Offshore Technologies: Survival of the Fittest—and the Most Adaptable

For decades, our industry has embraced the classic principles of evolution: responding to changes in its environment to ensure ongoing success. And we have been on an evolving path since drilling began, from navigating the highs and low of oil prices to tackling a global pandemic.

In the North Sea and across the globe, the evolution of offshore technology and learning from our past will play a vital role in reaching net zero goals. In the UK alone, investments to the tune of £416 billion will be required over the next 30 years to meet decarbonization targets. Those who adapt their products and services accordingly will have the best chances of surviving.

And as the saying goes, to stand still in modern-day business is to go backwards. So, like many in the service sector, we continue to explore new ways to adapt our products for future industry trends and priorities.

THE NEED FOR INNOVATION

The physical environment we operate in, be it the North Sea or elsewhere, is not the conventional backdrop for evolution. It’s the industry environment—the commercial and safety imperatives, and more recently, decarbonization goals—that drives the need for innovation and change. It requires the pursuit of technical advances, which often result from the reimagined application of existing products and services. Relatively minor modifications can—and do—lead to major opportunities to meet present-day challenges.

In terms of offshore exploration and production, well-related practices offer some useful examples of industry evolution in action. Many early subsea wells were comparatively small and susceptible to excessive loading (the first step in the evolution of surface wellheads and trees). Early lightweight semisubmersibles and BOP systems for shallow waters were commonplace. Fast forward to today and some of the early wells remain and require abandonment, whilst other new subsea wells need to be installed. The semisubmersibles and BOP systems of the past have evolved into ever larger systems designed for harsh and deeper water applications and are no longer suitable for shallow water operations where excess offset and BOP weight can cause serious structural and/or fatigue damage to both new and old subsea wellheads and trees.

Thankfully jack-up rigs have also evolved. They are much larger and can operate in much deeper water. The idea of using jack-up rigs, equipped with subsea HP risers and surface BOP, instead of semisubmersibles for subsea well drilling and abandonment, grew in prominence given their capacity to address the loading and fatigue issues, while also reducing operators’ costs. Today this trend continues and using jack-ups can provide benefits when addressing additional challenges, including decarbonization goals. A typical mid-range jack-up produces 67.17 tonnes of CO2e per day, versus a mid-range semisubmersible’s 80.61 tonnes of CO2e per day—every little counts in the race to net zero.

AN EVOLUTIONARY TEMPLATE

At the same time, this approach required the support of a type of structural and pressure-retaining barrier (subsea HP risers) to provide a conduit between the subsea wellhead or tree and surface BOP. And so our technical experts landed on the idea of repurposing casing and conductor-type pipes for the task several decades ago. These products were not specifically designed for the application and had some technical and operational constraints, but it proved possible to formulate a fit-for-purpose, viable solution. Further refinements have been made to our products since to make them simpler and more efficient in deployment.

This evolutionary template has continued to demonstrate its value, not least in the context of our surface riser connector, the Aquaterra Quick Connect (AQC). The initial development of the AQC was based on the attributes of robustness, cost-savings for customers and reliability. The hydraulic option means it can be made-up in under five minutes and it can also be the subject of multiple breakouts for inspection and repair. Based on previous service report data, this creates savings of around one day of rig time, per unit, per well, so significantly optimizes project costs and supports carbon efficiency efforts.

In an international industry where jack-ups are growing in status as a subsea well option, those same qualities have been protected as we’ve adapted our connector capabilities further. For the first time there is a connector that has been specifically designed for the jack-up subsea market that addresses the limitations and constraints of the reproposed casing and conductor systems in the evolutional past. We believe our AQC-SR is the first connector in the market specifically designed for this type of application, one that’s undergoing qualified testing for robust standards. Its fatigue performance, for example, renders it highly suitable for the subsea environment whilst being specifically designed to be made up and broken out many hundreds of times, while still maintaining a gas tight seal.

However, there is still a gap in terms of an internationally recognized standard for subsea riser operations from jack-up rigs. But again, the principle of evolution has come into play, and we’ve worked in partnership with customers to develop a subsea riser for jack-up rigs best practice document, which carefully stitches together parts of relevant codes to present a coherent approach from planning and analysis, through to offshore operations. In terms of product development, we’ve embraced the adaptability agenda by reshaping our connector capabilities into a natural evolutionary step to create a completion and workover riser system using the same DNA from the AQC-SR connector—it too ties together those same fatigue-resistance and make-and-break qualities for a new and evolving lightweight intervention vessel market in the shape of the AQC-CW.

THE POWER OF TECHNICAL INNOVATION

Our strategy takes account of the ever-changing economics of offshore operations, and constantly reviews the existing suite of technological solutions to see how they can add value in different ways. Technical innovation has always been a central feature of our industry, and the best of those advances endure through industry change. It goes without saying that transformation should continue to be embraced in our sector, especially as we grasp opportunities to support and ultimately help deliver the energy transition. Those who continue to celebrate fresh thinking are those who will continue to evolve—surviving the natural selection of our new energy landscape.

This story was originally featured in ON&T September 2021. Click here to read more.