Materials in the Underwater Environment

19 September 2013 London Evening Meeting

Chairman Iain Knight, JP Kenny

Corrosion Related to Subsea Applications
George Winning, Regional Manager, Wood Group Integrity Management

This presentation looked at the basics of corrosion and how these relate to subsea developments. This includes the drive toward higher temperatures and pressures in these environments. This also includes external corrosion threats associated with deepwater applications.

Materials in the Subsea Oil and Gas
David Lee, Materials Engineer, Wood Group Integrity Management

Following on from the corrosion presentation, this looked at materials used in the deepwater applications and the mechanical effects of stress and strain in these harsh environments.

Subsea Insulation
David Mobbs, Business Development Manager, Wood Group Integrity Management

With the deeper water applications, the need for insulation is key to a successful development of these field to avoid flow assurance issues such as wax or hydrate formation. This presentation looked at the need for insulation factors that affect choice and use including the requirement for correct inspection of the insulation at the application stage.

Gadgets and Widgets

18 September 2013 Aberdeen

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Chairman Jim Mann, Fugro

Presentations

Olympic Spoolbase
Mike Wilson, Managing Director, Ecosse Subsea Systems

So you think you want to enter the reeled rigid pipe market, you’ve invested >£200million a lay vessel so you’re good to go? WRONG, but we have the solution.

Micron INS Technology Platform
Chris MacFarlane, Sales Engineer, Tritech International Ltd

Providing stabilization for small underwater vehicle USBL Tracking and Positioning Systems, and extended ROV control feedback

Innovations in the Condition Monitoring of Subsea Electrical Circuits
Jeremy Edwards , Operations Manager, Viper Subsea LLP

The majority of subsea production control systems will suffer electrical integrity failures at some stage during their operational life;Viper Subsea will present some of their technology developments which address the problem of locating faults in complex subsea distribution circuits.

The Big Mother Ass Arm and Other Splash Zone Tools
Tim Eley, Business Developer, Linjebygg Offshore AS (LBO)

ROV tools and techniques in the splash zone – where ROV’s & Divers fear to go!

Subsea Leak Defection Systems
Brian Hector, Technical Director, Bowtech Products Ltd

Subsea Video based Detection System/s for identifying leaks in hydrocarbon pipelines and subsea wellhead equipment.

An Innovative Subsea Lifting Development System Using a Unique Pumpable Deepwater Buoyancy Liquid Gel
Serena Arif, Subsea Business Director, Aubin Ltd

The requirement of low density materials with high compressive strength to provide subsea lifting down to 3000m has traditionally resulted in the use of syntactic foam; currently being disrupted by the introduction of a precise means of placing, recovering & moving structures on the seabed by pumping a low density incompressible liquid gel from one holding receptacle to a controlling receptacle, enabling fine control/trim/ballast.

The Ultrasonic Scanning of Flexible Risers
Stewart Duthie, Manager, Flexible Pipe Technology & Engineering, Flexlife

A review of Flexlife’s innovative methods and equipment forof-critical subsea assets.

Online Bop Motion Monitoring For Early Warning of Conductor Fatigue
Brian Taylor, Business Development Manager EMEA Region, Pulse Structural Monitoring

An overview of problems affecting wellhead and conductor fatigue, followed by a case study depicting how real time structural monitoring has been used to mitigate these issues.

C-Kore Subsea Monitoring System
Tim Overfield, Managing Director, C-Kore Systems Ltd

The C-Kore System allows continual monitoring of the electrical integrity of subsea jumpers, umbilicals and modules prior to connector makeup thus identifying problems and reducing faultfinding costs.

Narec Site Tour and Renewable Energy Lecture

18 September 2013 North of England Evening Meeting

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The North of England Branch of the Society for Underwater Technology visited The National Renewable Energy Centre at Blyth in Northumberland.

Narec operates world‐leading open access and independent translational research, development and testing facilities for offshore wind, wave, tidal and electrical network technologies, and work with industry to increase device reliability, reduce product costs and accelerate the development and deployment of offshore renewable energy technologies in the UK.

The evening was chaired by Ignacio Marti, Chief Technology Officer of Narec. Ignacio also described Narec’s testing facilities and the R&D projects that Narec are delivering across the supply chain and how Narec are helping to reduce the cost, and accelerate the commercialisation, of offshore renewable energy technologies.

Cable Risk Assessment – A Quantitative Approach
Peter Allan, Managing Director, Geomarine

All offshore generating equipment relies on seabed cables to transfer power to shore. All revenue is therefore reliant on the integrity of these cables making them an essential part of the system.

Previously, the concept of a burial protetion index has been used to indicate the security of a cable.
However the approach was qualitative, and did not provide a reliable model for assessing the probability of damage occurring. New developments such as AIS systems for monitoring shipping traffic now allow a quantitative model to be developed. This can then be used to develop a reliable financial model for the cable, with a realistic basis for whole life maintenance costs.

The presentation described the methodology Geomarine have developed for cable risk assessment and provide example case studies of its application.

Floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbines – Current and Future Developments
Chris Golightly, Independent Geotechnical and Engineering Geology Consultant

The July 2013 Deep Water Wind report from EWEA states that offshore floating wind will be competitive in water depths of over 40 m against current fixed structures such as monopiles, jackets, tripods, gravity base structures, multi and single suction caissons. However, innovative new designs will be required in order to take advantage of the huge resources available in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and deeper parts of the North Sea. Early work in France (NENUPHAR) and Japan (SKWID) as well as considerable research in the USA indicates that taut tension anchored floating Vertical Axis Wind Turbines [VAWT] will play a major role in the future. This presentation discussed these alternatives.

Golf Day

Aberdeen Golf Day

6 September 2013 Aberdeeen Golf Day

Report

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Day Format

0830 Registration, Tea/Coffee & Bacon Roll
0900-1100 Driving Range Professional Clinic (includes bucket of 50 balls)
Coach: Alastair Webster ‐ qualified for Seniors tour
1000‐1200 Stableford 18 hole tee‐offs
1400‐1600 2 Course Carvery Lunch (served as players come in)
1630 Prize Giving

SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition

Offshore Europe 2013 – Deep Water Zone

3-5 September 2013 Aberdeen, UK

Chairman: Dr Bob Allwood – Chief Executive, Society for Underwater Technology

Conference Sessions

Overview

Session 1: Emerging Technologies in the Subsea Sector

With the demand for oil and gas set to steadily increase, the ability to produce safely, efficiently and economically in increasingly deeper water depths and hostile geographical locations will depend on the development and utilisation of new technologies. However, it is well known that this industry (rightly) adopts a very conservative approach to new ideas.
This session identified the potential subsea prospects in the coming years, examining some of the new technologies close to being adopted and looked at the processes that need to be followed if these aims of safe, efficient and economic production are to be met.

Presentations

Introduction to The Society for Underwater Technology – Support of students through its Educational Support Fund (ESF)
David Liddle, SUT Business Development Executive.

Global Subsea Prospects
Rod Westwood, Douglas-Westwood.

Qualification of Technology for Deepwater Application
Dr Caroline Roberts-Haritonov, Astrimar.

Pipe in Pipe and Key Subsea Technology
Mark Dixon, Director, Global Subsea Engineering, McDermott.

Enhanced Recovery and Optimisation offer Field Flexibility through Boosting and Processing
Tony Laing, One Subsea Processing Regional Manager.

Electrical Power Distribution and Control for Subsea Applications
Terence Hazel, Schneider Electric.

Overview

Session 2: West African Developments

West Africa has rapidly become one of the world’s most important regions for the production of oil and gas. It is estimated that it holds around 8% of the world’s reserves. With political turmoil in some of the recognised major producing areas of the world in recent years, it is not surprising that major importing countries have focused their attention on West Africa. With the participation of multinational companies being encouraged, the general high quality (high API) of oil in place and relatively low commercial costs, it is not surprising that this region is very attractive to foreign investment that has resulted in the rapid increases in productivity seen in recent years. This session provided an update of activity in this region.

Presentations

Introduction to The Society for Underwater Technology
Support of students through its Educational Support Fund (ESF) – David Liddle, SUT Business Development Executive.

Total deep water adventure in West Africa: achievements and prospects
Fabrice Arnaud, TOTAL E&P.

Deepwater FPSO /Subsea Projects in Angola
David Brookes, Senior Consultant, BP UEC.

Jetting Conductor Pipe in Deepwater Ghana
Fraser Lawson, Tullow Ghana Ltd.

Boosting and Processing Systems applied in West Africa
Creating Value through Enhanced Recovery – Arne Olsen, OneSubsea Processing Sales Director.