 Organisations

 Offshore structures
 Offshore vessels
 Function of a production platform
 Oil and gas fields in the world
 Origins of oil and gas
 Petroleum geology
 Refining crude oil
 Oil and gas – From OS to onshore
 DP
 UKOOA
 IOOA
 NAPE
 NOGEPA
 OGP
 Opito Cogent
United Kingdom Offshore Operators
Association

Representative organisation for UK offshore

oil and gas industry

Forum to deal with common interests and

problems + represent operators to the
government and other interested groups.
Irish Offshore Operators’ Association

Umbrella organisation representing oil and

gas companies with operating interests in
Ireland’s offshore hydrocarbon industry.
Nigerian Association of Petroleum
Explorationists

Non-profit organisation.

Educational development of students and

professionals in the earth science
community.
Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and
Production Association

Promoting of common interests of all

companies holding licences offshore the
Netherlands.

Communication with Government, media

and other parties.
International Organisation of
Oil and Gas Producers

OGP members produce more than half the

world’s oil and one third of its gas.

Represents the interests of the upstream

industry before international regulators
and legislators (UN, IMO, …)
Not-for-profit industry-owned organisation.

Exists to deliver innovative skills solutions

that assist the oil and gas extraction
industry in developing a safe workforce
to meet business demands and sustain
the offshore industry in the long term.
Traditional offshore installation utilises a
welded steel, tubular framework or jacket
to support the topside facilities.

This is referred to as fixed steel structure.

Topside varies.
Single jacket installation is typical of the
rigs found in deep water environments.

May consist of any number of bridge-linked

jackets (shallow water).
Was industry’s first choice of installation,
but future may be restricted due to water
depths.

Concrete structure is viable alternative, but

same disadvantages.

=> TLP, FPS

Base manufactured from reinforced
concrete.

Starts in dry-dock and includes void spaces

or caissons suitably designed to provide
the structure with a natural buoyancy.

On location: void spaces flooded.

Void spaces may be pumped dry and used
as storage compartments for crude oil or
filled with permanent iron ore ballast.
Built as alternative to fixed steel structures
and FPS.

First: 1984

Fulfills a role between fixed offshore

installation and FPS.
Combines initial cost saving benefits (FPS)
with operational benefits to fixed offshore
installation.

TLP: floating production facility, tethered to

seabed by number of tension legs.
Box section barge supported on twin hulls.

Minimal water plane area.

Immovable to wave action.

Design doesn’t permit the istallation of an
effective main propulsion plant and heavily
dependant on assistance of support ships for
towage to its destination!

Some vessels are fitted with computer controlled

azimuthing thruster units.
Floating oil rig.

Equipment associated with fixed installation

and is used in conjunction with sub-sea
wellheads to exploit moderate deep
water oilfields.
FPS are selected for 3 reasons:

- field is small
- field is isolated and non-existing
pipeline
- field is located in very deep water
where no fixed platform can be installed

Can lift anchors and depart to other field

when oil production reaches a
commercially unprofitable level.
FPS: monohull or semi-sub

Monohull: strong wind and tide, ample on-

board storage capacity, well suited to off-
loading duties into shuttle tankers

Semi-sub: may require support vessel for

oil storage and facilitate off-loading, are
more stable and greater production
capacity
Floating, storage and off-loading unit.

Storage tanker into which processed oil is

pumped from fixed platform or semi-sub
which has no storage capacity or
connected to sub-sea pipeline.

Off-loading into shuttle tanker.

Floating, production, storage and off-
loading.

Replaces a conventional platform in its

entirety.

Oil is processed and stored on board, prior

to being off-loaded into shuttle tankers.
Significant advantages:

- remote offshore locations

- deep water
- strong ocean currents
- harsh weather
- export pipelines difficult to install or
uneconomic to run
- re-used elsewhere
- marginal fields
Early Production System

Reducing cycle time (= time between

discovery to production)
Floating, production, drilling, storage and off-
loading.

Nearly no monohull FPSOs are fitted with drilling

derricks and workovers have to be carried out
by drill ships.
Production storage vessel.

Designed for exploitation of small fields that

are located in moderate water depths.

Essentially it’s a FPS and shuttle tanker in

one.
 Crude oil carrier: long distances, fairly basic
loading and mooring equipment

 Shuttle tanker: large portion of service life

loading, discharging and manoeuvring
Origins dating 60 years back!

Triangular/rectangular barge fitted with 3/4

moveable legs.

Depth: appr. 120m

Design restrictions (cfr. semi-sub): main
propulsion unit.

Transport: short voyage, tug

long voyage, semi-sub
(heavy lift)
Primarily used for drilling operations, some
are used for accomodation support
vessel.

Jack-up for drilling:

- wildcat drilling (searching for oil or gas)
- drilling wells for permanent installations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Flk0JE97OY
Single point mooring.

Solution for transferring oil from onshore

reception facility or refinery into VLCC
(too big to enter port)

Buoy located at sea, secured by spread of

anchors.
Oil is tranferred from sub-sea pipeline
Submerged Turret Loading.

Buoy moored to the seabed and pulled into

mating cone in the bottom of the vessel.

Internal in the buoy is the turret with

connection to the mooring and riser
systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E72si9psaOw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkkIo5tTOEU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T-wlLgB1zM
 Industrial town at sea
 Carrying personnel and equipment for
hydrocarbon production
 Drilling, preparing water or gas injection
into reservoir, processing oil and gas and
cleaning produced water for disposal at
sea
Top of each production well: branching
series of pipes, gauges and valves =
‘Christmas tree’
=> Crude oil is a hot, corrosive, high
pressure fluid containing gas, water and
sand
 Oil is pumped ashore
 Gas separated from oil, used for fuel,
piped ashore or re-injected in reservoir
 Very little gas is flared (liquids in gas are
removed and gas is compressed, cooled,
dehydrated and piped ashore)
 Formation
 Location
 Drilling
 Exploitation
Oil and gas are hydrocarbons formed from
remains of plants and other organisms
between layers of sediment around 300
million years ago.

These liquid hydrocarbons seeped gradually

through porous rock until they reached
an impervious layer and became trapped,
forming oil or gas field.
Oil in different parts of the world contains
different proportions of the various
hydrocarbons.

North Sea oil is high in naphtha (plastic)

Barrel = volume for petroleum products in
US.

1 barrel = 42 US gallons = 0,15899 m³

1m³ = 6,2897 barrels = appr. 35 imperial

gallons
Refinery = factory where crude oil is
separated by a heat process into many
substances that we rely on for our
normal daily lives.

Rulers, crayons, ink, cartridges, glue,

cosmetics, clothing, shampoo,
detergents, computer hardware, chairs,
coatings for pills, syringes, cd, tyres,
helmets, roller blades,…
 A system which automatically controls a
vessel to maintain her position and
heading exclusively by means of active
thrust.

Since 1960s and early 1970s

Making profit!

Priority naval architecture was design, thus

speed!

Sophistication within vessel’s

manoeuvrability was lower priority
(reducing expenses and rely on tugs).
Depths > 500m: economics of operation
with anchors (piggy-backing)/jack-up?

=> Alternatives

Late 1970s: DP well established technique

ISN’T piece of hardware or software fitted
in the bridge in a stand-alone fashion
(e.g. echo sounder)!

IS vessel function or capability!

Maintain vessel’s position and heading.
DP: control of surge, sway and yaw
Manual or with joystick
The ‘desk’ = MMI (Man-Machine Interface)
Loran-C, GPS, Decca: 15-100m accuracy

DP => < 5m, even > 1m accuracy!

DP system: position update once per

second!
Trade name for system produced by C.
Huygens Laboratorium BV in
Netherlands.

Extensively used in the past, but still

regarded as frontline PRS.

Also used for short range hydrographic and

seismic survey.

Mark IV and Mark V.

Range and bearing of a mobile station from
some known fixed station.

Low power microwave link between

stations, using directional tracking
antennae.

Continuous wave, time delays observed are

directly proportional to distance between
stations.
Fixed station located on board platform,
mobile on vessel.

Mobile station = ‘Master’

Range is measured on mobile, bearing is

measured at fixed.
 Long range
 High accuracy
 Very convenient inside 500m zone
 Requires fixed station established on
nearby installation
 Fixed unit correctly calibrated and
configured
 Hazardous areas!!
 Assistance to set up
 Interference from platform, heat,
precipitation
 Line-of-sight interruption
 Power supply at fixed end
 Interference from 3cm radar
 Fanbeam

 Cyscan
Produces laser beam in 20° wide vertical
fan.

Fan is scanned horizontally such that a

fixed reflector target may be tracked
from a moving vessel (range & bearing).

Reflector target placed upon platform and is

totally passive.
Single-target auto-tracking

Also multi-target (depending on use)

Scanner unit should be placed on location

with unrestricted view.

Target: any reflective surface

 Low cost
 Ease of installation
 Passive target, no power
 No support service for target
 High accuracy
 No operation when sun in lenses
 Affection by condensation, rain, salt
spray
 Impaired by fog, snow, heavy rain
 Confusion by bright lights close to target
 Interference from reflective items in area
of target
Sophisticated range and bearing sensor
system.

Rotating laser head.

One or more pre-positioned passive retro-

reflective targets
 Useful range of 400m
 Clear field of view
 Position!
 Multi-target mode
 No routine maintenance
 Targets clean and in good condition
Two frequencies: L1 & L2

L1 frequency: modulated by precise-code

(P-code) and coarse acquisition code
(C/A-code)

L2 frequency: only P-code

P-code provides Precise Positioning Service
(PPS), only for military, accuracy 20m.

Civilian users only Standard Positioning

Service (SPS) obtained from C/A-code on
L1 frequency.
Enhancing accuracy from DGPS iwth
differential technique.

Reference stations with accurately known

positions.

Gives pseudo-range correction (PRC).

Accuracy: 1 to 5m.
DGPS most reliable in open water (multi-
path, line-of-sight).
Positioning of a vessel relative to a moving,
rather than fixed, position.
Global Navigation Satellite System

< 1995: Russian military facility

> 1995: also civil international use
Similar manner to DGPS

Rate of change of errors will be lower than

DGPS.

Lower update rates

Attractive option for near future.

More than 15 satellites in view

simultaneously.

Glonass still ‘unreliable’.

Short range position reference.

Useful when vessel may spend long periods

in a static location and where water
depth is limited.

Not all taut wires are seabed-based.

Crane on deck, at side of vessel.

Depressor weight on a wire rope is handled

by a constant-tension winch.

End of the boom or A-frame: angle sensors.

Short range and limitations in shallow and
deep water.

Shallow water: limited horizontal range

Deep water: 700m
 High accuracy
 Good reliability
 Quick and easy to set up
 No need for assistance from external
sources
 On-board repair possible
 Shallow water – short range
 Susceptible to strong tides
 Accuracy deteriorates in deep water
 Affected by ice
 Possibility of weight dragging
 Obstruction for underwater operations
 Only relative positioning
 Susceptible to mechanical damage
 …
Radio waves will not propagate through
water (except VLF waves which have only
a short-range penetration beneath the
surface).

Alternative = acoustic energy

=> echosounder, survey vessels, Sonar

Variety of alternative acoustic PRS are in
use.

Most of them based upon the range

measurement related to time travel of
acoustic signals under water.

LBL, USBL/SSBL, (SBL)

Most commonly used for DP PR purposes.

Acoustic transmit and receive elements are

combined in hull-mounted transducer.

Communicates with one (or more) subsea

transponders for positioning.
The calculation of positioning is based on
range and on vertical and horizontal
angle measurements, from a single multi
element transducer. The system provides
three-dimensional transponder positions
relative to the vessel.
Position measurement is based upon range
and directional data determined from
transponder replies resulting from
interrogation.

Possibility for multiple transponders.

Transducer is located at the end of a probe
projecting about four meters beneath the
keel.
Battery powered = reduced lifetime

Reduce ping rate to the lowest rate

commensurate with effective positioning
(batteries).
Same function as transponder, but
interrogated by hard wire from the
surface.

For high noise levels (ROV, trencher, …).

Fixed locations (wellhead, POI)

Temporary use: vessel will lay them

Moor on seabed using 150kg mudweight

and 1-2m mooring chain
 Tracking ROVs
 Following subsea target
 Adjust position of drill rig to control riser
angle at the BOP
 OLTs: positioning of shuttle offtake
tankers
 Underwater positioning functions
Array of transponders is placed upon the
seabed (500-1000m apart).

Individual interrogation of three or more

gives vessel’s position. No angle
measurements, thus major source of
error eliminated.
The calculation of position is based on
range measurements only. The ROV, a
subsea module and the vessel are
positioned relative to a calibrated array
of transponders.
Minimum three transponders for navigation
and positioning, but normally six or
more.

Better accuracy.
Used in the past, but largely superceded.
The calculation of position is based on
range, and vertical and horizontal angle
measurements from a minimum of three
hull mounted transducers. The baselines
are between transducers on the vessel. A
transponder is positioned relative to the
vessel. The system provides three-
dimensional transponder positions
relative to the vessel.
New problem area: acoustic saturation!

Interference between systems.

 multi-user system
Several individual vessels and Remotely
Operated Vehicles (ROV) units can now
position themselves using the same
seabed transponder array.

Min. 5 transponders, square pattern on

seabed. Master in the middle and emits
acoustic interrogation at regular
intervals. No interrogation from the
surface!
Low accuracy and limited coverage.

- Syledis
- Microfix
- Argo
- Pulse-8
- Log reference