective.”
DeepStar sees the future of ultra-deepwater work as being a floaterless environment that utilized long-distance tie-backs.
Everything would be located on the subsea floor, he said, including long distance power, umbilicals, both single- and multiphase pumping and boosting.
As someone who as celebrated his share of industry firsts, including the first 10,000psi subsea completion in the Gulf of Mexico, and the first 15,000psi completion/workover riser system, Brian Skeels, emerging technology director for FMC Technologies, agreed. He said that, while up to this point, the world record for deepwater projects had doubled every five to seven years, that likely won’t happen again because the industry has reached the abyssal plane.
“Now, longer offsets, more remote projects and less infrastructure will drive technology from here on out,” he said, noting that as projects go further out, they must move from surface facilities.
He flashed a slide showing a calm ocean that extended as far as the eye could see, and said: “That’s our vision for the field of the future. All subsea; no surface fixture.
“Macondo definitely proved to everyone that we need to redouble our efforts,” he said.
Skeels also discussed how the subsea sector took a page from Henry Ford in its developmental years.
Before Ford brought the assembly line to the automotive industry, cars were custom built. After the 20th century, they became standardized and more accessible.
"That’s what modules have done [for subsea]. You can place them, standardize and hook them up. They meet the need of that field. That’s why subsea was kind of flat-lining [before]. It took off with modular approach,” he explained.
Modulars also opened the way to phased developments, or daisy-chaining.
A “Lego-style” subsea factory would require standardization of components, and Denis Riordan, founder of GMC Ltd., said he envisioned a “plug-and-play” environment for subsea umbilicals, risers and floaters.
“Subsea developments have been characterized by tailor-made, ‘bespoke’ solutions,” Riordan said. “If the future is subsea, the cost will continue to escalate, which will stop developments unless we change the model.”
While discussing the company’s "Snaplay" standardized connector joint, he emphasized the need for standardization or industrialization of subsea architecture and flowlines, explaining that as vessels get larger, and risers get heavier, the related equipment becomes more expensive.
The industry should “standardize the subsea factory,” he said.
Statoil
In speaking at an NCE Subsea event in August, Trond Meling, Statoil’s senior vice president subsea and marine technology, said that sectors within the oil and gas industry “has to work together to be more competitive.”
“Standardize equipment and put it together in a smart way. If operators and suppliers can work together, we can really cut customer cost,” Meling said.
Furthering the comparisons between the oil and gas and automotive industries, Meling said that Statoil wanted to develop families of subsea equipment, grouping them together such as the Ford or Nissan-Infiniti brands auto consumers are familiar with.
“It should be standardized rather than purpose built, which drives cost,” he said.
Statoil has been very open about having a complete subsea factory by 2020.
“I don’t know if we’ll see a full factory by 2020,” he said. “But we are on a good plan to put into operation a lot of the building blocks.”
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Statoil calls for Lego-style subsea future
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