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International Edition
Volume 74, Number 12
December 2014
CONTENTS
Celebrating 60 Years of Trends, Tools, and Technology
AFRICA
Island nations off East Africa
hold frontier exploration potential.......................................... 56
In light of the recent discoveries that have been made offshore East
Africa, the archipelagos of the Indian Ocean have received more attention
from the international oil and gas industry. Aside from the geographical
proximity to the famous plays of East Africa, the marine territory of each
of the relevant archipelagos is truly substantial. There are many islands
within the Indian Ocean, but the three that are capturing the interest of
international oil companies are the Comoros, Seychelles, and Mauritius.
MIDDLE EAST
Subsea power, control advances
extend West Delta Deep Marine network ............................... 60
In 1999 INTECSEA, began a front-end engineering and design study for
the West Delta Deep Marine concession offshore Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. The development was operated by the Burullus Gas Co., a joint
venture among BG, state-owned EGPC, and Edison Gas, with the latter
since replaced by Petronas Carigali. INTECSEA has continued to work
with Burullus on subsequent phases of the development, which has been
expanded farther from shore at 105 km ( 65 mi), and in deeper water to
1,024 m ( 3,359 ft).
GEOLOGY & GEOPHYSICS
SEG 2014 takes stock of geophysical technology, trends........ 64
Two words that encapsulate the Society of Exploration Geophysicists
annual International Exposition and 84th Annual Meeting in Denver
are “innovation” and “integration.” Of all the technologies involved in
upstream oil and gas, none is more subject to innovations than is the
geophysics side. Much of the innovation touted at the event involved
integration of systems and programs into packages designed to give
a bigger and better understanding of the subsurface to a range of
disciplines for an improved life-of-feld span. There was also increasing
interest in the environmental aspects of offshore exploration.
DRILLING & COMPLETION
Research effort aims to enhance
cement integrity in deepwater................................................ 68
Improving cement integrity in deepwater applications is one of the
primary foci of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), a
division of the US Department of Energy. Within NETL’s national laboratory system, under the direction of the Offce of Research and Development, and in concert with industry and academia, work is advancing
in many areas, from reverse circulation cementing to smart cement.
ENGINEERING, CONSTRUCTION,
& INSTALLATION
DeepStar study assesses
cost-effective dry tree solutions............................................. 72
DeepStar evaluated a large number of novel concepts for a common
design basis, focusing on identifcation and characterization of key
technical performance parameters, constructability, and economic factors. The economic factors are most important for these designs to be
considered attractive for development of marginal felds with short feld
life and fewer wells. The authors present the alternative development
themes for obtaining dry tree and direct vertical access capability.
SUBSEA
Fluid sampling, subsea processing
help maximize deepwater development................................. 78
Growth trends in deep and ultra-deepwater development demonstrate
a need to increase hydrocarbon output while improving the asset’s net
present value. The new application of subsea fuid sampling systems,
subsea separators, compressors, multi-phase pumps, and the qualifcation of critical components would enable remote long-distance assets
(even with low reservoir pressure) to be developed economically.
Furthermore, the synergy of subsea fuid sampling and subsea processing has evolved into a solution for transforming potential oil and gas
reserves into economic return on investment.
