OFFSHORE ENGINEERING FOR

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Facilitator: Kunle Adeleke

kadeleke@yahoo.com

March 2009
 Table of Content
ƒ Introduction
ƒ T
Types off Offshore
Off h Platforms
Pl tf
ƒ Fixed Platform Description
ƒ Acronyms & Terminologies
 1.0 INTRODUCTION
• Oil and gas are considered among the world's most important resources.
The oil and gas industry plays a critical role in driving the global economy.

• Oil is not only an essential raw material to over 2,000 end products but is
also used for transportation, heating, electricity and lubrication. It supplies
about 50% of the world’s total energy requirements.

• About 90 countries produce oil, although a few major producers account for
the bulk of world output.

• Oil and gas reserves are heavily concentrated in the Middle East, and gas
in the Russian Federation. About 40% of the world’s crude oil are supplied by
12 OPEC countries (Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria,
Qatar Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Arabia the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela)
Venezuela). They account
for about two-thirds of proven reserve.

• Major non-OPEC oil producing countries are, the United States, Mexico,
Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom and Russia, China and Vietnam.
1.1 The Industry
• The petroleum industry comprise upstream and downstream sectors.

• Upstream involves exploration, development, and production of oil and gas.

• Downstream covers transport, refining, petrochemicals, distribution, and retail.

1.2 Exploration
Oil and gas exploration encompasses the processes and methods involved in
locating and discovering potential sites for oil and gas drilling and extraction.
This is the first-stage of oil and gas production. Many uncertainties exist during
the exploration process.
process Geological surveys are conducted for onshore exploration
and seismic imaging for offshore exploration.
 Seismic display in a
visualization room

Colour display of an
Oil & Gas field
1.3 Drilling & Extraction
Drilling is the final stage in the exploration process. When 3D seismic has been
completed, it is time to drill the well. Onshore exploration relies on fixed or mobile
drillings rigs. Offshore exploration can require fixed offshore Jackup drill rigs, Semi-
Submersible drill rigs and Deep Water Drill Ships. Larger production platforms may
also
l h have their
h i own production
d i d drilling
illi equipment.
i

• Jack-up Drill Rigs, as the name suggests, are platforms that can be jacked up above
the sea using legs which can be lowered like jacks. These platforms, used in relatively
low depths,
depths are designed to move from place to place
place, and then anchor themselves by
deploying the jack-like legs.

• Semi-submersible Drill Rigs: having legs of sufficient buoyancy to cause the structure
to float, but of weight sufficient to keep the structure upright. Semi-submersible rigs can
b moved
be d ffrom place
l tto place;
l andd can b
be b
ballasted
ll t d up or d
down b
by altering
lt i ththe amountt
of flooding in buoyancy tanks; they are generally anchored by cable anchors during
drilling operations, though they can also be kept in place by the use of dynamic
positioning. Semi-submersible can be used in depths from 600 to 6,000 feet (180 to
1,800 m).

• Drillships, a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often
used for exploratory drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water but can also be used
for scientific drilling. It is often built on a modified tanker hull and outfitted with a
dynamic positioning system to maintain its position over the well well.
 Onshore Drilling Rigs

Components of a drilling rig

Onshore drilling rig, Sonora Field,

West Texas
 Offshore Drilling Rigs

Jackup Drilling Rig S iS bD

Semi-Sub Drilling
illi Ri
Rig

West Polaris
Drillship
1.4 Onshore Development

In onshore development, the wells are grouped together in clusters forming a

gathering system. This gathering system consists of a network of connecting
carbon steel pipes which sends the oil and gas to a production and processing
f ilit
facility.

While there are oil or gas only installations, more often the wellstream will
consist of a full range of hydrocarbons from gas (methane
(methane, butane
butane, propane
etc.), condensates (medium density hydro-carbons) to crude oil. With this well
flow we will also get a variety of non wanted components such as water,
carbon dioxide, salts, sulfur and sand.

In the production and processing facility the oil and gas is treated through
chemical and heating processes. The oil and gas is then separated from water
and sediments and placed in storage after which the resources can be
pumped d th
through
h pipelines
i li tto lloading
di tterminals
i l where
h th
the resources are ready
d
to be transported by oil tankers or transport vehicles. The water removed from
the oil and gas is also treated and eventually pumped back into the reservoir.
1.5 Offshore Development
In offshore development, depending on the size and water depth,
different types of structures are used. Drilling wells can be conducted
from either the platform or underwater. The production from the
wellheads feed into the production and test manifolds from where the
crude is sent into the separators. The production and extraction process
can consist of fixed platforms or floating vessels. Offshore platforms
contain processing equipment and facilities onboard and the resources
extracted are transported by pipeline or stored so it can be loaded on
tankers. Additional processing requirements are completed at onshore
production facilities.
p

In gas production and development, production and condensation

plants are required in which a liquefaction plant provides treatment,
refrigeration and liquefaction followed by the storage and loading of
liquefied gas. The gas is transferred to liquefied natural gas tankers
(LNG's) which transports the gas to a treatment plant where the gas
undergoes re-gasification from storage tanks at the plant
plant.
Oil & Gas Production Process
 2.0 TYPES OF OFFSHORE PLATFORMS

The different development options can be broadly classified into three

categories:

• fixed platforms,

• floating systems,

• subsea systems
2.1 Fixed Platforms

These are the structures that physically sit on the bottom of the sea.
sea Being
held by the sheer weight of the structure or by piles driven into the seabed to
hold them in place. Fixed platforms are economically feasible for installation in
water depths up to about 1,700 feet (520 m). They include:

• Jacket-based platforms: these consist of a jacket and a deck. The jacket is

tall, vertical section built from tubular steel members and is locked to the
seabed by driven piles. The deck (or topside) is where crew quarters,
production facilities and drill rigs
p g are located.

• Compliant towers; - these are made of tubular steel members and are fixed to
the bottom with piling, and supports a deck. Compliant towers are designed to
sustain significant lateral deflections and forces, and are typically used in
water depths ranging from 1,500 and 3,000 feet (450 and 900 m).

• Gravity base platforms; - They are enormous concrete fixed structures placed
on the bottom, typically with oil storage cells in the “skirt”
skirt that rests on the sea
bottom. The large deck receives all parts of the process and utilities in large
modules. Gravity base platforms are used in up to 1000ft of water, but the
seabed has to be especially firm to ensure no creep over time.
Shallow water complex:
They contain several independent platforms with different parts of the process and
utilities limked with gangway bridges
bridges. Individual platforms may include Wellhead
platforms, Riser Platform, Processing Platform, Gas Compression Platform,
Accomodation Platform and Power Generation Platform.

Ekofisk Field Center by Phillips Petroleum (ConocoPhillips)

Fixed Platform in the Gulf of Mexico Gravity Base Platform
Living Quarters, Production & Gas Compression Modules on a
Production Platform Complex Offshore Nigeria
2.2 Floating Production Systems

These include TLPs, FPS’s, spars, and FPSOs. All four have to be moored in
place with tendons or wire rope and chains in order to stay connected to the
wells below.

• Tension leg platforms (TLPs);- these have floating hulls made of buoyant
columns and pontoons. Steel pipe tendons hold the hull below their natural
level of flotation
flotation, keeping the tendons in tension and the hull in place
eliminating most vertical movement of the structure. TLPS are used in water
depths up to about 6,000 feet (2,000 m).

• Spar platforms;- consists of a single tall floating cylinder hull, supporting a

fixed deck. The large cylinder, weighted at the bottom stabilises the structure
in water. Eight
g to 16 wire or synthetic
y rope
p and chain combinations moor the
hull to the seabed.

• Floating production systems (FPS’s);- these consists of ship shape, TLP-like,

or a semisubmersible hulls with production facilities on board
board.
• Floating production, storage and offloading systems (FPSOs):
These have large ship shape, made either converted tankers or new
construction. They have no drilling capability. Moored to place with
rope and chain.
chain They process production from subsea wells and
store large crude oil volumes, accumulated for later transport by
shuttle tankers.

FSO SPAR
Agbami FPSO
 Some Typical Offshore Projects

ChevronTexaco BP
BP
Sanha Platform Atlantis FPU Hull
Thunder Horse FPU

ExxonMobil TotalFina Elf

Kizomba “B” TLP
Dalia FPSO Topsides ExxonMobil
Sable Compression P/F

ChevronTexaco
Benguela-Belize CT Project
2.3 Subsea Systems

These can have single or multiple wellheads on the sea floor

connected directly to a host platform or to a subsea manifold. The
systems include connections by flowlines and risers to fixed or floating
systems
t that
th t could
ld be
b miles
il away. It can b be sett iin any d
depth
th water.
t
 3.0 FIXED PLATFORM DESCRIPTION

• Most common offshore structures used for oil/gas exploration and

production.

• Suitable for water depths from <50m up to about 300m

• The deck (topside) contains drilling and production equipment

• Jacket leg - the steel or concrete structure that rises from the seabed
to above the water line.

• The pilings, steel cylinders that secures the platform to the seabed

• The conductors or risers,, steel pipes

p p through
g which the wells are
drilled, completed, and produced.
 3.0 ACRONYMS & TERMINOLOGIES
ABS
American Bureau of Shipping
AFC
Approved for construction
AFD
Approved for design
AISC
American Institute Of Steel Construction
Annulus
Space between concentric casing strings.
API
American Petroleum Institute
API Gravity
An arbitrary scale expressing the relative density of liquid petroleum products.
ASME
American Society of mechanical engineers
engineers.
Associated gas
Naturally occurring reservoir gas found in association with oil, either dissolved in the oil or
found as a cap or pocket of free gas above the oil.
AWS
American Welding Society.
Barrel
A common English-unit measure of liquid volume which, in the petroleum industry,
equals 42 U
U.S.
S liquid gallons for petroleum or natural gas liquid products
measured at 60°F and equilibrium vapor pressure.

BOM
Bill of material
Caisson
Length of pipe extending vertically downwards from an installation into the sea as
a means of depositing of waste waters, or of a location of a sea water pump
Casing
Pipe used to line and seal the well and prevent collapse off the borehole. A
number of casing strings (lengths) are used in ever decreasing diameters.
Casing head gas
Unprocessed natural gas produced from a reservoir containing oil. It contains
heavier hydrocarbon vapors and is usually produced under low pressure from a
casing head on the well.
Catenary mooring
System consisting of multiple chains or wire ropes spreading from the buoy or
tanker to the anchor points.
Cathodic protection
Corrosion protection system which relies on sacrificial anodes or impressed
current to protect submerged steel components from corrosion by electrolytic
action.
CB
Control Buoy
CCR
Central Control Room.
CGT
Compliant Guyed Tower
Choke
A valve like device with a fixed or variable aperture specifically intended
t regulate
to l t the
th flow
fl off fluids.
fl id
Christmas tree
An assembly of valve attached to the wellhead and used to control well
production.
production
CO
Change Order
Condensate
The liquid formed by the condensation of a vapor or gas; specifically,
the
hydrocarbon liquid separated from natural gas because of changes in
temperature and pressure when the gas from the reservoir was
delivered to the surface separator.
Conductor
The first and the largest diameter pipe to be inserted
(spudded) into the seabed when drilling a well. It keeps the
hole open, provides a return passage for the drilling mud and
supports the subsequent casing strings.
CPT
Compliant Piled Tower.
CPU
Caisson Production Unit.
DALs
Design Accident Loads.
DPR
Department
p of Petroleum Resources
Dynamic positioning
Satellite monitoring system used to control the action of
thruster propellers to maintain a vessel on location without
deploying anchors.
EIA
Environmental Impact Assessment (analysis)
EPCI
Engineering Procurement Construction Installation
FAT
Factory Acceptance Test
FEED
Front End Engineering and Design
Flexible Riser
Flexible, usually reinforced polymer pipe, for transmission of oil/gas
between seabed and FPS.
Flow line
Pi i which
Piping hi h di
directs
t wellll fluids
fl id ffrom wellheads
llh d tto manifold
if ld or fifirstt
process vessel.
FP
Full Penetration
FPDSO
Floating Production, Drilling, Storage and Offloading System.
FPS
Floating Production System
FPSO
Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading System
FPU
Floating Production Unit
GA
General Arrangement
Gas injection
j
The injection of a natural gas into a reservoir to maintain or increase the
reservoir pressure or reduce the rate of decline of the reservoir pressure.
Gas lift
A method
th d off b
bringing
i i crude d oilil or water
t tto th
the surface
f b
by iinjection
j ti gas
into the producing well bore.
Gathering system
The network of pipelines which carry gas from the wells to the
processing plant or other separation equipment.
Grout
Mixture of cement and water (no sand) used to secure and seal
attachment ssuch ch as piles into jacket legs
legs.
HAZID
Hazard identification studies
HAZOP
Hazard and operability studies.
IDC
Inter Discipline Check
IFA
Issued For Approval
IFC
Issued For Construction
IFI
Issued For Information
IFP
Issued For Preliminary Design
IIF
I id t and
Incident d IInjury
j F
Free.
Jacket
Steel support framework used to support platform topsides
Lean gas
(1)The residue gas remaining after recovery of natural gas liquids in a gas
processing
i plant.
l t
(2)Unprocessed gas containing little or no recoverable natural gas liquids.
Lean oil
Absorption oil as purchased or recovered by the plant, or oil from which the
absorbed constituents have been removed.
Light hydrocarbon
The low molecular weight hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane
and butane.
LNG (liquefied natural gas)
The light hydrocarbon portion of natural gas, predominately methane, which
as been liquefied
LPG
Liquefied petroleum gas, essentially propane and butane held in the liquid
state under pressure to facilitate storage and transportation.
LQ
Living Quarters
LSA
Life Saving Appliance
Manifold
An assembly of pipes, valves and fitting by which fluid from one or more
sources is selectively directed to various process systems.
Marine drilling g riser p
pipe
p extending
g from the blowout p preventer on the seabed to
the drilling rig on the surface, to permit the return of the drilling mud.
MH
Man Hour
MODU
Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit
MTO
Material Take-off
Mud line
The base of the jacket at the seabed
Natural gas
g
Gaseous form of petroleum. Consisting predominately of mixtures of
hydrocarbon gases. The most common component is methane.
NNPC
Ni i N
Nigerian National
i lP
Petroleum
l C
Corporation
i
PDMS
Plant Design Management System
PFD
Process Flow Diagram
Pig
Spherical device inserted into a gas sub sea pipeline to sweep the line of deposits of
rusts scale and condensated liquids.
rusts, liquids May also be used to clean oil pipelines of wax
and may be ”intelligent”, that is containing measuring and inspection equipment.
Pigging
A procedure for forcing a device through a pipeline for cleaning purposes, separating
products,
d t or inspecting
i ti th
the liline.
Pipeline
Piping used to convey fluids between platforms or between a platform and a shore
facility.
facility
PP
Partial Penetration
Pressure vessel
Container, normally cylindrical used to contain internal, or occasionally external
pressure.
Produced water
F
Formationti off water
t removed d from
f the
th oilil and
d gas iin th
the process off pressure vessels.
l
PSV
Pressure Safety Valve.
PWHT
Post Weld Heat Treatment
Quantity assurance
A sequence of planned and systematic action necessary to provide
adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements
of quality.
quality
Quality control
The operational techniques and activities that are used to ensure that a
quality product or service will reproduced
reproduced.
Raw gas
Unprocessed gas, or the inlet gas to a gas processing plant.
RFQ
Request For Quotation
Rigg
A term normally associated with drilling equipment, that is a drilling rig.
Also a slang term used extensively to describe any of the structures and
vessels associated with oil and gas production and exploration
exploration.
Riser
The vertical portion of a sub sea pipeline (including the bottom
bend) arriving on or departing from a platform.
RPE
Registered Professional Engineer.
Scour
Removal of the sea bed in the vicinity of a jacket, sub sea wellhead
or pipeline by tidal action.
Scrubber
Pressure vessel containing equipment designed to remove or scrub
liquids from a gas stream.
Semi-FPS
Semi-Submersible floating Production System.
Skid
Steel framework used to contain equipment, may be transportable
SID
Safety In Design
SOLAS
Safety of Life at Sea (one of the international conventions)
Specific gravity
The ratio of the mass of a given volume of substance to that of equal
volume of another substance used as standard. Unless otherwise stated,
air is used as standard for gases and water for liquids, with volume
measured at 60°F and standard atmosphericp p
pressure.
SPM
Single Point Mooring
Sweet
Gas containing essentially no objectionable sulfur compounds. Also,
treated gas leaving a sweetening unit.
S
Sweet t gas
Gas which has no more than the maximum sulfur and/or Co2 content
defined by (1) the specification for the sales gas from a plant (2) the
d fi iti b
definition by a legal
l l body
b d . Also,
Al ttreated
t d gas leaving
l i a sweetening
t i unit. it
TLP
Tension Leg Platform
TLWP
Tension Leg Wellhead Platform
Topsides
Upper
pp p part of a fixed installation which sits on top
p of the jjacket and
consists of the decks, accommodation and process equipment
Turret
System either built into the hull or attached to the bow of a tanker.
Consists of a large tube connected to a vessel via a slew ring bearing.
Mooring chains are attached to the turret.
The slew ring allows weathervaning. Flexible risers bring produced fluids
into the turret
turret.
Fluid swivels transfer the fluid to the weathervaning tanker.
Wellhead
The assembly of fittings,
fittings valves
valves, and controls located at the surface and
connected to the flow lines, tubing, and casing of the well so as to control
the flow in the reservoir
Wet gas
A gas containing water, or a gas which has not been dehydrated
Work over
Re-entry into a completed well for modification or repair work
WPS
Welding Procedure Specification