Study of the metocean conditions for the Russian Arctic Shelf development projects approaches and results: Review for the period of 2012-2021

The FSBI AARI is the leading State Scientific Center of Russia, which is involved in studying the natural environment of the Polar Regions and its impact on human activity for over a century. In the last 30 years, the new sphere of activity, dealing with the specialized metocean (including ice) surveys for the purpose of Arctic Offshore Development was successfully developed here. For the most important Arctic Offshore projects the full set of these specialized studies was conducted by the Institution. The paper gives an overview of AARI’s scientific and applied scope and tasks, a general chronology of the surveys on the Russian Arctic Shelf since 1990-s, a description of the main study methods, and an overview of the main results of studies for the last ten years (2012-2021). It is demonstrated that the role of detailed ice and metocean surveys is often determinative in sense of design and construction of Arctic Offshore objects.

Simulation of Subsea and Platform Production Schemes to Quantify Flow Assurance Risks under Transient and Steady State Conditions in Offshore Kuwait

In offshore production, the type of field development scheme is crucial aspect due to its associated flow assurance risks, which affect project economic, safety, and sustainability. The objective of this study is to simulate and evaluate two offshore field development schemes, namely subsea and platform in offshore Kuwait. Further objective is to carry out detailed transient simulation study on the subsea scheme to investigate flow assurance risks related to terrain slugging, and hydrates formation during shut-in and re-start transient events. The evaluation of the two schemes is based on the associated flow assurance risks, and project economics. Steady state simulations are used to identify the feasible production scheme, which is further simulated under transient shut-in/restart events to investigate flow assurance risks related to terrain slugging and hydrates formation. The steady state simulation results of this study showed that flow assurance risks such as hydrates and pipeline corrosion are significant in both production schemes. To mitigate these risks, sixteen different field development designs of both production schemes were simulated and economically evaluated. Results revealed that the subsea multiphase development scheme with 10-in. ID carbon steel multiphase flowline and 0.3-in. thick polypropylene thermal insulation is the optimum design. Consequently, the optimum design is further analyzed under transient conditions, resulting in appreciable risk of terrain slugging due to hilly-terrain pipeline configuration, especially for the low production rate cases. The transient shut-in/restart simulation results revealed a risk of hydrates formation due to cooling effect during shut-in, which is mitigated by MEG injection. In conclusion, the subsea multiphase flow scheme is selected over platform scheme due to manageable flow assurance risks, low capital investment cost, and minimum environmental impact. This study would enable Kuwait Oil Company to evaluate different offshore development schemes to ensure sustainable production with safe operation and protected environment.

The Perception of Polish Business Stakeholders of the Local Economic Impact of Maritime Spatial Planning Promoting the Development of Offshore Wind Energy

The recently adopted maritime spatial plan for Polish sea waters promotes offshore wind farm (OWF) development. The study’s identification of the local municipalities affected by offshore development was based on the plan’s provisions. Through the analysis of the plan and literature findings, both positive and negative impacts of future OWF development were identified and examined. Such an analysis seems to be a precondition for the more active engagement of local stakeholders in the debate on the ways in which to best utilize the new opportunities created by the plan and cope with the threats resulting from maritime spatial planning (MSP). The key impacts recognized by the local business stakeholders have been related to landscape pollution and fishing limitations. Stakeholders less frequently have noticed positive impacts of MSP such as development of a new form of tourism. Up to this point, small municipalities have not undertaken sufficient action, and there is a lack of communication between developers, marine planners and coastal communities. Planners have not assessed the impact of their plan on local economic development. The proposed remedies cover standard actions related to communication, education and dialogue, but in addition to that, a consolidated action of local municipalities on how to capitalize on OWF development has been proposed. The first step proposed is preparation of a joint strategy by coastal municipalities addressing this issue.

Maximizing Injection Performance Through Fit-for-Purpose Dynamic Underbalance Perforation Using Unconventional Gun System in Offshore Well, Sarawak, Malaysia

The perforation strategy of Dynamic Underbalance (DUB) created the surging effect to remove debris from the perforation tunnels, thus reducing skin for optimal injectivity in this offshore development water injector well in Malay Basin, Offshore Sarawak. The objective was to inject up to 18,000 bwpd for pressure maintenance purposes. In the design phase, perforation software was used to perform the simulation iterations by sensitizing on the number of empty tubing conveyed perforation (TCP) gun chambers added at the top and bottom of perforation intervals. However, due to small gun size (4-½ in.), limited rat hole length and high static underbalance (1,000 psig), the desired amount of DUB using conventional empty gun volume only was not possible to be achieved. As a result, an innovative approach using two Pressure Operated Tester Valves (POTV's) was proposed, to create additional empty space inside the tubular between the POTVs above the packer. However, this created additional challenges which had to be overcome. Presence of empty tubulars in between the POTVs prevented the required hydraulic pressure transmission through the tubulars to activate the perforation guns via normal hydraulic TCP firing head. Therefore, a specialized firing system was required, which consisted of an acoustic communication system triggering downhole electronics to actuate a standard TCP firing head (Top-Fire Dual) - a first for this type of firing head. The POTV was activated by applying a pre-set annular pressure. Opening lower POTV, after the perforation fired, will create the required DUB surge, around 1,000 psi, which help cleaning up the perforation tunnels. Downhole fast gauges (recording in microseconds range) were run as part of the assembly to measure and to confirm the created DUB effect. Both fast gauges as well as acoustic gauges confirmed that 300 psi DUB was created upon gun firing and around 1,000 psi surging was achieved after the two POTVs were opened. Maximum losses recorded at 525 gallons per minute were observed following perforation. The well's injectivity performance was evaluated by performing step rate test and the result confirmed the well was able to meet higher injection rate than the plan.

Innovative Approach Lead to Best in Class Development Campaign Drilling and Sand Control Completion, Myanmar Offshore

The operator relentlessly thrives for the minimum well construction cost. Continuous improvement and Innovative approach are the major drives for developing the marginal gas field, Myanmar offshore. Whereas, routine and consistent operations may mask up the operator and leave out many rooms for improvement from operation excellence during the development phase of the project life cycle. PTTEPI successfully started up the second development campaign, Myanmar offshore in early 2016. Since then the team has brought up many ideas to continuously improve the operation and achieve milestones for both safety and performance. This paper will share the best in class for well construction of Myanmar offshore on well design, drilling engineering, rig selection, offline utilization, drilling and sand control practices and fit for purpose procedures. The performance is significantly improved on both drilling and sand control operation which results in total days per well reduction over 50% and 80% for drilling operation and sand control operation respectively. Total days per well for drilling performance on the last platform in 2019 is reduced to 4 days per well compared to 9 days per well when the first development platform was drilled in 2013. Sand Control performance is improved further. Total days per well for Sand Control performance on the last platform in 2019 is reduced to 3.5 days per well (dual-zone completion) compared to 18 days per well when the first development platform was completed in 2013. Recommended practices and well designs are shared as a case study of drilling and sand control operation for Myanmar offshore development. This can be a guideline for another operator to develop oil and gas field offshore Myanmar.

Ensuring Success of Complex Liner Deployment Over Complete Field Development Campaign

This paper describes the innovative engineering workflow which has been used to ensure the safe deployment of deep production liners on long step-out wells of a deep offshore development field. It highlights the importance of accurate Torque & Drag modelling during planning and operations and provides details on how the use of downhole data assisted in understanding downhole conditions on the first wells, which allowed to optimize the running and setting procedure for the next wells of the field. For this methodology, a unique Torque & Drag stiff-string model was used to simulate the evolution of side-forces, tension, stretch, torque and twist along the string at every stage of the deployment and setting of the liner. Simulations were performed both during planning phase and operations. Once the well completed, downhole memory data from a logging tool was compared with simulations, which allowed to calibrate the model, better understand downhole conditions, and provide recommendations for the next runs. Using this methodology, the operator succeeded in deploying the liner to total depth, setting the hanger and packer successfully on all the wells of the field. These operations were performed with only 40 minutes of non-productive time throughout the campaign. The paper shows how correlating downhole data with Torque & Drag simulations highlighted areas of improvement and allowed to optimize the running and setting procedure of the liner. It also led the operator to gain confidence in the feasibility of such critical operations even on the more challenging wells. Detailed engineering and collaboration were key to this success. Such methodology can be applied on every well where weight transfer is a potential issue. As the industry is heading towards digitalization and automation, this case study is a prime example which demonstrates the added value of combining advanced physics-based simulations with time based downhole data.

Origins of the African Offshore Oil and Gas Cooperation Milestone: The Nigeria – São Tomé & Principe Regime

This paper aims at identifying and explaining the design principles of the joint development regime between Nigeria and São Tomé & Principe, analysing the subsequent dynamics – the nature of cooperation – generated by the regime's design. In order to fulfil its objectives, it shall start by explaining the applicable socio-legal research methodology, then continue with the analysis of the case study, finishing with the relevant conclusions. Characterized by large oil reserves, low development capacity, international oil companies appetite, and corrupt governments, this work depicts Nigeria and São Tomé e Príncipe as large oil reservists with potential but low development capacity, resulting in a dyad of international oil companies keen on offshore development and corrupt governments looking to exploit it. On the other hand, recognition of the offshore development potential in their overlapping claim zone and international oil companies’ pressured the States to improve their political governance, developing on both countries the decision to achieve an international development regime (JDZ) proven profitable for both countries in many ways – not only economic.

SUBSURFACE IMAGING USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR FOR UNDERGROUND OIL AND MINERALS EXPLORATION

A drilling company operates in accordance with a contract which specifies that an oil well will be drilled to a specific depth. The average cost to find and develop an oil and gas property in the United States is $17.01/ barrels-of-oil-equivalent from 2005 to 2007. The cost for onshore development was $13.38/BOE and for offshore development was $49.54/BOE. Based on some statistics one out of five rigs drilled in an area yields oil recovery. This means $20 million has to be spent for prospecting and locating one oil well. The question that arises now is whether it is worth trying all possibilities of reducing the cost of locating an oil well to $4 million and save $16 million. Well, the research presented in this paper is aimed at showing such a possibility.