2 Petroleum Review | May 2015
Perspective
PERSPECTIVE
With the aim of fast-tracking the development of new subsea
technology, NSRI has recently been set its first major challenge by
the industry to find new technology that will improve the recovery
of small discoveries. The Oil and Gas Technology Leadership Board,
which was set up to develop the technologies that will help
maximise economic recovery of hydrocarbons from the UK continental
shelf, has three priorities to tackle rising operating costs,
production at a plateau and a business environment adversely
affected by the fall in oil price. These are to improve recovery
from small discoveries (small pools); innovations in well
construction; and advances in inspection methods to manage the
integrity of ageing facilities.
Improving the recovery of hydrocarbons from small pools at lower
cost through better use of proven exploration and production
technology and increased collaboration is no mean feat. However,
NRSI is confident that the subsea industry, developers and academia
will rise to the challenge, joining forces to explore and speed up
the development of near to market technologies which will achieve
efficiencies, making marginal fields more economic.
Attention will also focus on technologies, methodologies and
innovation which are furthest from the market; looking at how these
can be put into commercial use much more quickly, which may enable
the exploitation of a second tranche of even smaller, as yet
uneconomic, reserves.
Radical re-thinkThese are likely to be disruptive technologies
and will require a radical re-think of how we do things. In the
same way as the development of subsea tie-backs and subsea
processing have revolutionised oil and gas
Small pools could
Gordon Drummond, Project Director, NSRI (National Subsea
Research Initiative)
production in recent years, a step-change in approach is
required that will deliver tomorrows technologies today.
Essentially there needs to be a fundamental shift in the way
technology is developed and deployed if the full potential of the
remaining hydrocarbons in the North Sea is to be realised. NSRI is
pleased to be part of this revolution and, through our unique
industry-led and industry-driven approach, is in pole position to
understand the needs of industry and match them with the
development teams best placed to discover and then apply the
solution. This is a precise and directed approach and
differentiates NSRI from other industry-led methodologies whereby
industry proposes an idea and researchers uptake that in the hope
there is an ultimate market for it.
Knowledge centreAs the go to advisory body and knowledge centre
for subsea technology, NSRI is focused on brokering the development
of subsea technologies and working closely with all the relevant
bodies to oversee maximum impact and no duplication of effort. The
relationship established last year between NSRI and Subsea UK
ensures effective two-way communication with the entire subsea
supply chain, from multi-national operators and subsea contractors
through to innovative, small technology companies. This closer
working between the two organisations will see NSRI become the
industrys champion for technology.
An initial three-year funding for NSRI, which is a
not-for-profit organisation, has been secured from Scottish
Enterprise, Subsea UK and industry with further industry funding
expected in the coming months.
R&D focusBefore being tasked with leading on the small pools
work for the Technology Leadership Board, NSRI had already
announced the areas on which it planned to focus new subsea
R&D. These themes support the need to reduce exploration and
operational costs, increase efficiency and productivity, and reduce
decommissioning costs as outlined in the Wood Review.
Technology themes cover enhanced oil recovery (EOR); well
intervention; hardware components (including umbilicals, risers,
flowlines and processing systems); operations controls (including
sensory technologies and data management); life of field assurance;
economic appraisals; challenging environments; simulation and
modelling; work methods including reliability, redundancy, quality,
codes and standards; as well as the environmental impact of
decommissioning, and decommissioning methods and techniques.
These themes, identified by industry, still stand, but our short
to medium-term efforts will be centred on how they relate to
maximising economic recovery from small pools.
There are 286 recognised small pools with more than 30bn boe in
the UKCS. This represents 5% of the UK reserves, or 20% of future
UK production. If the subsea industry and academia, led by NSRI,
can rise to the challenge of economically tapping into these pools,
the North Sea could have a whole new lease of life.
However, technology is only part of the solution. The industry
must be much more receptive to innovation with a deep desire to be
first rather than the second to successfully deploy new technology.
There must be a willingness to work more collaboratively on
multi-field applications and on access to infrastructure. Even with
new technological applications, operators may still have to form
clusters to work on small pools to achieve the economies of scale
required to shift them from marginal to economical.
deliver big fish
