Subsea system development in Brazilian offshore deepwater and the companies that develop and install these systems.
Brazil is considered one of the deepwater oil production dinosaurs in a triad also composed of GOM and West Africa.
Huge investments are being made in all offshore areas and specifically in the subsea sector in Brazil. This investment is expected to keep increasing between 2009-2013, according to a forecast by energy business analysts Douglas-Westwood.
This investment will account for about 20% of world deepwater development spend. Beyond 2013, Brazilian spend should increase significantly, reaching new heights as recently discovered giant pre-salt fields are developed.
(Please, see article on the January/February issue of MTR magazine for more details.)
Many different models of subsea systems are in use in shallow and deepwater projects along the Brazilian coast. Giant companies such as GE Oil & Gas, Halliburton, Shlumberger all have their own subsea divisions and their own systems, as do leading subsea companies and joint ventures such as FMC, DOF, Sonsub, Aker Solutions, Technip, Fugro Oceansatpeg and Subsea 7 to name but a few.
We will be looking at some of these systems to see how they function and to understand how their many subsystems relate to form complete subsea systems that not only enhance oil and gas production, but also significantly decrease logistics and operational costs.
Most subsea systems include specific system design, production and sometimes separation systems, subsea trees, subsea processing and subsea power hubs.
Normally the complete deepwater subsea system is tied back to FPSO´s and serviced by ROV´s and in the shallows they are tied back to platforms and/or FPSO´s and serviced by a combination of divers and ROV´s.
Typical subsea arrays may be comprised of seabed infra-stucture, with horizontal Xmas trees, control modules, manifold systems and connection systems. Increasingly, subsea power and subsea processing units are also employed to enhance production, all orchestrated by a surface control station.
Once considered impossible by many, subsea processing is now a proven and reliable technology.
Many, if not all specialized subsea field development companies in Brazil are working as a preferred partner to the oilfield operator. It´s no walk in the park, deadlines must be met and budgets must not be blown and all work is done in extreme underwater conditions. The level of service is truly amazing and so are the risks.
Before any subsea well can be tapped in deepwater, after all the analyses and planning, the well area on the seabed must be prepared.
As the trend is for multi subsea wells connected to subsea separation and distribution systems and possibly also tied in to a subsea processing plants, this area that must be prepared can be truly huge. It´s important to remember that subsea topography isn´t always nice and flat like in the article picture, when developing areas with irregular topography, the task can be very complicated.
GE Oil & Gas, for example, has recently won a US$250 million contract to supply 250 of its VetcoGray subsea wellhead systems to Petrobras. In terms of number of wellheads, it is the largest contract awarded to date in the industry. If taken as a whole, this wellhead system effectively is the upper ending point of the well, providing a mounting position for the equipment that controls the flow of oil up to the surface.
These advanced wellheads will be manufactured in the GE Oil & Gas Jandira plant in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and the first units have already been delivered. They are also negotiating with Petrobras a separate contract to provide services for the equipment.
GE Oil & Gas has been in Brazil for over 30 years and is one of the acknowledged leaders in subsea field development and subsea equipment manufacture. It has more than 1,200 subsea wellhead systems installed and 180 subsea trees produced and installed.
In September 2009 GE Oil & Gas launched the new VetcoGray S-Series SVXT subsea tree, which merges horizontal and vertical tree technology, reducing weight by 20%, decreasing height and also delivering essential functionality in a pre-engineered, pre-configured ‘modular’ way.
They also produce the VetcoGray SemStar5, a fifth generation subsea electronics module and the VetcoGray ModPod subsea control modules.
Claudio Paschoa
photo courtesy of Aker Solutions