INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF SUBSEA

ENGINEERING
 
 
Gulf of Mexico Decline
About the Delegate - Brief work History

 Brief work history

 Projects worked on
 Areas of future interest
 What do you expect to gain from this course.
Why offshore, why Subsea?, Why Deep water?

 In the oil and gas industry the term offshore, subsea,

deepwater relates to the exploration, drilling and
development of oil and gas fields in underwater locations.
 What are the drivers
 The world’s energy consumption
 Development of third world Countries
 Revolutionization of global industries
 Land reserves are almost exhausted
 Shallower waters have all been exploited
Worlds energy Consumption.
GoM subsea development

Number of shallow and deep water subsea completions in the GoM from
1955 to 2005.
Global Energy drive

 AFRICA
 In Africa, oil companies such as Total, BP, ExxonMobil,
Chevron and Eni will try to take advantage of the area's
ample resources to leverage against the declining reserves
from other mature areas. Total is leading the subsea bill
with a projected US$8 billion of expenditure within
the forecast period
The Nigerian Market Research
Fig 2 Subsea Market by Definition – Nigeria
Table 2 Subsea Market by Definition – Nigeria
Courtesy-INTSOK Annual Market Report 2010
The Nigerian subsea market grew from
USD 866 million in 2004 to USD 1.4
billion in
2009. Going forward, the market is
expected to grow further, reaching USD
5.5 billion
in 2014. This growth will be driven by
projects such as Uge (ExxonMobil),
Bolia
(Shell), Bonga Northwest and
Southwest (Shell), and Egina (Total).
Northsea Decline
Asia
Africa Today
Major up-coming projects

 Egina - Total
 Ibok - Afren
 Bonga SW/Aparo - SNEPCo
 Erha Phase 2 - Mobil
 OML 245 – Agip
 Shallow water and Deep water Concept

Shallow Water
 The term shallow water or shelf is used for shallow water depths where bottom-
founded facilities like jack-up drilling rigs can be used, and where saturation diving
is feasible.

(0-200m water depth) In

saturation diving, the divers live
in a pressurized environment,
which can be a saturation
system or "saturation spread", a
hyperbaric environment on the
surface, or an ambient pressure
underwater habitat.
 This may be maintained for up to several weeks, and they are
decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their
tour of duty. By limiting the number of decompressions in this
way, the risk of decompression sickness is significantly
reduced.
 "Saturation" refers to the fact that the diver's tissues have
absorbed the maximum partial pressure of gas possible for that
depth due to the diver being exposed to breathing gas at that
pressure for prolonged periods. This is significant because once
the tissues become saturated, the time to ascend from depth, to
decompress safely, will not increase with further exposure.
  
TECHNOLOGY HISTORICAL TRENDS
 General Subsea Solutions
 Subsea Processing: With production equipment located on the
seafloor rather than on a fixed or floating platform, subsea
processing provides a less expensive solution for myriad
offshore environments. Originally conceived as a way to
overcome the challenges of extremely deepwater situations,
subsea processing has become a viable solution for fields
located in harsh conditions where processing equipment on the
water's surface might be at risk. Additionally, subsea processing
is an emergent application to increase production from mature
or marginal fields.
Subsea processing contd
Subsea processing contd
Subsea processing contd
Subsea processing contd
Subsea processing contd
Subsea processing contd
 Subsea processing contd
 What is subsea processing?

Manipulating the well stream between wellhead and host

Why Subsea processing?

• Increased productivity and recovery
• Reduced investments, operating costs and increased revenue • Improved flow
assurance
• Longer tie-back distances
• HSE
–Less offshore personnel
–Less materials
–Less emissions
–Less to decommission
 Subsea processing contd

• Flowlines and riser efficiency

• Easy development of harsh fields, while reducing topside
expenditures for equipment.
• Subsea processing converts marginal fields into
economically viable developments
 Subsea processing contd
 TYPES:
 Subsea Water Removal
 Subsea Water re-injection or disposal
 Single phase and Multi phase boosting of well fields
 Sand and solid separation
 Gas/liquid separation and boosting
 Gas treatment and compression

 Subsea Processing Projects Example

 While subsea processing has long been a dream of upstream engineers, the
technology has just recently been put into practice. With the successful start-up of
the world's first full-field subsea separation, boosting and injection system on the
StatoilHydro-operated Tordis field in the North Sea in 2007, the dream became a
reality. Through subsea processing, the mature Tordis oil field increased recovery
by an extra 35 MMbo and extended the life of the field by 15 to 17 years.
Subsea processing contd
 Shell's BC-10 project offshore Brazil was the world's first
subsea system with gas/liquid separation and boosting.
Developed via 13 subsea wells, six subsea separators and
boosters, and an FPSO, the BC-10 project began
producing heavy oil from ultra-deepwaters in July 2009.
 Total's Pazflor project offshore West Africa is utilizing the
region's first-ever subsea gas/liquid separation system.
One of the world's deepest water developments, Shell's 
Perdido project in the US Gulf of Mexico is currently
under development and will also incorporate subsea
boosting and separation to achieve production.
Tordis field separator
Tordis subsea production facility
Tie backs
 The subsea tieback is an engineering process connecting
an untapped satellite oil field to an existing production
centre. This process used to be a technological and
financial burden, but today it’s one that increasingly makes
sense due to advances in engineering and improvements in
operations. These drivers have 
pushed the average tieback distance farther than ever, from
a few kilometres in 1970 to a 17 kilometres estimate by
2017. And maximum distances are growing too, with a
Chevron-led group completing an estimated 188
kilometres subsea tieback to shore by 2016.
Tieback contd
 Despite these advances, however, several considerations
must still be made in regards to whether a subsea tieback is
economically feasible. An untapped field’s distance from
an existing installation, water depth, complexity, and
recoverable volume were all at the top of the list, with
recovery rates and any potential tariffs also being worthy
of consideration. The field’s distance from an existing
production facility is the foremost consideration that
drives companies to consider the technology in the first
place. As existing major oil fields have matured,
processors have considered additional ways to extend the
production of existing fields.
Tieback contd
 Connecting to smaller satellite fields within a given
distance from the production facility does just that.
However, the fields’ distances from the facility as well as
water depth typically drive how much additional
investment in infrastructure will be required. In some
cases, the cost of placing the added infrastructure at long
distances and the problems that can arise from 
attempting to ensure flow rates ultimately don’t make
economic sense.
Subsea Architecture, Regional Differences

 Subsea Template
 Clusters Well
 Satellite Well
Wellhead System
 Subsea wellhead systems.
 The subsea wellhead system (Fig. 1) is a pressure-
containing vessel that provides a means to hang off and
seal off casing used in drilling the well. The wellhead also
provides a profile to latch the subseablowout preventer
(BOP) stack and drilling riser back to the floating drilling
rig. In this way, access to the wellbore is secure in a
pressure-controlled environment. The subsea wellhead
system is located on the ocean floor, and must be installed
remotely with running tools and drillpipe.
Wellhead System contd
 The subsea wellhead inside diameter (ID) is designed with
a landing shoulder located in the bottom section of the
wellhead body. Subsequent casing hangers land on the
previous casing hanger installed. Casing is suspended from
each casing-hanger top, and accumulates on the primary
landing shoulder located in the ID of the subsea wellhead.
Each casing hanger is sealed off against the ID of the
wellhead housing and the outside diameter (OD) of the
hanger itself with a seal assembly that incorporates a true
metal-to-metal seal. This seal assembly provides a pressure
barrier between casing strings, which are suspended in the
18¾-in. wellhead.
Wellhead System contd
 Once drilling is complete, the wellhead will provide an
interface for the production tubing string and the subsea
production tree, or, if required, a point to tie back to a
platform. The design objective of the subsea wellhead
system is twofold:
 To provide the operator with the latest equipment
technology, incorporating reliable solutions for the well
conditions to be encountered, as well as maximum
strength and capacities.
 To provide a system that is easy to install, and requires a
minimal amount of handling and rig time.
Wellhead system contd
 A standard subsea wellhead system will typically consist
of the following:
 Drilling guide base.
 Low-pressure housing.
 High-pressure wellhead housing (typically 18¾ in.).
 Casing hangers (various sizes, depending on casing
program).
 Metal-to-metal annulus sealing assembly.
 Bore protectors and wear bushings.
 Running and test tools
Wellhead system
SUBSEA XMAS
TREESUBSEA
 The Xmas Tree
Subsea trees are like land trees, with the same primary means of
flow control which consist of series of valves and sometimes a
flow control device (choke) along the flow path of produced fluid
with associated controls equipment. Although trees in early days
of subsea development relied heavily on diver assistance in
installation and operation, the trend is towards remotely operated
vehicles. This Xmas Trees are installed by drilling rigs using
guidelines established between a pre-installed guide base
structure and a rig for positioning and orientating. For deep
waters where use of guidelines is not practical, guidelineless
system is available on the sea bed for the life time of the field.
 Xmas Tree
There are two types of subsea trees;
 Vertical Trees
 Horizontal Trees
Both Subsea Trees can also be grouped into two designs namely:
Production Trees—which is associated with bringing produced hydrocarbons to the
surface through carefully configured valves. They are also incorporated with chemical
injection and gas injection functionalities to assist the field in optimising the maximum
recoverable oil or gas in place.

Water Injection Trees —Which is associated with re-injecting water into the reservoir
to push pockets of oil to the surface through previously installed production Trees. They
are fitted with less functionalities in comparison to the production Xmas Trees
Vertical Trees
 Vertical Xmas trees had been the main form of subsea trees up
until the early 90’s when the cost of constantly recovering this
Trees to work over a well sky-rocketed making way for a more
workover friendly Horizontal Tree design. Vertical Xmas trees
which are often referred to as conventional Trees are located
between the wellhead and the manifold linked by production
flowlines or jumpers. The Bottom of the Xmas Tree is locked
onto the Well head as to enable the production and annulus
tubing to align with the Xmas Tree bore The tubing is thus
suspended in the wellhead below the Xmas Tree
Vertical Trees
Horizontal Trees
 The Horizontal Trees differ greatly from the vertical trees as all
the valves are located on the side of the main production bore of
the tree which makes room for the tubing hanger to be situated
in the tree. This makes it ideal to recover the production tubing /
completion strings without recovering the Xmas tree.
 Horizontal Xmas Trees are located between the wellhead and the
manifold linked by production flowlines or jumpers. The bottom
of the Xmas Tree is locked onto the wellhead such that the
production and annulus tubing is aligned with the Xmas Tree
bore.
 Unlike the Vertical Xmas Tree, the tubing hanger is located in the
Xmas Tree itself and all the valves are located horizontally to the
side of the main production bore.
Horizontal Trees
 Please note that since the tubing hanger is set in the Xmas
Tree, the Xmas Tree must be set before the tubing is run
Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
 PMV - This is one of the biggest valves within a
production Xmas Tree structure. This is the first Isolation
Valve just after the down hole safety valve and it is used to
shut the well in. The valve has to be open during normal
production operations. It is normal to see in some
instances where two production master valves are installed
for this purpose and this is customary within high
temperature and high pressure wells. This provides a dual
barrier and the valves are thus referred to as Lower
Production Master Valve (LPMV) and Upper Production
Master Valve (UPMV)
Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
 PWV-This is another big valve within a production Xmas Tree
structure. The Production Wing Valve is used to control the flow
of production to the manifold. It also serves as the last barrier
from the well /Xmas Tree when production jumpers or flexibles
are being disconnected from the Xmas Tree.
 AMV-The annulus master valve provides the primary isolation
barrier to the annulus tubing. This Valve is normally closed during
production operation but is opened in some instances during
production operation where gas lift is required in the well and the
gas is being supplied through the annulus
 AWV-The annulus wing valve provides a secondary barrier for the
annulus tubing., it is however left open if gas lift is being used but
in most cases during operation, this valve is normally closed
 Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
 SCSSV-The Surface Controlled Subsea Safety Valve is used in
emergencies to isolate the production tubing from the Xmas Tree It is
held open by a high pressure hydraulic signal supplied from the
control module mounted on the Xmas Tree and will fail safe close if
the hydraulic supply is switched off or falls behold the de-latch
pressure
 PSV-The production swab valve is an ROV and hydraulically operated
valve. This valve is used to isolate the production from the Xmas Tree
cap. This valve is normally closed
 ASV-The annulus swab valve provides access to the annulus for cases
where pressure needs to be depleted from the annulus to avoid
annulus tubing collapse. This unfortunately happens when
communication is established between the production tubing and
annulus tubing
 Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
 XOV-The cross over valve is normally closed during production
operation. It is however opened to establish communication between
the production and annulus tubing during routine pressure equalisation
operations, during workovers, flushing and pressure testing operations.
 MIV-Methanol Injection valve is very similar to the CIV but in its case
is used for methanol injection.
 SIV-The Scale inhibitor valve is very similar to the CIV but in its case
is used for scale inhibitor injection into the well.
 CIV-The chemical injection valve is normally closed during production
operation. It is functioned open during chemical injection operations
into the well during chemical injection operations. This valve normally
has non return valves connected within the tubing behind it to restrict
production fluid migrating up the chemical line
 Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
Production Choke-This choke controls the flow of produces
hydrocarbon to the manifold or flowline. It is sometimes
referred to as a valve but it does not seal 100%, hence it can
not be used as a barrier
Annulus Choke-This choke controls the flow of gas lift
requirements from the annulus. It is sometimes referred to as
a valve but it does not seal 100%, hence it can not be used as
a barrier
Xmas Tree Valve Component Functionality
 Other manually operated valves on the Xmas Tree are only
operated locally during workover or intervention
operations.
 Note that all of the hydraulic valves except the SCSSV are
operated by low hydraulic pressure normally around
207bar. The SCSSV normally operates at a pressure of
517bar
Xmas Tree Instrumentation
 Production Choke position indicator
 Annulus (Gas Lift) Choke Position Indicator
 Upstream Production Pressure sensor indicator
 Upstream Gas lift pressure sensor indicator
 Down stream gas lift pressure sensor indicator
 Chemical injection Throttle valve indicator
 Methanol Header pressure indicator
 Down hole pressure and temperature gauges
Xmas Tree Installation

03 - Installing XMT - Shortcut.lnk