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enabling the next generation of networks & services

FIBRE FOR DEEP OFFSHORE OIL & GAS OPERATIONS

Antoine Lecroart, Ronan Michel (Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks)

Email: <antoine.lecroart@alcatel-lucent.com>
Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, Route de Villejust, 91620 Nozay, France

Abstract: Oil & gas operators need to develop offshore fields that are further from shore and
in deeper waters. Fixed structures cannot be used anymore and the complexity of the new
floating assets that are engineered and deployed to operate these remote reservoirs is
increasing. The new platforms or vessels are more and more dependant on secure
communications as the major oil & gas companies are developing integrated operations
relying heavily on expertise centres based onshore. Fast and reliable broadband
communication links between the shore-based hubs and the offshore assets are becoming
critical for these new intelligent fields.
This paper describes overall solutions to address these needs. It reviews available
technologies for connectivity and communications needs suited to deployment in offshore
environments. The unique advantages of submarine cables is developed, as well as their
integration in the complex project-driven offshore development approach, while respecting
the Engineer Procure Install and Commission (EPIC) scheme broadly used in the oil & gas
industry. The necessary planning steps at the engineering phase to ensure extensibility over
time to serve possible geographical extensions of the offshore assets are also discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION
Exploration and production of offshore
fields is evolving and makes increasing use
of various modes of communications. With
the advent of intelligent fields, the trend is
to gather increasing amounts of data from
the subsea environment in the field and to
convey them to competence centres where
the expertise is gathered to take decisions
that will improve the processes in the field. Table 1 : Offshore Communications
Many oil & gas companies are establishing Technologies
these operations centres in their hubs
where technical expertise is normally VSAT offers ubiquity for the connection
located avoiding onerous transportation, but its cost grows rapidly with the
relocation and associated costs. Of course capacity. Satellite connections are sensitive
telecommunications from the field to these to bad weather and are prone to latency.
centres is now becoming critical but Microwave allows more bandwidth and
solutions exist to make them both efficient recent IP based products seem less
and dependable with a choice of different sensitive to propagation issues. However,
technologies, listed in Table 1 below. their limited reach is such that it is difficult
to access the deepest fields far away from
shore. Wimax could be used in ‘hub and

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 conference & convention
spoke’ architectures close to a main facility
to reach temporary rigs or service vessels
around the area. The technology of choice
for the main offshore facilities ought to be
fibre. Submarine cables are not as easy to
install as the radio systems and come with
a different price but they provide almost
unlimited bandwidth with the lowest delay.
Ring or loop architectures provide the
necessary redundant paths to shore
allowing traffic availability to be better
than 99.99%. Furthermore, fibre solutions
developed for the world’s international
telecommunications links are already fully
qualified and exhibit high reliability
performance.
2 DEEP OFFSHORE FIBRE
SOLUTIONS
The field proven submarine cable solutions
for the international telecommunication
networks are characterized by high
capacity optical fibre transmission
(hundreds of Gbit/s), DC power
transmission (tens of kW), and high
quality, highly redundant configurations
for fault free operations over 25 years.
DRY PLANT
Terminal Power Feed Cable
Equipment Equipment
POP Land Cable
Station
Cable
Network Management
Figure 1 : Repeatered System Schematic
This technology can be enhanced for the
oil & gas environment to achieve offshore
connectivity.
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Trans-
Trans-oceanic or Regional connectivity
Deep water connectivity
Figure 2 : Offshore Fibre Communications
The solutions for deep offshore consist of
adapting the traditional shore-to-shore
telecommunication application so that it
can cope with different types of offshore
assets such as a fixed platform or floating
assets such as TLP, SPAR or FPSO. Ring
or loop architectures provide the basis for a
highly reliable backbone connecting each
asset with its own spur thanks to the use of
Branching Units (BUs). The system is
designed to allow the platforms to be
independent and also limits the number of
risers per asset to one, compared to two for
a simple daisy chain. In some cases where
satellite backup is not an option such as the
high latitude areas, duplicated ‘last miles’
WET PLANT may be required for each floating asset.
Branching Unit Repeater, Equalizer
3 LAST MILE ARRANGEMENTS
For the last mile connection, a dynamic
riser is required to access floating assets
while a simple J-tube may be sufficient for
Survey, Lay, Maintain fixed structures in shallower waters.
Alcatel-Lucent’s dynamic riser is based on
a standard submarine optical cable core
with a specific armouring where two layers
of armour wires are used with different
numbers and sizes of steel wires. The two
layers are cabled with opposing pitches so
that there is no residual torque on the cable
when it is installed.
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Figure 3 : ASN Dynamic Riser Design
This torque balanced cable is the basis of
the dynamic riser arrangement which
depends on the local meteorological and
sea conditions, the specific configuration
of the I-Tube used, of its surroundings and
the Response Amplitude Operators
(ROAs) of the floating asset. Following
complex calculations, the riser may be
used in a simple catenary arrangement or
with additional submerged buoys to obtain
a lazy-S configuration. Bend limiters
and/or bend stiffeners may also used to
complement the riser arrangement.
Added complexity may come from the use
of Fibre Optic Rotating Joints (FORJs) as
some FPSOs adopt the turret architecture
allowing the vessel to rotate freely. In
some cases, the turret is designed to be
detached from the vessel itself allowing the
vessel to evacuate should a major hazard
be forecast in the area such as a hurricane
or a drifting iceberg. It is important to use
FORJs that minimise the variation of some
key optical parameters as they rotate, such
as the optical attenuation or the return loss.
The FORJs could also limit the length of
the overall last mile arrangement as most
of them do not accept very high optical
powers. This may prevent, for instance, the
use of high power boosters or Raman
sources in the optical design of the spur to
the rotating asset.
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enabling the next generation of networks & services
Another approach is to equip some of the
many umbilicals with fibres and allow the
last mile connection to take place subsea
with a combination of wet mate
connectors, subsea optical jumpers and
umbilical termination assemblies. In this
case, a special cable termination is
provided and optical connections can be
performed subsea by an ROV handling the
jumpers made of flexible hose and wet
mate connectors.
Both the separate riser and combined
umbilical approaches are valid and will
solve the last mile issue adequately,
provided enough communication is
established with the project team in charge
of the Subsea Umbilicals Risers and
Flowlines activities (SURF) of the assets.
4 PLANNING AHEAD
The other big difference with satellite is
the necessity of detailed planning before
installing a fibre network as a length of
cable on the seabed cannot be moved as
easily as a satellite antenna atop the living
quarters of a platform or FPSO. A fibre
network is an investment for 25 years.
Although it can evolve and be extended, it
is much better if its possible extensions are
actually planned from day one. This
planning phase requires the knowledge of
how the field will evolve in time and
whether new structures (topside or subsea)
will be coming in the future. This
knowledge is in general very sensitive for
the operating oil & gas companies and is
not something they are inclined to share
with a contractor. Yet, it is important to
know how many last miles will actually be
required over the operational phase of the
fibre network, what would be the lengths
of these spurs and how many Branching
Units (BUs) are required whether active
and connected or “dormant” with just a tail
of fibres looped back for later pick-up and
connection when the asset arrives on the
field.
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5 FIBRE BUSINESS CASE: BUY OR
LEASE
Fibre links are also very different from
satellite links when it comes to the way
they can be purchased or leased. The very
specific and dedicated nature of the fibre
network is such that its hardware cannot
easily be re-used for another project or
another customer. The relatively high
portion of specific marine installation
services in the price of a fibre network is
also quite different from the installation
services for radio or satellite transmission.
As such, the traditional approach for a
fibre network is the direct purchase where
the owner of the network will also
maintain and operate it. Clearly, it is the
CAPEX model that dominates the fibre
business either with single customers or
consortia of customers who normally bind
themselves through a Construction &
Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) at the
outset of each project.
Operating a fibre network is not very
difficult and all the suppliers in the
industry include comprehensive hands on
training sessions in their offers that allow
the owner’s personnel to be fully versed in
the day to day operation of the network.
Remote expertise from the supplier is also
available and can be purchased as an
additional service.
The marine maintenance is a serious issue
as any down time of the system may affect
the overall availability of the
communications. For oil & gas
applications, this can impact the operations
of the connected assets. Telecom operators
have traditionally used Maintenance
Agreements to make sure that their cable
will be repaired in a given lapse of time.
The principle is such that the maintenance
provider will provision a number of cable-
ships to guarantee, for a given yearly fee,
that a repair vessel can sail in an agreed
time after a cable failure has been notified.
The yearly fee is normally fixed and does
not include the cost incurred for a specific
repair campaign. The fee is generally
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proportional to the actual length of the
cable network entering into the agreement.
For oil & gas operators, the situation could
be different as most of the offshore
operations in large basins require a
permanent fleet of various services vessels.
Local arrangements with the operators of
this fleet can allow for a marine
maintenance spread for cable repair to be
readily mobilized on board an adequate flat
deck DP2 vessel for instance. Final
arrangements for the marine maintenance
are likely to be dealt with on a case by case
basis depending on the local conditions for
the different fields and the local rules and
regulations.
The ‘leased service’ approach may be
attractive to some oil & gas operators as it
is what they normally deal with when
using satellite connections. A number of
the major oil & gas companies have also
decided to externalize functions related to
information technologies and
communications as a corporate strategic
move. It is understood that tax benefits
might be gained by this approach as it
limits the amount of immobilized assets.
Yet, the business case for a telecom
operator who may consider building a
dedicated network for oil & gas operators
in a given basin does not appear obvious.
There will almost certainly be no other
customers of the network than the oil &
gas operators and no synergies are to be
expected by trying to combine the network
with another domestic or international
cable project. In the end, the telecom
operator will simply act as a bank to the oil
& gas companies and it may not be
economical in the long run for the oil &
gas companies to lease the fibre services if
they have the cash to directly purchase the
network.
Using a middleman will not avoid the
necessary discussions between the supplier
and the asset owner when it comes to
operational matters related to the
installation of the last miles, including
dynamic riser configurations, precise cable
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route definition, installation procedures,
qualification of the vessels, tools and
personnel used, operational permits, health
& safety, etc. The fibre, in fact, has to be
seen as yet another critical element in the
busy and complex environment in which it
has to be installed. It is naturally part of the
SURF package and at some point will have
to be dealt with by the SURF experts of the
oil & gas company. This tends to indicate
that the sensible way to deal with an
offshore fibre network is by direct
purchase and it is interesting to notice that
the recent large scale fibre network in the
Gulf of Mexico was acquired in such a
way.
6 CULTURAL GAP
There seems to be some wariness between
the oil & gas industry and the telecom
submarine cable industry yet each could
benefit from knowing the other better.
In the oil & gas industry, Engineer Procure
Construct (EPC) or Engineer Procure
Install Commission (EPIC) contracts are
widely selected as the preferred contracting
strategy for pipeline and facilities projects.
EPC/ EPIC contracts provide a single point
responsibility for all aspects of the project
and enable close coordination between
engineering design, procurement and
construction activities.
The EPC/EPIC scope of work will
generally be tendered following
completion of the Front End Engineering
Design (FEED) package for the project.
The EPC/ EPIC scope will then include the
development of the FEED into a full
detailed engineering design prior to
procurement of materials and construction.
In the telecom submarine cable industry,
purchasers sign turnkey contracts with
suppliers, encompassing all aspects of
system design, manufacture, installation,
commissioning and long-term support.
Although the EPC/EPIC terminology is not
usually applied, there are many similarities
with the turnkey contract approach.
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enabling the next generation of networks & services
However, in the oil & gas industry,
because the field topologies and the
characteristics of the products extracted
generally differ, project specific
engineering is the norm whereas in the
submarine cable industry, a selection of
generic products (some of which being
slightly modified on a case by case basis)
are integrated to create project solutions
It is also well known that the oil & gas
industry has Health, Safety and
Environment high in its priority list and all
related procedures are duly documented.
Documentation and project management
are also two other fields where differences
can be seen between the two industries.
Yet both are very concerned by technical
risk mitigation, both look for best-in-class
solutions and both are driven by very high
service availability requirements, which in
the case of the oil & gas sector contribute
to continuity of production and lowering of
uplift costs.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Although this paper underlines some added
complexity of fibre solutions compared to
satellite solutions, the true operational
benefits of the fibre must also be
underlined. It is indeed more complex to
deal with fibre rather than satellite and this
could explain the relative slowness of fibre
introduction in the oil & gas basins. Yet,
fibre typically brings an increase by an
order of magnitude of the traffic
availability, significantly reduces the
transmission delay and brings an increase
of capacity by three orders of magnitude.
Fibre is a true enabler of critical new
functions such as remote operations, real
time reservoir monitoring and remote
control. As such it can affect the heart of
exploration & production and results in
improved efficiency.
Many major oil & gas companies have
now set rules imposing fibre connections
on all new major offshore assets and it is
only a matter of allowing the time for the
oil & gas industry to bridge the gap with
the submarine telecom industry to adopt
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and embrace this technology as it has

successfully done in other more complex
domains.

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