Taking a Giant Leap in Subsea Technology

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1 Taking a Giant Leap in Subsea Technology In a groundbreaking co-operative agreement between FMC Technologies and Siemens Power Generation, the two companies are to jointly develop and market solutions for subsea oil and gas recovery. At the heart of the latest technological development is an electrically-driven centrifugal compressor developed in a joint initiative between Shell and Siemens. The new system will operate continuously on the seabed allowing efficient, economic and environmentally friendly recovery of oil and gas at even the most extreme depths. An artist s impression of a typical subsea installation for natural gas production.

2 V E N T U R E M A G A Z I N E _ M A R C H _ F O C U S _ 0 7 We all live in an energy-hungry world. The health, wealth and political stability of nations around the globe are inextricably linked to the availability of plentiful, affordable sources of energy. Highly industrialized countries in the western hemisphere and rapidly growing economies around the world are alike in their seemingly insatiable demand for fuel and energy which is continuing to grow at an ever faster rate. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE At the same time that consumption of both oil and natural gas is spiraling upwards, many of the world s major existing oil and gas reservoirs located either onshore or in relatively shallow water offshore are in decline, and the forces behind the international oil and gas business are having to look for innovative solutions. With the low-hanging fruit all but picked by the oil companies as their onshore and more accessible offshore oil and gas fields mature, operators are now scrambling to find new reserves, often in the form of smaller, stranded reservoirs or in locations where resources are physically and economically difficult to extract. THE NEXT STEP In the new deep and ultra-deepwater operating environments and in Polar Regions where sea ice exists year-round, production strategies based on the use of surface structures are either impractical, environmentally harmful, or are becoming prohibitively complex and expensive. One solution has been to replace fixed platforms with FPSOs Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessels, giant combined floating factories and storage tankers, capable of operating in the deepest waters with long tie-back distances from multiple wells. Now, in what has been described as the next logical step, as well as moving away from fixed platform systems the industry is looking ultimately to replace even these high-tech surface vessels by moving the production process to the sea floor. MARKET LEADERS On November 4th 2005, Tore Halvorsen, Managing Director of FMC Technologies Kongsberg Subsea business unit, and Klaus Voges, President of Siemens Power Generation, signed an agreement between their two companies to develop and market joint solutions Illustration: Lorna Egan

3 0 8 _ F O C U S for subsea oil and gas recovery. As a next step for the energy industries, but representing a giant leap in offshore technology, the two companies will jointly develop the subsea systems forming a new generation of hydrocarbon production and processing plants installed on the sea floor. A global leader in energy industry and other industrial applications, US-based FMC Technologies Inc is a US$2.8 billion company, supplying a wide range of products and services on a global scale. Its subsidiary FMC Kongsberg Subsea AS is the acknowledged global leader in the manufacture and supply of subsea production systems. YELLOW SUBMARINES In an environment only dreamt of by Jules Verne, although not quite reaching Captain Nemo s 20,000 leagues beneath the sea, the new-generation intelligent production and processing plants being developed, manufactured and marketed by the partnership will operate in a world more alien and less well explored than the moon. The size of a small city block and painted in a bright yellow finish for optimum visibility, these sea floor factories will be installed and very occasionally serviced by robots, in the total darkness, sub-zero temperatures and crushing depth of the seabed nearly 2 miles below the surface. SPACE-AGE TECHNOLOGY Not only designed to operate in inner-space under unbelievably harsh conditions, the electrically-driven machines are being engineered to compress the raw, wet, dirty natural gas which is also typically mixed with hydrogen sulfide and other highly corrosive gases, directly from an undersea reservoir. Adapted from Siemens conventional existing compressors, but using the very latest materials and technologies, the subsea compressor system employs a high-speed induction motor developed from an Model of a typical subsea compression facility. Photos: Florian Sander

4 V E N T U R E M A G A Z I N E _ M A R C H _ F O C U S _ 0 9 Components for advanced subsea solutions manufactured at FMC Kongsberg Subsea AS existing design at Siemens Berlin facility, powered through a variable-speed drive system. The stator uses liquid cooling and the integrated squirrel-cage rotor is equipped with maintenancefree magnetic bearings. The design eliminates the need for seals between motor and compressor housings and the entire machine is contained within a hermetically sealed pressure casing. Despite its space-age technology, the compressor uses an essentially simple, highly robust modular construction, enabling it to operate with total reliability, continuously, 24-7, 365, for a minimum of five years without maintenance of any kind. IT S A GAS FOR NORWAY The initial development contract for the subsea compressor was signed originally in November 2001 between Siemens PG and Shell in the Netherlands. Norske Shell will be operator of the giant Ormen Lange gas field, where the first subsea production and processing system will be installed. Development operator for the field is Norske Hydro. Discovered in 1997 and located in the Norwegian Sea some 140 kilometers west of Kristiansund, with recoverable reserves of more than 315 billion cubic meters, the giant natural gas field is the second largest ever discovered on Norway s continental shelf. With factory testing now completed, June 2006 will see an onshore version of the technology being field-tested in the Netherlands. Subject to final decision in 2010, a fully commercial system incorporating four compressors, each with an electrical power rating of 12.5 megawatts, will be installed at a depth of 895 meters at the Ormen Lange field in The new system will be remote-controlled from the onshore facility 140 kilometers away, through an underwater umbilical cable, which will also carry the high-voltage AC electrical power to the compressors. UNDER THE ICE Even before the first commercial systems sink into the cold black depths beneath the Norwegian sea, further applications are already being planned together with other operators. Although this recordbreaking, world-first installation will be a major achievement for the industry, the ability to transfer critical production systems to the seabed at large distances from any onshore facilities will also allow the recovery of previously untapped oil and gas resources in the Polar Arctic regions. Installed either below permanent ice or where ice movement presents a major hazard to any fixed platform or floating surface production facility, arctic subsea systems are already also planned for installation by Minimizing environmental impact, slashing production costs and enabling the economic recovery of stranded reserves of oil and gas, the pioneering development of subsea compressors as vital elements of the new generation of intelligent seabed processing systems will help to keep supplies flowing for as long as they are needed.

5 Tore Halvorsen, Vice President/Managing Director, FMC Kongsberg