A Review on Offshore Concepts and Feasbility Study Considerations

Abstract

There is no doubt that choosing the excellent technology and operation is one of the keys to achieve sustainable global energy. With the quick advancement in the subsea technology and offshore industry and its influence on the global oil and gas production through the past three decades, an update working knowledge of engaged offshore facilities around the world seems to be essential for a successful petroleum field development. Selection of the most appropriate equipment and process through the early exploitation study stages of developing an offshore petroleum reservoir can determine the right facilities for delivering the greatest value. The current paper gives an overview of characteristics, and features of offshore production facilities, their advantages and disadvantages according to the most common offshore system selection and feasibility studies considerations. It has been tried to point out the most important criteria of the related Issues and concerns during a process and facilities selection for a potential case of installing the subsea completion as well as proposing processes to help in selection of the right concept. Major considerations in the process and facility selection for a petroleum field, such as shore distance, drilling and well intervention, topside weight, utilities, accessibility, regional influences, financial and HSE considerations, and particularly water depth and well count, as well as their influences on the final decision have also been explored. The review also introduces common components of a subsea completion system such as wellheads, manifolds, flowlines and risers, connection systems, control systems and umbilicals, installation tooling, and then it makes a comparison between different types of Xmas trees as well as various well arrangements. Finally, the paper summarizes the subsea development phases for establishing the right concept.

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