Comprehensive Instrumentation of Two Offshore Rigs for Wellhead Fatigue Monitoring

Author(s):  
Svein Herman Nilsen ◽  
Massimiliano Russo ◽  
Guttorm Grytøyr

Over the last decades, the complexity and duration of offshore drilling operations have steadily increased. The size and weight of the risers and BOP stack has grown significantly. These factors have led to an increase in fatigue loads imposed on the wellhead structures during drilling and completion operations. Wellhead fatigue might ultimately lead to loss of well structural integrity and pressure containment and therefore safe and reliable drilling of subsea wellheads has gained high priority in the global oil and gas industry. This paper presents two of the most complex real time instrumentation campaigns for drilling operations. Analyses of a connected drilling riser system including the well structure are complex and involve several engineering disciplines. In addition, there are many unknowns going into the equations when accumulated fatigue damage of the wellhead is estimated. Therefore, assumptions need to be made, very often on the conservative side. A typical example are the global drilling riser analyses where the environmental conditions, actual rig motion and riser / BOP behavior are uncertain. With the duplex scope of accurately documenting the wellhead fatigue status during drilling operations and of achieving a better understanding of the actual risk level of wellhead fatigue, Statoil decided to start a very comprehensive monitoring campaign. Two MODU representing very different generations of rigs in terms of weights and types of equipment were instrumented from topside to BOP connector. Strain gauges were installed around the BOP connector as close as possible to the wellhead in order to capture wellhead response as accurately as possible. Due to the large number of sensors, high accuracy requirement and high sampling frequency of data to be shown live, a cabled solution was selected vs remote battery operated sensors transmitting via acoustic. Double set of cables, sensors and topside equipment were installed in order to make the instrumentation system fully redundant and suited for permanent installation. All data were additionally made available real time onshore to allow the full overview of the operation. To author’s knowledge, these two instrumentation systems are the most comprehensive and complex of this type installed on a drilling riser as of today. The first of the two system was installed approximately three years ago and it is still in operation. This paper describes the instrumentation systems installed and gives an extract of the quality data extracted and already used in already published studies [1, 2, 3].

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Ijomanta ◽  
Lukman Lawal ◽  
Onyekachi Ike ◽  
Raymond Olugbade ◽  
Fanen Gbuku ◽  
...  

Abstract This paper presents an overview of the implementation of a Digital Oilfield (DOF) system for the real-time management of the Oredo field in OML 111. The Oredo field is predominantly a retrograde condensate field with a few relatively small oil reservoirs. The field operating philosophy involves the dual objective of maximizing condensate production and meeting the daily contractual gas quantities which requires wells to be controlled and routed such that the dual objectives are met. An Integrated Asset Model (IAM) (or an Integrated Production System Model) was built with the objective of providing a mathematical basis for meeting the field's objective. The IAM, combined with a Model Management and version control tool, a workflow orchestration and automation engine, A robust data-management module, an advanced visualization and collaboration environment and an analytics library and engine created the Oredo Digital Oil Field (DOF). The Digital Oilfield is a real-time digital representation of a field on a computer which replicates the behavior of the field. This virtual field gives the engineer all the information required to make quick, sound and rational field management decisions with models, workflows, and intelligently filtered data within a multi-disciplinary organization of diverse capabilities and engineering skill sets. The creation of the DOF involved 4 major steps; DATA GATHERING considered as the most critical in such engineering projects as it helps to set the limits of what the model can achieve and cut expectations. ENGINEERING MODEL REVIEW, UPDATE AND BENCHMARKING; Majorly involved engineering models review and update, real-time data historian deployment etc. SYSTEM PRECONFIGURATION AND DEPLOYMENT; Developed the DOF system architecture and the engineering workflow setup. POST DEPLOYMENT REVIEW AND UPDATE; Currently ongoing till date, this involves after action reviews, updates and resolution of challenges of the DOF, capability development by the operator and optimizing the system for improved performance. The DOF system in the Oredo field has made it possible to integrate, automate and streamline the execution of field management tasks and has significantly reduced the decision-making turnaround time. Operational and field management decisions can now be made within minutes rather than weeks or months. The gains and benefits cuts across the entire production value chain from improved operational safety to operational efficiency and cost savings, real-time production surveillance, optimized production, early problem detection, improved Safety, Organizational/Cross-discipline collaboration, data Centralization and Efficiency. The DOF system did not come without its peculiar challenges observed both at the planning, execution and post evaluation stages which includes selection of an appropriate Data Gathering & acquisition system, Parts interchangeability and device integration with existing field devices, high data latency due to bandwidth, signal strength etc., damage of sensors and transmitters on wellheads during operations such as slickline & WHM activities, short battery life, maintenance, and replacement frequency etc. The challenges impacted on the project schedule and cost but created great lessons learnt and improved the DOF learning curve for the company. The Oredo Digital Oil Field represents a future of the oil and gas industry in tandem with the industry 4.0 attributes of using digital technology to drive efficiency, reduce operating expenses and apply surveillance best practices which is required for the survival of the Oil and Gas industry. The advent of the 5G technology with its attendant influence on data transmission, latency and bandwidth has the potential to drive down the cost of automated data transmission and improve the performance of data gathering further increasing the efficiency of the DOF system. Improvements in digital integration technologies, computing power, cloud computing and sensing technologies will further strengthen the future of the DOF. There is need for synergy between the engineering team, IT, and instrumentation engineers to fully manage the system to avoid failures that may arise from interface management issues. Battery life status should always be monitored to ensure continuous streaming of real field data. New set of competencies which revolves around a marriage of traditional Petro-technical skills with data analytic skills is required to further maximize benefit from the DOF system. NPDC needs to groom and encourage staff to venture into these data analytic skill pools to develop knowledge-intelligence required to maximize benefit for the Oredo Digital Oil Field and transfer this knowledge to other NPDC Asset.


Author(s):  
Maria V Clavijo ◽  
Adriana M Schleder ◽  
Enrique Lopez Droguett ◽  
Marcelo R Martins

Currently, a Dynamic Position (DP) System is commonly used for offshore operations. However, DP failures may generate environmental and economic losses; thus, this paper presents the Reliability, Availability and Maintainability (RAM) analysis for two different generations of DP system (DP2 and DP3) used in drilling operations. In addition to the RAM analysis, the approach proposed herein considers the uncertainties present in the equipment failure data and provides more information about criticality equipment ratings and probability density functions (pdf) of the repair times. The reliability analysis shows that, for 3 months of operation, the total failure probability of the DP2 system is 1.52% whereas this probability for the DP3 system is only 0.16%. The results reveal that the bus-bar is the most critical equipment of the DP2 system, whereas the wind sensor represents the priority equipment in the DP3 system. Using 90% confidence level, each DP configuration was evaluated for a 1-year operation, finding a reliability mean equal to 70.39% and 86.77% for the DP2 system and the DP3 system, respectively. The DP2 system asymptotic availability tends to present a constant value of 99.98% whereas for the DP3 system, it tends to be 99.99%. Finally, the maintainability analysis allows concluding that the mean time for system repair is expected to be 3.6 h. This paper presents a logical pathway for analysts, operators, and reliability engineers of the oil and gas industry.


Author(s):  
Grethe O. Ose ◽  
Trygve J. Steiro

Abstract Integrated operations (IO) is an ongoing change process in the oil and gas industry. New technological opportunities enable working in new ways that involve an integration of onshore and offshore personnel. This paper analyzes the results of two rounds of data gathering in an onshore drilling support center, in terms of the development of resilience. The first round took place in 2004/2005 and the second in 2012. This study presents a framework for the analysis of resilience and has used the case company as a mean of testing the framework. Our findings indicate that the support center has taken a huge step in the direction of becoming more resilient. The drilling company has tested a number of designs and sizes of support centers, each of which has different pros and cons. For the drilling discipline to develop resilience, it is essential that the number of rigs supported by a center is not too large, as they must not become involved in too many rigs and drilling operations. Our findings also indicate that the suggested framework provides a good overall picture of the development of resilience in the case company.


Author(s):  
Ricardo de Lepeleire ◽  
Nicolas Rogozinski ◽  
Hank Rogers ◽  
Daniel Ferrari

Within the oil and gas industry, significant costs are often incurred by the operating company during the well-construction phase of drilling operations. Specifically, the operators cost to drill a well can cost tens or hundreds of millions of USD. One specific area where significant changes in drilling operations have occurred is in the offshore environment, specifically operations from mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs). With the ever-increasing demand for oil and gas, operators globally have increased drilling budgets in an effort to meet forecasted demand. However, the increased budgets are often eroded or offset by increasing drilling costs. Therefore, operators are continually in search of new technology, processes, or procedures to help improve drilling operations and overall operational efficiencies. One Latin America operator identified a common operation as a possible area where operational cost could be easily reduced through the implementation of systems that allow the manipulation of valve manifolds remotely. Additionally, operating such valve manifolds remotely enhanced operational safety for personnel, which was an equally important consideration. This paper details the evaluation of existing equipment and procedures and a process used to develop a new remote-control system using a machine logic control (MLC) that has been designed, built, tested, and deployed successfully on MODUs operating in Latin America.


2020 ◽  
Vol 992 ◽  
pp. 336-340
Author(s):  
V.A. Gafarova ◽  
J. V. Bazrova ◽  
L.Z. Teltsova

Over the past fifteen years, Russian and foreign scientists have conducted a large amount of research in the development and use of composite materials based on epoxy resins, including the ways to restore structural integrity. In the oil and gas industry, composite materials are used for repair works.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 2582-2586

Automation and control systems are necessary throughout oil & gas industries, to production and processing plants, and distribution and retailing of petroleum products. Pipelines are the efficient mode of transportations of fuels for processing plants over long distances. At present Automation is achieved by using PLC’s that are communicated through SCADA. But it is complex and remote operation is not possible. With the introduction of IoT, the pipeline leak detection system is improved through real-time monitoring of the pipelines. Our Proposed system is designed to detect even small leakage that occurs within the pipeline. The implementation of IoT in oil and gas industries prevents accidents and to make quick decisions based on real-time data


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 08001
Author(s):  
Inesa Khvostina ◽  
Nataliia Havadzyn ◽  
Nataliia Yurchenko

The article presents a study on risks in oil and gas industry and reveals their causes investigating enterprises activity as a result of emergent properties of systems. The original algorithm of risk assessment process based on emergent properties study is offered. A taxonomy approach and factor analysis are used for purposes of risk evaluation. The risk assessment consists of risks taxonomy, database structure development, identification of risks through impact factors evaluation; economic system emergent properties risks prediction, an integral risk level indicator calculation using taxonomy approach, correlation analysis of integral indicators of risk assessment, preventive measures for minimizing of negative impacts and reducing risks.


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