LNG & Shipping

Challenges in Exploiting Deepwater Gas Reser ves

a report by

Dr Satinder Purewal
Consultant Reservoir Engineer, BG Group

Introduction

Dr Satinder Purewal is a Consultant Reservoir Engineer with BG Group with over 22 years of experience in the oil and gas industry in reservoir engineering. He has worked on many large oil and gas field development projects worldwide, including the Far East, Europe, South America, Middle East and Africa. Most recently, he worked as Field Development Programme (FDP) co-ordinator of the Buzzard Field in the North Sea. He is currently working in the petroleum engineering skills centre providing quality assurance and quality control support for assets worldwide including deepwater exploration and production. His key interests are reservoir simulation, well testing, field developments, reserves and economics. Dr Purewal was the Chairman of the London Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 20022003 and remains a Member of the Board. He is a member of the SPE Distinguished Lecturer Committee, a Member of The Institute of Physics (M Inst. P) and a Chartered Physicist (C Phys.). He has chaired technical sessions at international oil and gas conferences, made presentations at such conferences and authored several papers. Dr Purewal has a BSc, MSc and PhD from Imperial College of Science and Technology (London), including Associate of the Royal College of Science (ARCS) and Diploma of Imperial College (DIC).

Historically, deepwater exploration has been primarily targeting oil plays. In recent years, deepwater exploration for gas has gained greater focus. This is spurred by projected greater global demand for gas due to increased awareness of gas being a green and clean fuel of choice for the future. Advances in deepwater production technologies (subsea multiphase systems) have enabled the development of fields located over 100km from shore in water depths greater than 1,000m. The number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants is expected to increase worldwide as companies take advantage of increasing gas usage by consuming nations. High oil and gas prices have led oil and gas companies to search for gas in deeper water and harsh environmental conditions in potential hydrocarbonbearing basins that would have been left undrilled 10 years ago. The traditional mature areas of the world are also attracting interest from smaller independents as they pursue opportunities that do not form part of the core portfolio of large multinationals. Concern with global warming has been heightened by scientific data that supports the theory that hydrocarbon emissions lead to greenhouse gases which may potentially have a serious impact on the world weather patterns. This is leading to a shift towards increased use of green and clean natural gas, which generates lower greenhouse gases. Focus is shifting from the traditional hunting grounds of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the North Sea to areas in deep waters off West Africa, South America and the Barents Sea. In the future, floating LNG plants may be used in remote locations for exploitation of deepwater gas accumulations that would otherwise be considered a stranded resource. Deepwater gas developments pose significant challenges, some of which are highlighted here.
Challenges

can be prohibitively expensive. In extremely remote locations it may be the only option but, depending on the distance to shore, a subsea development may be the least expensive solution for gas field developments. For subsea developments, the multi-phase production pipeline to shore may provide the optimum development scheme. However, hydrocarbons and water drop-out in the production pipe (export) line has to be considered. The pipeline has to follow the seabed terrain and there may be low sections in the pipeline where liquids may accumulate. Field development capital costs improve the economics if the gas is wet (gas with associated hydrocarbon liquids). Associated liquids (condensate) with the gas may increase the overall economic rate of return as liquids are high yield and provide premium prices. Liquids are also easier to transport to markets. However, it means perhaps having a processing facility located in a remote location with either tanker loading for sale to markets or a liquids pipeline to shore. The liquid content has to be sufficiently high to make a significant impact on the economics. New offshore floating LNG plants are being considered for exploitation of deepwater gas discoveries where distance to shore makes the development cost-prohibitive.
Flow Assurance

Flow assurance issues are very important. Sand production can be an issue particularly with unconsolidated sandstone formations (use open hole gravel packs, sand screens, etc.). Hydrate formation in the flow lines has to be considered. This may be inhibited by injection of chemical inhibitors such as methanol, ethylene glycol or triethylene glycol. If there are any associated liquids (water and condensate), this may drop out in the flow line, further complicating flow assurance. Flow regime in the pipe has to be considered (stratified, slug, mist, annular, dispersed, laminar and turbulent).
Challenging Developments

30

Development of deepwater gas fields presents significant technical and commercial challenges. Frequently, discoveries are made in remote locations, and in inhospitable environments, which increases the development capital expenditure. Offshore processing

Gas and condensate field developments in the GoM are too numerous to list in a short article. However,

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LNG & Shipping

Figure 1: Scarab/Saffron Development in 650m Water Depth Offshore Egypt (BG Group)

it should be noted that deepwater technology is constantly stretching the boundaries with developments being reported in increasing water depths. The Mensa field developed by Shell in 1,600m of water is quite an innovative development with subsea wells tied back to a 100km distant shallow water platform, West Delta 143. Several deepwater gas field developments employ a tie-back strategy to existing infrastructure. Some of the upcoming deepwater gas developments that present major challenges are noted in this article. The Greater Sunrise gas/condensate field, located in Timor Sea 480km north-west of Darwin, Australia, has been considered for development using a worldfirst floating LNG plant. The field is reported to have nine trillion cubic feet (tcf) of reserves. Remote location from markets and land made it an ideal candidate for development using the latest novel technology.

biggest in the world with reported reserves of 113tcf of gas. The Scarab Saffron gas fields form part of the West Delta Deep development located in 650m water depth and 90km off the coast of Egypt. The fields have been developed using subsea manifolds with wells tied in and export lines to shore. This development came on-stream during 2003. The flavour of development for most of the fields located in hostile and remote environments is to exploit subsea technology with direct export pipelines. Consideration has to be given to the terrain that the pipeline route has to take, as significant changes in topography of the seabed can make development very complicated. The challenges in deepwater and remote locations are immense. The future lies in floating LNG plants. Once all the safety issues have been resolved, stranded gas fields will be developed using this technology.

The future lies in floating LNG plants. Once all the safety issues have been resolved, stranded gas fields will be developed using this technology.
Ormen Lange in 8001,200m of water lies 140km west of Kristiansand. Several options have been considered including a spar tied to the seabed or a concrete platform with pipeline export to shore for processing. The favourite scheme appears to be a subsea template with export to shore. Further north, in the Barents Sea, the Shtokman field lies 560km north of Murmansk. A field development study is being conducted to determine a phased development similar to Ormen Lange (subsea templates with export pipelines). The field is one of
Conclusion

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The search for low-cost gas reserves will gain more momentum with high oil prices and the worlds increased focus on the greenhouse effect and its impact on global warming. Frontier areas will be explored with increased zeal and new gas discoveries will be exploited with innovative technology. As safety issues are resolved, stranded gas fields in deepwater will be developed using floating LNG plants.

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