Gulf of Mexico deep water current studies for offshore oil exploration and production

Author(s):  
J. Haustein ◽  
J. Feeney
1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Edward E. Horton

As oil exploration and production moves farther offshore, innovative technology is required to exploit energy resources in ever deeper waters. This paper covers two areas of deepwater production: offshore Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. The types of wells and their capacity are described as well as the alternative platform designs, both fixed and semisubmersible, being used to recover both oil and gas from depths greater than 1500 ft. The paper outlines why these deepwater regions are of interest now and describes developments that are expected in the near future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengcheng Gu ◽  
Hua Li ◽  
Francisco Haces-Fernandez

Abstract Offshore oil and gas platforms use gas turbine with natural gas or fuel diesel for their high demand of power. Due to the declining amount of gas available, high carbon footprint, increasing cost of fuel and inefficient operating, alternative energy options are necessary and imminent. Most offshore oil and gas platforms locate in deep water surrounded by huge amount of energetic wave resources, hence, the feasibility of supplying offshore oil facilities electricity by hybrid wave and wind energy farms based on daily energy power production instead of annual average was conducted in this project. The hybrid energy farm was modeled and validated by applying meteorological data in Gulf of Mexico area from WaveWatch III system. With the hindcast wave and wind condition data from 1979 to 2019, daily energy generation of the hybrid energy farm was estimated. Meantime, the feasibility of suppling offshore oil and gas facilities by the proposed combined hybrid farm was assessed. The project optimized the configuration of the hybrid wave and wind energy farm to satisfy offshore oil and gas platform demands and reduce the variation of power generation, so that it may be feasibility to gradually substitute the gas turbines. Through matching the local wave and wind conditions, the project was able to maximize the power output while minimize the variation within limited ocean surface area. The project addressed the advantages of hybrid wave and wind devices, as well as theoretical prospection of wave harvesting device and wind turbine combination. To validate the proposed optimization model, a case study was explored by using Vesta V90 3MW wind turbines and Pelamis 750kW wave energy converters to supply five offshore platforms in more than 45 m deep water areas. The results indicated the possibility of bringing wave energy into large commercial operation and utilization with minor investment and environmental impact.


Author(s):  
S. Chandrasekaran ◽  
Arvind Kumar Jain ◽  
Syed Azeem Uddin

Abstract Offshore complaint structures dominate the deepwater oil exploration and production due to their adaptive geometric form and well-established construction practices. Semi-submersible is one of the widely preferred, floating production systems due to its form-dominant ability, better stability characteristics, and best constructional features. It is usually position-restrained using a dynamic-positioning system (active-restraining) or mooring system (passive-restraining); being less-sensitive to freak ocean environment is an added advantage. The Semi-submersible, chosen for the present study is based on a similar configuration of a 6th generation deep-water Hai Yang Shi You (HYSY) – 981 platforms, commissioned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in 2012. A sixteen-point, spread catenary-mooring without submerged buoy (case-1) in the form of chain-wire-chain type configuration is used for position-restraining. Response behavior of the semi-submersible with a conventional spread catenary-mooring system with a submerged buoy (case-2) is compared. API spectrum is used for computing wind loads, while the JONSWAP spectrum is used to represent irregular waves for various directions of wave heading. The effect of non-linearly varying current is considered up to 10% of water depth. Numerical analyses of the semi-submersible are carried out under 10-years, and 100-years return period events using Ansys Aqwa. Under wind, wave, and current loads, motion responses of the Semi-submersible at 1500 m and 2000 m water depths are investigated for both the cases in time-domain. Dynamic mooring tension variations arise from the environmental loads are further investigated for a fatigue failure using the S-N curve approach. It is found that the fatigue life of the mooring lines after the inclusion of the buoy is enhanced. It was also observed that, during failure of mooring lines there is an increase in tension of the mooring lines which are adjacent to the failed mooring lines and this is due to the transfer of mooring load and hence reducing their fatigue life.


2003 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Trefry ◽  
Robert D. Rember ◽  
Robert P. Trocine ◽  
John S. Brown

Author(s):  
Frank Chou ◽  
John Chianis ◽  
Xinyu Zhang

This paper introduces a novel floating production platform concept for exploration and production of oil and gas in ultra deep water. The developmental effort has been supported by ABB in-house research and development budget. This novel production unit is an enhanced version of ABB Self-Installed Single Column Floater (SISCF) concept. This unit is envisioned to be completely assembled at quayside, towed to location, and be installed vertically to its target draft without the need of a major crane vessel. This enhanced feature reduces the wind load on the deck and hull significantly during wet tow as well as alleviates the uncertainty on the duration of an offshore operation, thereby widens the weather window for installation, hook-up and commissioning offshore. The enhanced SISCF (ESISCF) hull consists of four major components i.e., hard tank with center opening, soft tank with telescoping truss members and opening, permanent-stability ring, and three (3) telescoping support columns. During the installation phase, the telescoping columns are used to guide the permanent-stability ring, which provided needed stability in the installation phase. In addition, because of the way center truss being constructed, the hard tank is collapsed (or sit) right on top of the soft tank during wet tow thus reduced the wind arm (almost 100 ft) and wind forces. In its in-place position, ESISCF motion responses in waves are found to be excellent because of its deep draft. The current concept combines the advantages of a spar and a semi-submersible vessel. The paper will detail the concept, and outline the fabrication to installation scenario. The principal dimensions of a typical ESISCF for a given payload will be presented together with its stability and motion responses in waves based on the sea conditions representing a typical geographical area of Gulf of Mexico. The advantages of this concept will be explained in detail.


Author(s):  
Kee Chien Ting ◽  
Kishor Chavan ◽  
Samuel Balmford ◽  
Daniel Sullivan

Flexible riser and flowline systems used in offshore oil and gas developments in shallow and deep water are typically terminated with vertical connectors with goosenecks or with horizontal connectors. An alternative arrangement is to terminate with PLET although it is not as commonly adopted. PLETs usually have a sizeable dimension and weight compared to the vertical and horizontal connectors hence present handling and deployment issues. A number of flexible risers and flowlines terminated with PLETs recently installed in a deepwater development in Gulf of Mexico showed that with careful engineering such deployment is viable and can be performed safely by a typical flexlay vessel. The installation engineering, installation aid requirements, the deployment methodology are presented and discussed. The observations from ensuing offshore operation showed that the flexible torsion and twist during deployment need to be carefully monitored and managed offshore. Flexibles terminated with PLETs could be potentially suitable where life of field gooseneck load may be excessive or for bigger and stiffer flexible products where making the 2nd end connections might be a challenging undertaking offshore. A PLET could also be used where an intermediate structure is required along a MEG line for example where In-Line Terminations (ILTs) are needed for flying leads plug-in. This would save on requirement for an intermediate structure and connectors.


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