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01> Full remote control and systems monitoring from the control<br />

room of the BJ Blue Angel reduce safety risks and enable<br />

secure, fast data transmission globally and wirelessly.<br />

02> The Blue Tarpon, launched in June 2011, provides fracturing,<br />

sand control, acidizing and pressure pumping with three<br />

blenders offering maximum backup.<br />

notes Luis Duque, Marketing and Engineering manager for Baker<br />

Hughes in Latin America. Acid fracs and self-diverted acid<br />

treatments are common for limestones in the pre-salt layer, while<br />

post-salt sandstone layers require propped fracs and matrix<br />

acid stimulation.<br />

“The amount of acid must cover the whole horizontal section,”<br />

Duque says. “Most of these wells are <strong>high</strong>ly deviated and the<br />

production section is as long as 2000 m [6,562 ft]. This is why we<br />

recently upgraded the BJ Blue Shark with more acid capacity.”<br />

High technology, enhanced <strong>reliability</strong><br />

All Baker Hughes vessels have strong DP2 systems with bow and<br />

stern thrusters specifically designed to keep the vessel on station<br />

in virtually any weather condition. Multiple layers of redundancy<br />

ensure that a vessel will maintain position and remain within the<br />

operating envelope.<br />

01<br />

02<br />

“During treatments, the vessel pulls up alongside the platform<br />

and connects to it with two large <strong>high</strong>-pressure hoses,” Duque<br />

says. “While they’re connected, the vessel must remain on station.<br />

We have an emergency disconnect system to use as a last resort<br />

if the vessel has to move away from the installation.”<br />

To assure operational <strong>reliability</strong>, job-critical systems in the<br />

blending and mixing process, as well as the generating power to<br />

run these systems, have full redundancy. Stimulation plant power<br />

systems run independently from the marine power systems so that<br />

pumping operations are not affected by the load on the dynamic<br />

positioning system.<br />

This full back-up, combined with Baker Hughes’ advanced<br />

instrumentation and control systems, makes fracturing and<br />

stimulation treatments reliable and easy to control.<br />

“Pumps haven’t changed much over the years, but instrumentation<br />

and controls are much more advanced now. We used to have a<br />

wall of the control room covered with a process flow diagram,<br />

switches and a panel of hundreds of valves that needed three<br />

people to run,” Martin explains.<br />

“Today, the controls look like something out of a science fiction<br />

movie. They are remotely operated by a small number of people in<br />

the control room and can even be operated from onshore. Operators<br />

can configure and control everything using touch-sensitive screens.”<br />

Baker Hughes was one of the first companies to develop remote<br />

operation of <strong>high</strong>-pressure pumping equipment, which eliminates<br />

the need for personnel to work directly with and around rotating<br />

or <strong>high</strong>-pressure equipment under normal operations. “This<br />

dramatically reduces the potential for safety-related incidents,”<br />

Martin says.<br />

In addition, Baker Hughes was the first to develop a modular,<br />

temporary installation vessel design. The StimFORCE modular<br />

stimulation system is a customized arrangement of skid-based<br />

pumping equipment that can be shipped to a location and<br />

reassembled on a platform supply vessel, barge or offshore rig.<br />

It is designed to reduce costs with an on-demand stimulation<br />

pumping solution.<br />

In-house designed, engineered<br />

Baker Hughes’ newest vessels are built on hulls as long as an<br />

American football field. Alec Glennie, International Support<br />

manager for Baker Hughes in Singapore, says the company<br />

usually modifies a standard hull and uses well-established<br />

engineering designs.<br />

“All equipment, instrumentation and software are designed in-house to<br />

provide customers with <strong>high</strong> quality and continuity. Most of the major<br />

components are built in our Pressure Pumping facility in Tomball, Texas,”<br />

Glennie says.<br />

Tomball Group Leader Stan Bradford oversees the experienced engineers,<br />

designers and draftsmen responsible for designing the vessel’s electrical,<br />

hydraulic, pneumatic and process systems. The stimulation plant his team<br />

designs will dominate the Blue Orca hull.<br />

“We will use every square inch available,” Bradford confirms. “The<br />

stimulation plant will house fracturing units, proppant and chemical injection<br />

equipment, acid systems, piping, and pumps, as well as safety, hydraulic and<br />

electrical systems. The equipment will weigh in at 500 to 700 metric tons<br />

(551 to 772 tons) in an intelligent, efficient layout that makes plant<br />

maintenance easier. It will be enclosed to protect the equipment and<br />

personnel from the elements.”<br />

In addition to the Tomball team, Baker Hughes will supervise engineering at<br />

the shipyard during the Blue Orca’s construction, Bradford says, “We don’t<br />

rely on third parties. That is how we ensure that the end product is what our<br />

clients need.<br />

“All our latest vessels also have WSV classification, which means they meet<br />

the <strong>high</strong>est criteria available for dependability, quality and safety, every time.”<br />

The vessels are class certified by internationally recognized classification<br />

societies, and ISO 9000 certified for quality-management systems. They<br />

comply with International Safety Management (ISM) Code to ensure safety<br />

at sea, to prevent human injury or loss of life and to avoid damage to the<br />

environment and to the vessel.<br />

Designs keep pace with advancements in chemical processes, quality and<br />

engineering, and increasing regulations, Glennie adds. The engines powering<br />

the vessels and stimulation plants meet all current environmental standards<br />

for reduction of pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, and<br />

greenhouse gasses, particularly carbon dioxide. Material that cannot be<br />

discharged is stored on board so it can later be disposed of correctly on shore.<br />

The last five years have seen a sharp increase in offshore drilling activity,<br />

especially in areas that have traditionally been significant stimulation markets,<br />

such as the North Sea and Brazil. This has produced a corresponding increase<br />

for demand in stimulation vessels, and this boom is expected to continue for<br />

the foreseeable future. “While Baker Hughes has the youngest stimulation<br />

fleet in the business, many of the industry’s vessels are aging and due for<br />

retirement,” Martin says. “These two factors mean that demand for offshore<br />

stimulation will probably outstrip supply in a couple of years without a<br />

significant investment in infrastructure. Baker Hughes is already doing this<br />

and is posed to lead the industry through the next decade.”<br />

A Steady Presence in Rough Waters<br />

Very large fracturing treatments and a harsh<br />

working environment are driving the design of the<br />

Blue Orca , the seventh offshore stimulation vessel in<br />

the Baker Hughes fleet.<br />

The company won the tender to design, build and<br />

commission a new stimulation vessel and to supply<br />

proppant fracturing, acid fracturing and matrix<br />

acidizing services for Maersk Olie og Gas in the<br />

Danish sector of the North Sea. Baker Hughes was<br />

chosen based in part for its extensive experience<br />

mobilizing and operating offshore fracturing<br />

vessels, its experienced mechanical engineering and<br />

instrumentation teams, and its successful ongoing<br />

contracts with Maersk for completions, directional<br />

drilling and wireline services.<br />

To meet Maersk’s requirements, the Blue Orca will<br />

be one of the <strong>high</strong>est-capacity vessels in the world.<br />

Baker Hughes Offshore Stimulation Director Tony<br />

Martin explains that the operating conditions in the<br />

North Sea demand a lot of raw material storage and<br />

pumping capacity to do multiple treatments without<br />

returning to port.<br />

“The Blue Orca will have above-deck storage for 1<br />

million pounds of material for use on the job, the<br />

largest proppant capacity in the fleet. Hydrochloric<br />

acid capacity of 190,000 gallons will equal that of<br />

our largest vessels,” Martin says. “Also, there will be<br />

bulk tank storage for an additional 1.4 million pounds<br />

below decks. At 15,000 HHP, the Blue Orca’s hydraulic<br />

horsepower will rank third in the fleet.”<br />

At 311 ft (95 m), the purpose-built hull is under<br />

construction at an Edison Chouest shipyard in<br />

Louisiana. It will have extra structural strength to<br />

support the stimulation plant and materials, says<br />

Singapore International Support Manager Alec<br />

Glennie. “It will need a robust ballast system because<br />

we will be pumping at <strong>high</strong> rates at sea and must<br />

be able to counter the movement of the center of<br />

gravity,” he says.<br />

Glennie describes the Blue Orca as a “clean” vessel<br />

that will collect fluids instead of discharging them<br />

overboard and will use only chemicals that are<br />

approved for the North Sea environment.<br />

“With the Blue Orca, Baker Hughes will continue<br />

to uphold our commitment to provide world-class<br />

deepwater stimulation vessels to the major offshore<br />

basins around the world,” adds Lindsay Link,<br />

president of Pressure Pumping for Baker Hughes.<br />

The target completion date in mid-2013 gives<br />

Baker Hughes an opportunity to service other<br />

customers with the vessel before the Maersk contract<br />

starts in October 2013.<br />

40 |<br />

www.bakerhughes.com<br />

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