Deep Sea Mining

23 May 2012 North of England Branch Evening Meeting

Chairman Andrew Pople, Principal Consultant (Subsea), Atkins

Sponsored by Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) 

 

Report

 

Flyer

 

Presentations

Deep Sea Manganese Nodule Mining – The Next Wave of Research

Jon Machin, Director, Geomarine Ltd

During the 1970s a sum of around USD1 Billion (at today’s value) was spent  on manganese nodule research & development, including three integrated mining tests, two deep sea collector tests, several airlift and other pumping tests, numerous laboratory scale tests of slurries and collectors, and much design, engineering and analysis testing. The basic technology was proven but not commercialised due to changes in the global economic outlook for commodities. The economic winds have changed once again and many believe that Deep Sea Manganese Nodule mining could be the industry’s next wave. Several consortia are currently planning new research and development programs which will use the original findings, but now in conjunction with 40 years of deep sea equipment and riser development expertise transferred from the oilfield.

This talk reviewed the history of Deep Sea Manganese Nodules and attempts to take a look at their future.

 

Deep Sea Mining: The Emerging Market and Progress on Design & Build of Subsea Production Tools

Stef Kapusniak, Business Manager (Mining), SMD; Keith Franklin, Delivery Manager, Nautilus Minerals Inc; and Nick Ridley, Principal Engineer, SMD

Opportunities in the emerging sub-sea mining market will be discussed with reference to a variety of mineral opportunities. Additionally, progress with the design and manufacture of three subsea production tools for Nautilus’ Solwara copper-gold deposit will be described. This seafloor massive sulphide deposit is a mile below the surface of the Bismarck Sea, off Papua New Guinea. SMD’s previous success with trenching machines at similar depths and Nautilus’ subsea exploration expertise have enabled this unique project to move closer to reality. Successful mining in 2013 will open up a market with amazing potential – similar to previous moves in oil and gas from land-based to offshore operations. As base metal prices continue to rise, remote subsea vehicle technologies are being adopted and enhanced to allow economic access to deeper reserves.

 

Subsea HP/HT Production Technologies –
Current Status and Future Trends

17 May 2012 London Evening Meeting

Chairman Alex Hunt, Engineering Technology Manager, BG Group

 

Report

 

Flyer

 

Overview

Worldwide gas demand is increasing, driven in part by increased demand for LNG in Asia. Despite relatively low prices recently, the oil & gas industry is beginning to look again at the exploitation of High Pressure / High Temperature (HP/HT) accumulations. As well as the overpressured reservoirs in areas such as the central North Sea, advances in seismic acquisition and processing have enabled opportunities to be identified in deeply buried reservoirs, in some cases at reservoir depths exceeding 10,000 metres. However, many of these are also in deep water and subsea technology will be required if these are to be brought into production.

HP/HT fields are classified under one of the following tiers:

• Tier I – High; 689 bar (10,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 1034 bar (15,000 psi) or 149°C (300°F) ▪ T ▪ 177°C (350°F)
• Tier II – Extreme; 1,034 bar (15,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 1379 bar (20,000 psi) or 177°C (350°F) ▪ T ▪ 204°C (400°F)
• Tier III – Ultra; 1379 bar (20,000 psi) ▪ P ▪ 2068 bar (30,000 psi) or 204°C (400°F) ▪ T ▪ 260°C (500°F)

The current status and future trends of subsea HP/HT technologies have been the focus of a project by a group of Cranfield University students. The following areas have been reviewed:

• SCSSVs and wellheads
• Trees, chokes and sand management
• Multiphase meters, controls and high integrity protection systems
• Manifolds, flowlines, risers and jumpers
• Umbilicals and flying leads

The work has just been completed as a Group Project that forms part of the M.Sc. in Offshore and Ocean Technology – option in Subsea Engineering. At this evening meeting, members of the team presented their findings.

 

Presentations

Review Team, Cranfield University

Al-Ameen (Toby) Abdullai, Japheth Joel Charima, Gurinderjit Singh Dosanjh, Chimene Elechi-Amadi, Filimon Gonidakis, Noor Hafiz Kamaruddin, Olusola Oguntuberu, Michael Okeligho and Julian Richter

This project has reviewed current HP/HT fields, either in production or under development. The current status of subsea HP/HT technology has been assessed. Possible technology gaps have been identified and a number of recommendations were presented.

 

Dr Fuat Kara, Course Director and Head of Offshore Technology, Cranfield University

Group and individual projects and reviews offer benefits to both industry and academia. The elements required for successful collaborations were discussed, along with current focus areas.

 

Subsea Processing

20 September 2012 London Evening Meeting

Chairman: Iain Knight, JP Kenny

Speaker: Salvatore Micali, Senior Engineer, Aker Solutions

 

Flyer

 

Presentation

Subsea Compression Technology, Salvatore Micali

After several years of design, quali cation and testing, today subsea compression technology is an economically feasible solution to compensate the gas reservoir pressure depletion.

This presentation will show the traditional subsea gas compression technology applied on the projects under execution (Ormen Lange subsea compression pilot and Åsgard subsea compression sta on) and the new system concepts under development for compact and ultra-long step-out applications.

Salvatore Micali works as a Senior Engineer for the Subsea Power & Power department of Aker Solutions in Oslo, Norway, where he focuses on concept development and tendering activities of subsea compression systems. He is involved in the assessment of new subsea power, process and compressor applications.

Mr Micali holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from the Catania University, Italy. He has more than 6 years experience from the Oil & Gas industry focusing on compression and turbomachinery equipment and systems. Before starting in Aker Solutions, Salvatore worked 4 years at GE Oil & Gas in the Turbo machinery
department in Florence, Italy.

 

7TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OFFSHORE SITE INVESTIGATION AND GEOTECHNICS   Integrated Geotechnologies – Present and Future   To be held at the Royal Geographical Society, London  ●  12–14 September 2012 Organised by the OSIG Committee of the Society for Underwater Technology   * NOW FULLY BOOKED *
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