<Nate Hagens on "The Reality Report" with Jason Bradford at Noon EST The Oil Drum DrumBeat: November 27, 2007>

78 comments on Visit to Shell's Brutus Off-shore Oil/Gas Platform and New Orleans Facility

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oilfield-trash on November 26, 2007 - 6:10pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Sounds like a fine day out! I suspect the statement about the rig being limited to that water depth is not quite accurate. These rigs may have several refits in their lifetimes and be reconfigured for different conditions. Besides, given current rig shortages, most new rigs would find work in other areas of the world - subject to reasonable contract terms and length of tenure.

The comment about "America prohibiting development of its own resources" is plainly intended to be controversial and just daft. Yes - the US limits some areas, but consider the current Baker Hughes rig count figures: 1762 out of 3124 rigs drilling in October 2007 were drilling in America. Put another way 56.4% of all rigs in the world are drilling in the US. It is riddled with wells! Compare that rig count with production as a world percentage.

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Gail the Actuary on November 26, 2007 - 6:41pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I was told that there is a range around the depth at which a TLP such as this one can be used, but that it definitely is not suitable for deep water. If I understood correctly, the weight of the long pipes reaching to the sea floor would be a problem. I know that there was some weight that was a problem.

The rigs that are used in deep water are smaller, and are not tethered to the sea floor. They bob around in the waves a fair amount, more like a ship.

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BobCousins on November 26, 2007 - 7:43pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I think you understood correctly Gail.

Longer legs (tendons) would be required for deeper water, but the extra weight would require greater buoyancy. The buoyancy tanks would allow some range of operation, but if you need to fit bigger tanks you have then effectively built a new TLP.

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Darwinian on November 27, 2007 - 9:55am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The rigs that are used in deep water are smaller, and are not tethered to the sea floor. They bob around in the waves a fair amount, more like a ship.

Gail, are you sure about this? Drill ships are, of course, not tethered. But they have GPS and must keep their engines always pushing against the wind to keep them in the exact same spot, else the wind and waves would snap the drill pipe. A platform, unless it was tethered, would need engines and propellars, always running, to keep the platform in the exact same spot.

Ron Patterson

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Gail the Actuary on November 27, 2007 - 10:45am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

This was the impression I received - more from the point of view that the workers liked living on the tethered ships better, because they were more stable. I am sure you are right that they would need engines pushing against the wind and current. I don't know how effective the engines would be, especially in offsetting the waves coming by.

It seems like I saw some sort of device that that allowed Brutus to bounce a little more than the pipes (or vice versa). It may be that there is some similar device involved with deep water platforms.

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Darwinian on November 27, 2007 - 12:04pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Gail, it is the design of the platform that keeps the it from bobbing up and down like a ship would do, not the tethers. The platform's four very deep hulls or legs, make it very slow to respond to waves, averageing them out so you get very little up and down action because of the waves. A much smaller platform would naturally be much more succeptable to wave action.

The tethers have some slack in them and this allows the platform to move up and down with the tides as well as swells and waves.

Steel tethers are only good for up to 1500 meters (4,920 feet) but Composite Carbon Fiber tethers allow a platform to be tethered in 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) of water.

I think you misunderstood the workers on the platform. All platforms, that are not standing on the sea floor, are tethered.

Ron Patterson

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Gail the Actuary on November 27, 2007 - 12:10pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I am wondering on the very deep sea platforms if there is a difference between the drill ship and the platform. The drill ships or drilling rigs have to be very stable, but the platforms may not have to be.

I mentioned below that some of Brutus's wells are subsea wells, that are not directly below the platform. They are linked by flexible tubing to the platform.
With very deep sea platform's, I am wondering if all of the wells are of this type. They are originally drilled by some specialized drilling rig, but then they are linked with flexible tubing to a platform, that may be at a distance.

Brutus has a total of 12 tethers, three for each hull. My impression from the diagram I saw was that the very deep sea platforms may have only one tether.

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Darwinian on November 27, 2007 - 12:18pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

My impression from the diagram I saw was that the very deep sea platforms may have only one tether.

That may very well be the case. The smaller platforms have only one hull, and due to the flexability of the tubing they may need only one tether.

I really don't see how the tubing could be the tether but perhaps they have some special desing in the tubing that allows this. We need someone in the oil business to answer these questions.

Ron Patterson

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Gail the Actuary on November 27, 2007 - 12:44pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I think the tubing and the tethers are two separate things.

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BobCousins on November 27, 2007 - 2:02pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You can find all this information via Google, Ron, if you care to look.

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Darwinian on November 27, 2007 - 7:11pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Bob, please don't lecture me about using Google. I have googled "Tethered oil platforms" and every other combination imaginable. I found nothing but the links I have already posted except one about tethering offshore wind farms.

I know how to use google and I do use it extensively. If I ask a question, you can be damn well assured that I have already googled it and did not find a satisfactory answer.

Thank you for your sarcastic comment anyway.

Ron Patterson

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EntropyBrain on November 27, 2007 - 9:30pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Ron:

I've found some interesting things here: http://www.offshore-mag.com/resourcecenter/os_poster_series.cfm

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Gail the Actuary on November 28, 2007 - 12:16am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I hadn't looked at this site. Offshore magazine, Oil and Gas Journal, and LNG observer all seem to be affiliated. You have to have a subscription for some things on the site, but you can get quite a lot of free stuff, including a big poster with all kinds of statistics about the various off-shore oil platform.

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BobCousins on November 28, 2007 - 4:59pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

"I found nothing"...

Hey, Ron, I was about to apologise, but I find thousands of links for your query. Also I easily found many explanatory links for oil platform, drill ship, semi-submersible platform, tension leg platform etc. Therefore I find your claim hard to believe.

I stand by my claim these things are easy to find, but I did assume the level of skill required in searching was low.

Rather than speculate about what you do not know, why did you not declare you had no good information? I think you are a bit pissed because I called your bluff. ;)

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Darwinian on November 28, 2007 - 11:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Right Bob, google (Tethered Offshor Oil Platforms) and you get 78,700 replies. None of them are even remotely related to the discussion. There are thousands about offshore oil platforms, or oil, or platforms, or thethered but nothing that even came close to answering our question. Except the one I posted which I found by using Google. But it did not completely answer the question. It was only about carbon fiber tethers and how they were made. I could find nothing addressing the question Gail and I were discussing. Nothing Bob, but if you can find a page discussing how platforms are tethered, how deepwater smaller platforms are tethered, and whether the platform is allowed to move or not, then please post it.

Bob, did you actually look at any of the pages? Or, as I suspect, you just saw the number of pages that fit at least one of the words in the search phrase? Then you replied that you got thousands of hits? It doesn't matter if you got a million hits, what matters is what information was on the pages.

Do the search again Bob. Then tell me which page answeres the question Gail and I were discussing. Then tell me how many pages you had to examine before you found it. I examined, not thousands, but dozens that looked the most promising. NONE of them even remotely addressed the question Gail and I were discussing.

Why are you such a dick head Bob? Must you always be so damn sarcastic. This is not a list where we try to put each other down. We are trying to gather information that pertains to peak oil but there are always a few really smart asses in the crowd who try to show their superiority by being an absolute smart ass.

Ron Patterson

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MUDLOGGER on November 27, 2007 - 6:10pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Ok I will try to find time to cover a drilling 101 since there are a lot of questions being raised here about TLP systems, Dynamic positioning, Marine risers, rig types, drill bit sizes etc.

I will try to put it together and email to TOD.

May take a couple of days , cos we are a bit busy at the moment :-)

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Gail the Actuary on November 27, 2007 - 6:28pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You might send it to me. My e-mail address is GailTverberg at comcast dot net.

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MUDLOGGER on November 28, 2007 - 9:27am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

tried to email you without success.

Excuse the cumbersome links.

Notes on Drilling Rigs

Further to Gail – the – Actuary’s recent visit to a Tension Leg Platform, here is a brief guide to Rig types. There are several types: mobile and fixed installations

Geographically Mobile General Depths
1. Land Rig Land and shallow islands
2. Barge Inshore and swamps
3. Jack Up To water depths of ca 100m
4. Anchored Semi submersibles To Water depths of ca. 500m
5. Semi submersibles using dynamic positioning To water depths of 2000m
6. Drillships, again using dynamic positioning To water depths of 3000m

Geographically Fixed
1. Jacket Platform
2. Tension Leg platform
3. Floating production platform

A useful schematic of a basic land rig can be found here, And the article is worth reading in full.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corpo...

Here is a useful introduction from the UKOOA Website:

How oil is formed:

http://www.ukooa.co.uk/education/students/origins.cfm

How oil migrates and is trapped:

http://www.ukooa.co.uk/education/students/move.cfm

How the search commences:

http://www.ukooa.co.uk/education/students/searchog.cfm

Drilling:
http://www.ukooa.co.uk/education/students/drilling.cfm

How oil is produced:
http://www.ukooa.co.uk/education/students/production.cfm

Looking at each in turn.

LAND RIGS (and Barges)
Have not really changed much in principle for the last 60 years. Though they have grown larger in size to accommodate drilling to greater depths.

Basic components are a hoisting system (Derrick); A prime mover – usually a diesel engine that provides electric power to the lifting system and to the rotary table which enables the rotation of the drill pipe and supplies power to the mud pumps for the circulation of drilling mud.

A series of tanks store the drilling mud. This is pumped down the drill pipe from surface and through the nozzles of the drill bit. Drilling mud used to:

1. Lubricate and cool the drill bit.
2. Provide a pressure at depth that is at least equal to any pressures in the formation that have or are being drilled.
3. As the drill bit breaks up rock formations into cuttings, these are carried back to surface in the Annulus by the drill fluid. Shaker screens at the surface separate the drilling mud from the rock cuttings in order to reuse the drilling fluid.

JACK UP RIGS
If you take the basic package as described above and add accommodation and storage into a large barge and also add three or four legs that are jacked down to the sea bed and the barge is then jacked up above seal level then you have a jack up rig:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dockwise.com/files/v...

As you can see from this picture, they can be lifted and transported over long distances and can also be towed over short distances.

Jack ups are shallow water dwellers. Such as the southern and central north sea, inshore GOM.

SEMISUBMERSIBLES

If you take the drilling package, accommodation modules etc and build them onto pontoons, and then you can tow the rig around, fill the pontoons with water and anchor them to the sea bead while the rig floats. These beasts live in water depths of up to ca 500 metres. They are useful in the deeper areas of the North Sea and Atlantic margin.

Here is a typical Semi and you can clearly see the pontoons:

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.allum.no/images/bing...

DEEP WATER SEMISUBMERSIBLES

Larger and more powerful than the usual semi sub, these are built for deeper water where the depths do not allow full anchoring to the sea floor. They are controlled and held in position by propulsion units on all sides or ‘Dynamic Positioning ‘Again, they are usually towed into position by tugs.

Here is the Leif Eriksson:

http://www.jotun.com/www/us/20020225.nsf?OpenDatabase&db=/www/us/2002022...

DRILLSHIPS
The self contained drilling and accommodation modules are housed in the hull of a ship. They can move under their own power and maintain position over the well being drilled by dynamic positioning. These are the beasts of deepwater.

http://www.marinetalk.com/articles-marine-companies/art/Ultra-Deepwater-...

All of the above are MOBILE and are used for exploration and appraisal. In some cases, a Jack up can act as a production platform as well.

In order to maintain control of the well and ensure returns of drilling mud to the surface, you need two specific pieces of kit:

MARINE RISER – a pipe from the rig to the sea floor. In order to cope with heave and tide on a floating system, then the Marine Riser is fitted with a TROMBONE JOINT which allows movement in the vertical. These risers latch onto the BLOW OUT PREVENTER

On a guide base on the sea floor sits the Blow out preventer. This is a series of hydraulic rams that can close around the drillpipe or in extreme cases shear through the drillpipe.

Here is a nice schematic of all types as seen from the sea floor: It includes a TLP

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.offshore-technology....

Platforms which stand on the seabed are fairly self explanatory. They have production pipe work from wells and also a marine riser system for drilling over a template of slots on the sea floor.

TENSION LEG PLATFORMS

Where water depths are too great to construct a jacket, TLP systems are a solution.

This details design and construction pretty well:

http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/ursa/

The buoyant platform is anchored in place by TENDONS. 32 Inches in diameter with a wall thickness of 1.5 inches. In total, the tendons weigh 16000 tons There are 16 tendons with four at each corner. The TLP is capable of drilling and Producing.

FLOATING PRODUCTION PLATFORMS (FPSO) Are basically ships.

Here is AKPO, Offshore Nigeria:

http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/akpofpso/

LETS LOOK AT ARCTIC RIGS (SAKHALIN, Shallow water, Ice bound most months.)

Here is one solution:

http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/projects/sakhalin2/

‘’MOLIKPAQ (PA-A) PLATFORM
The Molikpaq offshore platform is the centre of the Vityaz Production Complex. It is a converted drilling rig that was first used in Arctic waters offshore Canada. In 1998, the Molikpaq was towed to Korea where it was upgraded for the Sakhalin II Project. It was then towed from Korea to Russia where a steel 'spacer', manufactured by the Amur Shipyard was retro-fitted to the bottom of the Molikpaq so that it could be used in the deeper offshore waters at Sakhalin Island. The structure was specially constructed for use in severe ice conditions. The completed steel and concrete substructure was filled with sand permanently anchoring it to the seabed.
During Phase 2 of the Sakhalin II Project the Molikpaq platform will be connected to the new pipeline infrastructure allowing year-round production.
Molikpaq sits 16km offshore, north east of Sakhalin. The platform is 120m wide, weighs 37,523t, and is home to over 150 people. Molikpaq is ballasted down with 278,000m³ of sand. In the winter, offshore temperatures, with the wind chill, drop to -70°C.
LUNSKOYE (LUN-A) PLATFORM
The LUN-A platform will be located 15km off the north eastern coast of Sakhalin Island, in 48m of water. This is a drilling and production platform with minimum processing facilities. Oil / condensate and gas separation, including gas treatment for transport to the LNG plant, will be carried out onshore at the Onshore Processing Facility (OPF). This platform will produce the majority of the gas for the LNG plant. Construction was started in July 2003 and production is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2007.’’
AND NOW CANADA – THE HIBERNIA OFFSHORE FIELD:
http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/hibernia/
DEVELOPMENT OF HIBERNIA
It was decided that the Hibernia field would be developed using a special gravity-base structure, strong enough to withstand a collision with a one-million-tonne iceberg (expected to occur once every 500 years) and a direct hit from a six-million-tonne iceberg (expected just once every 10,000 years).

Hope this helps.

Will do some basic notes on drilling a well later.

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Gail the Actuary on November 28, 2007 - 11:12am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Very interesting! Thanks.

My e-mail should work. The most common mistakes are putting a period between my first and last (there isn't any) and misspelling my last name. Most people can't believe that the first two letters are "t" and "v". My surname is Norwegian.

My e-mail address is also given when you click on "gail the actuary" in the staff section.

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Gail the Actuary on November 28, 2007 - 11:22am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I thought of another reason my e-mail may not work. I have had difficulty with some overseas e-mails. I see you are in the UK.

Try this one instead:

info at tverbergactuarial dot com

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MUDLOGGER on November 28, 2007 - 11:28am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thanks.

Will try again next time.

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MUDLOGGER on November 28, 2007 - 11:11am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Here is some basics on constructing a well:

DRILLING A WELL.

Let us start with a Semi-submersible, say working in the North Sea. Lets start with a vertical well.

Key Components.

The Semi is in position over the guide base, anchors are positioned, the initial spud phase of the well is complete and the 26 inch conductor has been driven into the loose sands and clays at the sea bed.

The Marine riser is latched on to the Blow out preventor and the Riser travels all the way up from the BOP on the sea bed up to the underside of the Drill Floor. The trombone joint on the Marine Riser allows for the vertical movement of the Marine Riser. The riser is suspended in place using steel ropes. The riser is connected to the rig circulating system through a flow line.

The Schlumberger online glossary is a superb tool for looking up terms.

BOP
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=BOP%20stack

RISER
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drilling%20riser

The Equipment on the Drill floor
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=rig%20floor

The Derrick
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=derrick

The Travelling Blocks
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=traveling%20block

The Top Drive
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=topdrive

The Rotary Table
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=rotary%20table

The drill crew make up the Bottom Hole assembly (BHA) in sections starting with the drill bit, drill collars and stabilisers and perhaps an Measurement While Drilling tool.

Drill bit
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=bit

Drill Collars
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drill%20collar

Measurement While Drilling tool
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=measurements%2Dwhi...

When the BHA is made up then Drill pipe is added
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drillpipe

Drilling fluid is mixed to the correct properties (yield point, gel strength, oil water ratio, density, viscosity etc by the drill crew and the mud engineer.

Drilling fluid
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drilling%20fluid

Mud Engineer
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=mud%20engineer

The mud is stored in pits and can be pumped down the drill string using very large triplex pumps which form part of the circulating system.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=circulation%20system

So, we can start drilling. The drilling fluid lubricates the bit, removes cuttings back to surface and helps maintain well bore stability.

The Mudlogger and Wellsite Geologist analyses and describes the cuttings. And construct a log.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=lithostratigraphy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudlogger

At the start, the hole diameter is fairly large and when a certain depth is reached then

Drilling is stopped. This is section Total Depth or TD.

Why Stop?

The hole sections need to be cased off at intervals to avoid , hole collapse, hole washout, squeezing etc or because the next section may contain formations that are over pressured and the safe way to control the well if a kick occurs is to have the looser, less competent beds sealed off behind casing and cemented in. The bit is tripped out back to surface, and Casing is run.

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=casing

The casing string is a lesser diameter than the drill bit that has just been used to section TD. The BOP’s are re-latched after testing, the riser re latched and a new drill string and BHA with a smaller diameter bit is made up, run into bottom. The casing shoe is drilled out and a few feet of hole drilled. A formation Integrity test is performed by pressurising the formation up in order to see if the formation could stand the pressure of a gas or fluid kick. http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=formation%20fractu...

Drilling continues to the next section TD.

Typically, Well bore diameters are as follows: (In inches)

BIT , CASING
17 ½ , 13 3/8
Next section:
12 ¼ , 9 5/8
Next section
8 ½ , 7 (usually by the time you are at 8 ½, then you are at the reservoir)
Any further sections:
6, 5

The casing setting depths are planned by the Company Geologists, Drilling Engineers at the well planning stage. Variations occur due to formations coming shallow or deeper than prognosed, but when that happens there is a significant amount of communication to ensure optimum setting depth.

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drilling%20procedure

At final TD , the Open section of Hole is logged.
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=logging%20run

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=wireline%20log

Depending upon the type of hole (Exploration, Appriasal , Development, ) then well is plugged and abandoned or completed as a producer.

This next link is very good and I wish I had spotted it before the last post:

http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/extraction_offshore.asp

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new account on November 27, 2007 - 3:33pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The drill ships or drilling rigs have to be very stable, but the platforms may not have to be.



All drill ships and semi-submersibles will be equipped with a motion compensation system to address the problem of vessel motion in a sea way. All drilling systems need to be motion stabilzed.


On the systems that I am familiar with the entire drill floor is suspended on a set of compensators with one situated at each corner of the drill floor. These act to raise or lower the drill floor in order to counteract vessel motion. In effect the drill floor remains fixed in space and the drilling vessel pitches around it.


Motion compensation is required as without it vessel motion would be transferred to the drill string. This vertical motion may initiate a pumping action (swabbing)that increases the liklihood of a loss of well control. In the pictures from your trip I cannot see any motion compensation equipment. I have never worked in GOM but suspect it is a bit of a millpond - on the Grand Banks we rode out 70 footers (after disconnect and hang off) and a TLP would be unable to deal with this range of motion.


The drill string reaches the seafloor through a riser system. This is not used to secure the vessel; it is just a closed conduit between the VL and the BOP on the sea floor.


Drill ships and semi-subs will normally be anchored and the anchor system can be tensioned to maintain VL lateral position. In severe weather VL thrusters will also be used to counter sea motion and in some deepwater systems Dynamic Positioning using thrusters is all that is used as water depth precludes running anchors.


Sorry to hear you didn't have to go through offshore survival training to get offshore - the heli ditiching module is lots of fun!!


Cheers!

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doug fir on November 27, 2007 - 4:15pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Maybe you can address one of my questions on offshore platforms.

How does the industry intend to compensate for movements of pack ice when placing these in the new spheres opened by Arctic thawing? Impossible, there won't be offshore platforms in the Arctic, or does perhaps Statoil have some expertise in this area?

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Gail the Actuary on November 27, 2007 - 5:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

IIRC, one newspaper article I read a while back seemed to suggest that there might not be offshore platforms in the arctic. The article talked about subsea wells with flexible tubing, connected to an underwater hub. It seems like the underwater hubs would have to be pretty deep, to stay out of the way of icebergs.

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new account on November 27, 2007 - 11:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The folks with the most experience in arctic waters would be those who worked for Dome Petroleum and HBOG (both now defunct). Dome built gravel islands atop its locations and was looking at harsh environment jack-ups before the bottom fell out of the market in the mid 80's.


The arctic is relatively shallow and the ice is largely floating floe or pan ice. The bergs are calved from the glaciers on Greenland and the folks with the most experience in dealing with those are working Hibernia and the adjacent locations. Hibernia is a GBS platform and this was designed to withstand a direct iceberg hit; when it finally occurs we will have an answer to what happens when irresistible force meets immovable object.


The floating units have explosive links in their anchor cables so they can sever these and move off location if this is required. Problem is it is very difficult to project the future track of an oncoming berg. I remember days staring at an oncoming mountain of ice. You don't want to cut and run to the left because the berg may go over there. And you don't want to run to the right because maybe it will mosey down that way. Safer to just stay where you are and face it down. A long drawn out, very slow moving, high stakes poker game.


My hunch is that if they do drill the arctic they will use jack ups for deep water and build gravel pads and islands along the coast. Given current environmental projections, ice will not be a problem. You can get short steep seas but generally these are not a problem.


You are making the assumption that there will be wildcatting in the Arctic. I appreciate all the graphs that Stuart and Euan churn out (WHT's article is a doozy) but what we are talking about is not pools of oil but great big pools of money. If there were a few hundred billion dollars sitting in a corner of Kansas, how long do you think it would sit there before it walked off, or got claimed? Not long at all. If there were several hundred billion dollars just under the Florida coast do you think everyone would just sit back all relaxed and talk about how we got to preserve the scenic view? Do you believe the oil industry is unable to buy the government it wants?


The oil industry pumps dollars and they have no hesitation about using this cashflow to ensure access to even more money. If there was oil in the Arctic, Dome and HBOG would still be operating today and rolling in cash. There is a lot of stranded gas up there but all this talk of oil is a chimera. It's all rumour oil. The fact that no major is rolling heavy equipment into the arctic, or fighting tooth and nail to secure a lease offshore Florida, suggests there is not much worth fighting over. Why would you spend billions cooking up muck in Alberta if you could just go punch a nice clean hole in the ocean and let untold billions flow into your accounts? Where is the romance in driving a dump truck?

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BobCousins on November 27, 2007 - 12:33pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

There is no slack in the tendons, they are rigid steel pipes 32in across and 1.25in thick. The whole point of the design is that the tendons are kept in permanent tension by anchoring to the sea bed at one end and the buoyancy of the hulls at the surface. If the platform moved up and down the tendons would break - they are not designed to carry a compressive load.

All this stuff is on the Shell web site btw.

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78 comments on Visit to Shell's Brutus Off-shore Oil/Gas Platform and New Orleans Facility

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