Enabling Long-distance Subsea tie-backs to cut costs and speed delivery
Art J. Schroeder, Jr. Principal, Safe Marine Transfer, LLC
Tuesday, August 9th, 2016
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
Westchase Marriott Hotel
2900 Briarpark Dr.
Houston, TX 77042
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Abstract:
Ultra-deepwater floating systems routinely cost multiple billions USD, require expensive appraisal wells to justify sanction, then years of delayed production while designing, constructing and installing the required facilities. Industry experts forecast across all basins a growing number of oil and gas accumulations in deepwater will be developed via long tie-backs to existing host facilities; lowering costs and accelerating production. While individually these accumulations may be small in comparison to mega developments, in aggregate they could represent significant reserve and production growth. The key challenge is to safely and reliably supply the necessary wellbore chemicals and maintain flow assurance in the long flowlines. Current subsea umbilicals are significantly challenged to flow the required volumes of high viscosity chemicals over long distances and still have sufficient pressure to inject into high pressure subsea wells.
Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) SMT and its subcontractors under RPSEA sponsorship with major ($4.6 M) funding from US DOE and significant costshare from DeepStar and industry partners have designed, engineered and validated a game-changing large volume (3,000+ bbl) subsea (to 10,000 fsw) chemical storage and injection system which eliminates the need for the chemical umbilical. The system features patented dual barrier storage with a chemical injection system mounted on top. With the addition of a subsea pig launcher, the need for a 2nd flowline is eliminated. The Shuttle system also has a significant additional benefit as it enables a step change in operational economics to rapidly deploy to / recover from the seafloor large / heavy (600 tons+) loads; such as EOR or well control kit that requires routine IRM. The Shuttle eliminates the need for expensive platform deck space / load on existing host facilities and in some cases the need to construct new surface structures. The system has potential to significantly improve the economics of subsea production facilities architecture and significantly increase the distance and number of long-distance tieback opportunities.
Biography:
Art co-founded Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) in 2013 with the mission to radically drive cost out of long distance subsea tie-backs. In 2014 the company received significant seven figure funding and support from DOE/NETL, RPSEA, DeepStar, Baker Hughes, Inc. and other industry partners. The company is delivering on its commitment to provide subsea chemical storage (3000+ bbls) and injection at up to 10,000 fsw as a service. Prior to SMT, Art founded Energy Valley, Inc., in 2001 and focused the company on assisting entrepreneurial start-ups while also consulting with DeepStar and large oil and service / manufacturing companies defining technical needs and then leveraging for commercial advantage. Prior to Energy Valley he spent 25 years in upstream operations, engineering, construction, strategy development, and crisis management with Amoco and BP. Art also has served on numerous professional, corporate, and civic boards and has published over 100 technical papers and has been granted patents on his innovations.
Art graduated from Georgia Tech with both a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering, and from the University of Houston with an MBA, major in Finance and International Business. He has also completed several post graduate certificate programs and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.