What's new in production

	Vol. 224 No. 10
ROBERT E. SNYDER, EXECUTIVE ENGINEERING EDITOR

Oil company technical cooperatives. Two major operators, ChevronTexaco and Shell, are joining with outside research organizations to help supply needed new technologies. In California, the University of Southern California (USC) and Chevron Texaco (CT) plan to establish the new Center of Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft) at USC to develop advanced technologies to improve oil and gas exploration and production efficiency. CT will provide R&D funding to establish the center, which will draw upon faculty expertise and resources within the USC School of Engineering’s Information Sciences Institute, the Integrated Media System Center and the Petroleum Engineering Program.

 CiSoft will focus on R&D of integrated technologies targeted to the operations of instrumented, intelligent oil and gas fields. CT employees will directly participate in the R&D program and the company will provide real-world drilling and production data. It also plans to provide additional research investments as expanded programs develop within CiSoft. 

CiSoft is the most recent center formed as part of ChevronTexaco’s strategy to develop unique, new research and educational partnership structures between the energy industry and universities. Last year, CT joined with the University of Tulsa to form the Center of Research Excellence in production fluid flow, which is conducting research in the areas of flow assurance, specifically the study of emulsions and multiphase flow, dispersions and heavy-oil chemistry. 

In the Netherlands, Shell Global Solutions International BV (SGS) and Gasunie Research (GR) will cooperate by providing consultancy services to gas companies across the supply chain. SGS is a global integrated consultancy and technical services company serving the oil and gas process industries. GR, part of Gastransport Services, operates in the gas midstream industry covering gas transmission, pipeline integrity and combustion technology. The agreement will bring together the two organizations’ strengths in gas transport and energy innovation consultancy and technical midstream services. Their complementary skills will benefit customers in gas research, technology, development and consultancy. 

Since discovery of the huge Groningen gas field in the north of the Netherlands, Gasunie has been solely responsible for development of the Dutch gas infrastructure and gas market. SGS has over 2,800 professionals; it is made up of seven independent technology companies within the Royal Dutch/Shell Group.

Subsea processing – changing the game. Subsea processing is poised to grow into an important new business sector according to a study by energy analysts Douglas-Westwood and technology specialists OTM Consulting, which was presented to over 200 delegates at the Subsea UK symposium in Aberdeen. Subsea processing is a true “gamechanger” technology, they say, in that, by separating or pressure-boosting well fluids on the seabed, it has the potential to greatly reduce expenditure on offshore platforms. The logical extension is that, in some situations, it may be possible to remove the requirement for the offshore platform completely. It also presents exciting new opportunities for enhancing production and recoverable reserves. 

Within the past couple of years, major oil companies have begun to seriously collaborate with suppliers to develop systems. Examples include the Seafloor Processing Consortium of BP, ChevronTexaco, ABB and AkerKvaerner, the Shell-Alpha Thames cooperation and a Petrobras initiative.

 The most surprising aspect of the study is a complete reversal of operator opinion. Only three years ago, just 10% of operators interviewed had plans to install subsea processing – in the new survey, 90% expressed a view that they would like to install over the next five years. But there is now a narrower interpretation of the benefits. Two years ago, it was considered a cure-all for a wide range of challenges such as deep water, long tiebacks, restricted topsides, etc. Now, it’s mainly being considered for reducing platform topsides. Operators have developed a realistic approach to where they want to use it and this means that suppliers can begin to make the right sort of equipment. 

Shell noted at the presentation that a key trend observed is use of the technology not just to perform discrete tasks, but also to enhance and accelerate production and reduce overall costs. It adds global value by enhancing production through reduced wellhead back pressure and enabling ultra-deepwater production and longer subsea offsets. The 150-page Subsea processing gamechanger report is the first in a new series that will examine the commercial prospects for technologies that show early potential to make a major impact on industries. The website for more information is: www.dw-1.com. 

Mackenzie Delta Pipeline concern. A 16-page report by Lehman Brothers titled “Mackenzie Delta Pipeline may not provide relief to tight North American gas markets,” backs up the conclusion explicit in the title. The problem for those who see the pipeline as a source of relief to tight North American gas markets is that all of the incremental supply could be consumed by Canadian oil sands projects. 

Lehman’s summary says a commercial agreement between producers, the northern Aboriginals and TransCanada is in place; and start up of the pipeline is slated to occur sometime between 2008 and 2010. The project is expected to cost C$5 billion and have a base capacity of at least 1.2 Bcfpd, which will be expandable to 1.9 Bcfpd. Some want capacity to be as high as 2.3 Bcfpd. But, by 2012, up to 1.1 MMbpd of incremental bitumen liquid could be produced and upgraded into synthetic light oil by gas-consuming oil sands projects. These are estimated to burn 1.2 to 1.5 Bcfpd gas. 

A regulatory review and environmental impact assessment has begun. The process, which includes public hearings, could go into 2006 and require 500 to 600 approvals, permits and agreements. Interference by regulatory agencies and other individual land owners during this process is a risk to the project. Construction will commence after the regulatory process, and take two consecutive winter-access seasons to complete. Some companies that have discoveries in the Mackenzie Delta are BP, Burlington Resources, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, ExxonMobil, Imperial Oil, Petro-Canada and Shell Canada. A contact to ask about the 16-page report with lots of technical data and maps is tdrisco@lehman.com.