For those of you who attended our MCEDD (Marine, Construction & Engineering – Deepwater Development) 2024 conference earlier this month, you know exactly what the headline of this column means. And for those of you who were not able to attend, you really did miss an outstanding set of technical and management issue presentations, along with some very compelling exhibits, Fig. 1. The conference’s overall theme this year was Deepwater Synergy: Next-Generation Solutions for a Sustainable Future.
World Oil and our parent, Gulf Energy Information, along with our sister publication, Petroleum Economist, hosted MCEDD in Amsterdam during April 9-11. There were 45 speakers and 40 presentations during that time, along with 14 panel discussions. Examples of operator personnel participating include Petrobras, Repsol, bp and TotalEnergies. A representative slice of equipment/service firms presenting, in no particular order, includes OneSubsea, Wood, McDermott, Doris Engineering, Worley, Jumbo Offshore, FASTSubsea, Saipem, Kongsberg, Strohm, TechnipFMC, Subsea 7, Halliburton, Modec, ABS, and Siemens Energy.
During Day 1 (April 9), the conference’s opening session featured five speakers that made presentations and participated in a panel discussion, Fig. 2. The session’s theme was “Navigating the Future: Innovations and Challenges in Deepwater Oil and Gas Production and Contracting.” Wood Vice President for Oil & Gas Consulting, Alan Beere, focused on the need for engineering services companies to sort out what is “urgent” versus what is “important” for their operator customers. Beere said his firm’s clients still have OPEX challenges and are barely able to keep up with their base business, which is O&G production, inspection and maintenance. These activities represent the “Urgent,” he noted.
As a result, continued Beere, these firms are unable to allocate time, people and resources to business transformational items—which he called the “Important”—and the continuous need for business improvement, optimization and transformation. Thus, engineering service companies need to help with both the Urgent and Important.
Following Beere, Robert Large, Subsea System Product & Technology Manager at OneSubsea, spoke to the three goals of deepwater operations—secure, affordable and sustainable—and their components. He said it will be a challenge to achieve these goals against a backdrop of continued, strong need for oil and gas production to at least 2050.
Nevertheless, he pointed to a chart that showed deepwater assets, on average, produce noticeably lower CO2 emissions per boe produced than onshore fields and even other offshore properties. Furthermore, noted Large, the trick will be to enable demand while accelerating decarbonization. And this is where he said that four industry components need to come together—technology, people, culture and partnerships.
The third speaker was McDermott’s Senior Director of Offshore & Floating Engineering, Amitabha Nath. He spoke to specific challenges that his company is addressing. For automation and digitalization, Nath said his firm is offering the SubseaXD collaborative tool, which accelerates “field optimization/optioneering” and generation of deliverables. Meanwhile, ArborXD is a web-based platform that provides a consistent, detailed approach to carbon footprint calculations for a project’s lifecycle emissions.
Regarding SURF (subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines) and SPS (subsea production systems) considerations, Nath said his company has devised an integrated solution that, among other things, makes optimized/compact subsea structures easier to lift and install. Finally, as applies to HTHP and sour service pipelines, Nath said that McDermott has an integrated design that enhances pipeline safety, as risks are identified earlier.
Repsol’s Global Projects Director, Alvaro Ranero, discussed his company’s deepwater strategy, portfolio of projects, project delivery in the current context, and specific deepwater efforts in Mexico. He confirmed that Repsol’s strategy is split into three distinct lines: conventionals, unconventionals and low-carbon solutions. To “enable” this strategy, Ranero said there are five characteristics that support it. These include capital discipline, digital, talent, decarbonization and “license to operate.” Regarding project delivery, the director said that qualified resources, scarcity and supply chain limitations are being exacerbated by energy transition pressures.
Finishing off the panel was Christophe Sarri, Chief Commercial Officer at Doris Engineering, who discussed Oil & Gas Design Trends. He said three distinct market trends affect designs—operators keeping up the production they already have; reducing GHG emissions at existing assets; and “minimalism.” Regarding production up-keep, Sarri said this encompasses “Re-engineering of 20-to-30 year-old assets; re-assessment of an asset to full field life extension; working on brownfields; and providing 25 years of life extension.”
Day 2. A highlight of the second day was the lead-off session entitled, “Electrification of Subsea Developments and Brownfield Infrastructure.” FASTsubsea CEO Alexander Fugelsan spoke about the work being done with subsea boosting and the efficiencies that this subsea pump technology can bring. “Subsea boosting contributes to cost-savings and reduced CO2 emissions, yet it uses 40% to 80% less energy than gas lift to produce the same barrel of oil,” said Fugelsan.
Accordingly, he added, FSubsea and OneSubsea got together and created FASTsubsea. “Simpler operation equals lower cost and more reliability.” In addition, he pointed out, there is less total equipment and steel required with subsea boosting, Fig. 1. The ongoing work on this technology has resulted in a JIP that includes Petronas and Equinor.
Touching on another electrification aspect were Elisabeth Eikeland (Sales Engineer) and Fredrik Wadel-Anderson (Processing S&C Norway & Emerging Markets Global Manager) of OneSubsea.They discussed Subsea Power Hubs in the context of subsea production systems (SPS’s), an effort featuring participation from their firm (70%), Aker Solutions (20%) and Subsea 7 (10%). Eikeland noted that OneSubsea/SLB has had a large SPS and processing footprint with respect to deepwater operations.
Eikeland further noted that the Subsea Power Hubs (Fig. 3) can be invaluable when dealing with longer tie-backs in deepwater areas. “The longest tie-back for a subsea pump came in 2018, with TAQA Energy and others,” she said. “And now, in 2024, we have the longest tie-back for subsea compression at Ormen Lange (Shell) field” (offshore Norway).
There are three notable aspects to subsea power, explained Eikeland, and those include harvesting, manifolding and converting. Picking up that thread, Wadel-Anderson said the short-term goal of subsea power development is to “provide efficient transmission of the power that supplies deepwater oil and gas facilities.”
Meanwhile, Saipem’s Antoine Marret (Technical Manager) and Pierre Emannuel d’Huart (Head of Offshore Technological Development) spoke to the development of high-performance, direct electrical heating/pipe-in-pipe (DEH-PIP) operations. DEH-PiP is a well-known, field-proven technique for subsea flowline heating, but it shows a relatively poor electrical efficiency. Enhanced (high-performance) DEH-PiP (Fig. 4) operates with two additional simple features—an aluminium liner and electrical insulation. As explained by d’Huart, the main benefits of this improved DEH-PIP are reduced Ohmic losses in outer pipe; higher electrical efficiency, where it goes from 60% to 90%; a reduced operating voltage, down to around 40%; a simpler power supply chain; and the ability to support longer tie-backs.
Day 3. A third-day highlight was the session on “Charting the Future: Oil and Gas in the Evolving Energy Ecosystem.” Among the subjects discussed were industry manpower and adoption of new technologies. Regarding manpower, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) Programmes Director Michael Joinson said that “lack of young people is a real problem. Within IOGP, we’ve had an initiative called Workforce Energy to address the situation.” Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) CEO Sheryl Burgess said that “within SUT, we have various committees and chapters working on recruiting more young people. In earlier days, it was easier for younger people to go to professional breakfasts and luncheons. Now, there are so many demands on their time.”
And International Marine Contractors Association CEO Iain Grainger said he thinks “the solution is partially to get the message out to younger people by some other means than conferences and magazines. So, some form of social media is needed. Also, longevity of industry and, thus, longevity of career is an issue. And today, I’m not sure they want to spend months offshore.”
All three panelists agreed that the industry’s adoption of new technologies could be better and faster. “I absolutely think we’re horrible at adopting new technology,” said Joinson. “And when we do it and aren’t successful, it’s because we haven’t changed our processes.” Following on to those thoughts, Grainger noted, “In my 40-year career, we’ve always been slow to adopt new tech. It’s always been a conservative environment.” Expressing sympathy for innovators, Burgess said, “We have people, who say, ‘we have something new, and we can’t get anyone to trial it.’ So, we need to have a way to go to someone like IOGP and say, ‘what can we do to get this looked at?’”
These highlights from the three days of MCEDD are just a few examples of the deep, extensive program that attendees enjoyed, not to mention the opportunity to network with a wide spectrum of fellow professionals and experts. If your primary job function is focused on deepwater projects, either oil and gas or offshore wind, I highly recommend that you look into attending next year’s version of this very specialized conference. Planning is already underway for MCEDD 2025 during the spring next year. Specific date and venue should be announced soon.
Hailstorm seriously damages solar farm southwest of Houston. A strong thunderstorm featuring copious amounts of large hail struck the Fighting Jays Solar farm near the hamlet of Guy in Fort Bend County, Texas, on March 15, resulting in considerable damage. The site is about 16 mi south of the town of Rosenberg, Texas, which is about 35 mi southwest of Houston. According to local media reports, the storm “shattered hundreds of panels” and prompted nearby residents to question whether the solar panels were leaking chemicals such as cadmium telluride, which is linked to health risks in humans.
Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the parent company of the project's developer, AP Solar Holdings, confirmed to local media that the storm had taken out much of the farm. The firm said there was no immediate risk to the nearby community of chemical exposure. "The silicon-based panels contain no cadmium telluride, and we have identified no risk to the local community or the environment,” CIP told Fox News. Nevertheless, the Fort Bend County Environmental Health Department was investigating the incident, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had also been contacted regarding any potential chemical contamination.
The 350-MW, 3,304-acre (5.2-mi2) facility covers an area equivalent to 2,499 U.S. football fields. It has been operating at reduced capacity since the storm occurred. The facility went online in July 2022, with final completion scheduled for fourth-quarter 2024. In assessing the weather incident, Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Energy Research said hail “is becoming a major issue for the photovoltaic industry, as more solar sites are being built in the central part of the United States—a hail-prone region—and modules are moving towards larger panels with thinner glass. To mitigate the damage that hail can cause, moving panels into ‘hail stow’ is proving effective. ‘Hail stow’ entails increasing the angle of the panels to a more vertical incline, reducing the likelihood hail will damage panels. Because it requires moving the panels out of the optimal production angle, utilizing hail stow will lead to a loss of revenue.” WO
IN THIS ISSUE
Special Focus: Offshore Technology.This month’s lead section contains six features. In one item, NOV authors discuss advancing safer deepwater drilling with an integrated managed pressure drilling/wired drill pipe service. Meanwhile, authors at Frontier Deepwater continue their multi-year article series, explaining how their wellbay innovation supports a lower-cost, lower-risk phased approach for HP DW discoveries. At Siemens Energy, experts discuss solutions for decarbonizing offshore power generation. And over at Xodus, an author describes a custom-made blueprint for optimizing late-life assets. In another innovation at Ace Well Technology, engineers are using automation to achieve the goals of increased safety and reduced injuries in the red zone by automating risk-prone, manual tasks. Finally, we review the 15 technologies receiving this year’s OTC Spotlight on New Technology Award.
Formation evaluation: Reservoir mapping advances optimize well placement with 3D views of reservoir architecture.Various Baker Hughes authors detail how new reservoir mapping services reduce uncertainties by collecting pure signals with appropriate confidence analysis. The assessment identifies potential in-fill targets and opportunities for preventing early water breakthrough by mapping lithological and fluid contacts while drilling. Thus, operators gain insight into reservoir distribution and quality for improved field development planning/execution.
Regional report: Gulf of Mexico. In this annual report on activity and trends, Contributing Editor Gordon Feller says the Gulf of Mexico remains a major hub for oil and gas operations. The past 12 months have seen significant new investments in exploration and production, and in services. The region continues to be a focal point for the energy industry for many decades because of its abundant offshore reserves. The past year has seen a mix of new discoveries, production start-ups, and ongoing exploration and development activities in the Gulf, indicating sustained industry interest and investment in the region.
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