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Executive summary“Deepwater and Subsea Production Systems” has been identified as one of the eight new Technology Target Areas (TTAs) in Norway’s technology strategy for the Oil and Gas sector. This TTA covers deepwater floating production systems, subsea systems (except subsea processing technologies which are addressed by TTA6) and arctic development systems (in both shallow and deepwater). The total hydrocarbon reserves worldwide, which are enabled by the technologies under this TTA exceed 400 billion boe which, itself exceeds the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.
For deepwater developments the long term technical challenge is to develop flexible and adaptive systems which are better able to cope with subsurface uncertainties e.g. compartmentalisation and provide required access to the reservoir to enable successful recovery. More specific medium term challenges relate to developing solutions for harsh environmental conditions such as those offshore Norway and to develop cost effective methods of installing subsea hardware in deep and ultradeep water without requiring expensive crane vessels.
For subsea systems the challenge is to develop solutions for ultradeepwater without increasing costs, so that Norway’s leading export position in this area can be maintained and strengthened.
Considering developments in the arctic, Norwegian industry is already well placed through its familiarity with arctic climate, close relationship with Russia and involvement in Sakhalin II. As we move to water depth beyond about 150m use of Gravity Base Structures (GBS) becomes very expensive or non-feasible and we need to consider other solutions. Subsea-to-beach could be an attractive solution but we need to resolve challenges related to long distance tie backs, flow assurance, uneven terrain, etc. There is also a specific need to develop floating systems capable of drilling and production in an arctic environment.
To address the above technical challenges the main priority areas for TTA7 where both public and industry funding is needed are:
· Arctic Systems: The R&D priority areas include: ice and iceberg data, ice loading on offshore platforms, winterisation of facilities, development of arctic floaters and subsea solutions for arctic regions.
· Deepwater Systems: (i) New floaters to enable developments in harsh environments (ii) Improved riser systems including dry wellheads (iii) New installation methods for ultradeep water to avoid expensive, heavy crane vessels (iv) New flexible and adaptive development solutions to deal with subsurface uncertainties
· Subsea Systems: Develop systems compatible with slim and slender technology, large bore systems for gas developments, intervention in ultra-deep water, high speed communication and installation of umbilicals for long offset and deep water.
Other R & D areas with lower priority are listed in the report. Also an R&D Staircase, i.e. a roadmap for the coming 10-15 years, is presented and discussed.
Read the full sub strategy here.
