2002 Annual Report - SBM Offshore

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Offshore oil and gas activities
IHC Caland is active in the development of new
systems and components to enable economic and
safe energy recovery from offshore areas. The major
focus of the present R&D efforts is on deepwater
production and LNG delivery systems.
Actual direct R&D expenses totalled € 11.4 million in
2002. This does not include the part of such costs
paid by clients, nor the very considerable R&D work
which is performed in the course of execution of
projects.
In the short-term as well as the long-term our technology
will push back the frontiers enabling oil and gas
extraction, storage and offloading at competitive cost
levels in ever more challenging offshore areas in the
world, such as in ultra deep water and in arctic zones.
The current R&D activity list includes the development
of:
x Deepwater systems, including:
- FP(D)SO-TLD;
- Anchoring systems;
- Installation methods;
- Riser systems;
- Mid-water pipe systems;
- TLP waterdepth range extension programme.
x LNG transfer systems, including:
- Floating storage and regasification;
- Ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore loading/offloading;
- Cryogenic fluid swivels.
The latest artist’s impression of SBM’s FP(D)SO-TLD, a new
technology for deep offshore where dry trees and full drilling
capacity are available in addition to usual FPSO functions.
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Examples of achievements in these areas are described
below.
FP(D)SO-TLD
The Tension Leg Deck (TLD) is a development that
enables direct dry tree production riser support on a
spread-moored FPSO in deepwater. Oil companies prefer
dry tree production in deepwater as it has no depth or
flow assurance limitations and increases reservoir
recovery.
Until now, the dry tree on floating units has been limited
to TLP’s and Spar’s. Incorporating this style of
production in an FPSO brings with it the economics of
low cost floating units capable of stand-alone field
development. The TLD uses existing TLP hardware to
bring dry trees to the FPSO. The means by which the
TLD achieves riser support is with weight rather than
buoyancy as used on existing dry tree units.
2002 saw the completion of a major internal study to
bring this system to a Front End Engineering and Design
(FEED) ready state. The study included: Atlantia (TLD
deck and riser system), SBM-IMODCO (TLD tensioning
system), Gusto (vessel system), PRIDE International
(drilling system) and SBM (project management). The
completion of this work enables the system to be
proposed to oil companies for field developments as the
TLD principle has now been verified by model tests and
has the Approval in Principle (AIP) from the classification
society Det Norske Veritas.
In addition, with the development of the FP(D)SO-TLD
the Group will have its own solution for full field
development, from well-head to offloading point.
Steel Catenary Riser (SCR)
In ultra deepwater, riser systems become a significant
technical challenge and a major part of field
development costs. As flexible solutions are running into
technical difficulties and cost disadvantages, steel risers
tend to become a preferred solution. The FPSO is ideal
for supporting the large weight these risers place on
floaters. However the FPSO response to waves can
aggravate the steel riser loading and fatigue life. A study
is underway with a major oil company to ensure SCR’s
will have adequate fatigue life, so as not to preclude the
FPSO from future ultra deepwater offshore projects.
Gravity Actuated Pipe (GAP ® )
The GAP ® is a system that allows any number of pipes to
traverse large distances between floating bodies at a
submerged but near-surface level. The concept physics
uses submerged weights, which supply a self-regulating
tension to maintain the pipes within certain design
excursions. In deepwater, the concept’s near-surface
transfer not only avoids the expense of subsea lines and
risers but, more importantly, avoids flow assurance
problems which occur in very deep waters. This flow