The Development of Subsea Boosting Capabilities for Deepwater Perdido and BC-10 Assets

Abstract

Significant advancements in deepwater subsea boosting technology, operations, and surveillance are represented by two Shell world-class developments: Perdido in the Gulf of Mexico (that will begin production in 2010) and BC-10 offshore Brazil (on stream since July 2009). These novel projects continue the long tradition of Shell's leadership in the challenging deepwater environment by development and application of a novel seafloor boosting system. The subsea boosting system utilized by both the Perdido and BC-10 assets for increased ultimate recovery and higher production rates is based on the application of electric submersible pumps (ESP) located in a shallow seafloor caisson. These caissons collect production fluids from the manifolded subsea wells and prevent significant loss of ESP performance due to excessive gas production by passive liquid/gas separation.Extensive testing and qualification of the subsea boosting system was undertaken prior to final configuration selection including construction of the world's only 1500-hp ESP test facility capable of controlling multi-phase fluid viscosities and temperatures. A comprehensive suite of tests was performed in conjunction with Baker Hughes Centrilift replicating the expected conditions and performance requirements for both deepwater assets. This paper describes the subsea boosting system maturity process, and discusses the current status of each development and related key learnings.

Step-Change Seabed ESP Boosting

“…Extensive testing and qualification of the subsea boosting system was undertaken by Shell prior to final configuration selection, including construction of the world's only 1500 HP ESP test facility capable of controlling multi-phase fluid viscosities and temperatures (Gilyard, D., 2010). Shell uses this concept also in Parque das Conchas fields (BC-10 project), which includes Ostra, Argonauta-BW and Argonauta-ON fields, where 10 systems combining separated and non-separated caissons are currently installed in dedicated Artificial Lift Manifolds (ALMs) in water depths of 1,750 m. The ALMs hold primary and backup MOBO systems known as "hot" spares -called so because they are not operating, but sitting standby and ready to run after simple ROV switching when the primary MOBO fails.…”

Reassessment of Multiphase Pump on Field-Case Studies for Marginal-Deepwater-Field Devolopments

“…The 1980s experienced such developments as the first diverless subsea tree and production system, the Highlander field subsea slug catcher, the Argyll subsea separator, and the British Offshore Engineering Technology Company (Songhurst and Eyre 1990). The 1990s and 2000s saw such developments as Good Fellow Associates subsea production system in Alpha Thames, Kvaerner's subsea booster station, Glass Bardex (Santana Lima et al 2011), the Vertical Annular Separation and Pumping System (VASPS) developed by Petronas, DEEPSEP Mai and Petronas, ABB COS WAS, subsea separation in Perdido (Vu et al 2009;Gilyard and Brookbank 2010), Pazflor (Eriksen et al 2012), and Parque des Conchas (BC-10) (Deuel et al 2011;Howell et al 2010). Furthermore, the 2000s experienced such projects as Troll, Tordis (Gjerdseth et al 2007), and Pazflor (Bon 2009), and advances in subsea compression, power transmission, and generation.…”

Offshore ESP Selection Criteria: An Industry Study

“…The high complexity, cost, and risk involved with subsea ESP installations and workovers has typically limited subsea pumping to seafloor technologies such as subsea separation (Bon 2009), multiphase pumps (Grimstad 2004), cartridge ESPs (Kochi 2010), caisson ESPs (Gilyard and Brookbank 2010), etc. This trend may change in the future with continued progress in alternative ESP deployment/retrieval technologies and/or run-life and reliability improvements.…”