OTC 14210 Girassol: Experiences from Subsea Production Facilities Supplier

Vidar Borhaug, Bjrn Sttenes, Aasmund Landsverk, Per M Syvertsen, Ellen Olsen, FMC Kongsberg Subsea
Copyright 2002, Offshore Technology Conference This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2002 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas U.S.A., 69 May 2002. This paper was selected for presentation by the OTC Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference or its officers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented.

Abstract The paper focuses on the experiences with the subsea production system of the Girassol development project as seen from the suppliers perspective. FMC Kongsberg Subsea was responsible for the subsea production system under an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract awarded by TotalFinaElf E&P Angola. The paper highlights the following main areas: Technical solutions Product qualifications and system testing Familiarisation of personnel to equipment and procedures Establishment and operation of service support base in Angola Schedule and logistics

It should be noted that the remote location of the field suggests that the equipment should be thoroughly tested prior to shipment, as local repairs and retesting would be time consuming, difficult and expensive. Hence, attention to scheduling and logistics is deemed to be as important as technical aspects. FMC Kongsberg Subseas policy is to develop close relations with international customers by the establishment of base facilities to serve local industrial development. The base in Luanda is a significant achievement, employing more than 45 Angolan nationals and assisting in the development of a technology transfer process to the national industrial network. Introduction FMC Kongsberg Subsea (FKS) was awarded the EPC contract for the Girassol subsea production system (SPS) in July 1998 by operator TotalFinaElf E&P Angola. The contract was won in fierce competition with all major competitors after an extensive design competition to propose a technically sound and cost-effective solution in line with the overall technical specifications. To use the words of the operator and client at the time of contract award; Girassol represents one of the most ambitious field developments underway and is a frontier technology project with a high degree of technological innovation in a new geological area with aggressive cost and schedule targets. It represents a first step and the industrial prototype of a series of major developments on the Block 17 offshore Angola In hindsight, there is no doubt that this statement was true and maybe should even have been extended to embrace even larger challenges. This paper focus on the experiences and lessons learned from the Girassol subsea development project seen from the supplier perspective. In preparation of this paper our objective has been to highlight with equal importance what went well and want was less successful during the execution of the project. The paper will typically address the approach to determine the overall system solution and associated scope of supply, the technological challenges and impact on equipment design and equally important the associated qualification of solutions and components through extensive verification studies and qualification/FAT and system testing. Furthermore we will

Summary The design and construction of the Girassol deepwater subsea system has been based on a meticulous dedication to technical details and associated qualification of new solutions. The limited number of technical problems encountered to date with the subsea equipment during drilling and completion, marine installation and initial start-up of the field have indicated that the approach chosen was the correct one. For the design and qualification of the Girassol equipment, it became evident that existing industry standards did not include the sufficient verification requirements to ensure that individual components and equipment would cope with operational requirements. The importance of involving operational personnel in the design and testing of equipment as early as possible in the schedule has been demonstrated.

V. BORHAUG / B. STTENES / A. LANDSVERK / P. M. SYVERTSEN / E. OLSEN

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review the challenges related to project schedules and logistics and the establishment and operation of a dedicated service support base in Angola in parallel with project execution. It has been a challenging and at times demanding voyage for the project team involved but at the point of writing this paper the field is producing from 6 wells and first oil has been achieved. We hope we are able to convey some of the achievements and experiences made during the development, installation and commissioning/start-up of the Girassol subsea system through this paper, which hopefully may prove useful for future large scale deepwater subsea developments -Bon Voyage. Overall System Description / Scope of supply (Figure 1, Girassol Subsea Production System.) The production system is b ased on pairs of wells clustered around a manifold with the manifolds daisy chained up to four in a row. Each subsea xmas is connected to the manifold with a production well jumper and the umbilical is routed via the manifold to each tree. The water injection layout is based on a number of tees installed in the water injection flowline (supplied by another) with direct connection to each water injection tree via an injection jumper. The umbilical has a similar tee configuration and the hydraulic flying lead is connected to the injection termination head utilising an MQC plate while the electrical jumpers are connected directly to the subsea control module (SCM). The main scope of supply consisted of the following: Completion equipment: 28 off wellheads 4 sets of wellhead running tools 2 off tubing head adapters for use on existing wells 28 off permanent guidebases 30 off tubing hangers (17 production and 13 injection) 30 off subsea xmas trees including (17 production and 13 injection) 2 off complete workover systems Manifold equipment: 11 off two-slot production manifolds 11 off manifold foundation structures 6 off pig loop module Tie-in and connection equipment: 17 off well jumpers for production wells 2 off connector actuation tools (CAT) 17 off umbilical termination heads 13 off injection termination heads for the injection xmas trees 34 off flowline termination heads (17 off 8in monobore and 17 off 8in +2in multibore) 13 off hydraulic and electric flying leads to connect injection trees Hydraulic and electric flying leads to interconnect injection umbilicals

Controls equipment: Topside controls including hydraulic power unit, subsea power and communication unit and subsea control unit 41 off subsea control modules (30 for trees and 11 for manifolds) In addition the contract contains options to increase the well count to 40 trees and manifold count to 13.. Special design features / highlights General The main new drivers for the design of the Girassol subsea equipment was: Water depth 1,250m to 1,450m Pressures in piping 0 bar to 300 bar Flow assurance Flowing wellhead temperature 45oC to 65oC Wax point 39oC Hydrate formation 20oC (blowdown condition) Time to hydrate formation at shutdown (cool down period): eight hours Guidance systems Soft soil condition ROV to work away from seabed. Flow assurance/insulation At 1,500m water depth, the static pressure in the system would, even after a blowdown, remain at such a level that hydrates could be a problem. The solution for this possibility is inhibition by methanol and circulation of dead crude into the flowlines. In order to achieve this, a cooldown period (time from shutdown to hydrate formation) of eight hours was required for the tree and manifold systems. This requires insulation of the complete system, including tree block, choke and valves, including special insulation caps for the connections. The cooldown period for the tree was assessed utilising the 3-D FEM analyses. Testing of individual pipes, etc, revealed a strong relationship between the test and the analytical model. When it came to complex geometric models, such as the xmas tree and the choke, the differences between model and test became larger. This was due to the following aspects: Accurate modelling of the equipment is difficult. Buoyancy-driven flow, due to cold spots, proved much greater than expected particularly for locations high up in the system. Our computer model did not predict this. Effects of test equipment - test stump instead of well - are difficult to assess. The test uses water as a medium while actual medium is natural gas. Not withstanding the above, the cooldown testing of a complete tree in water proved to be valuable as it demonstrated the cold spots with quantitative indication.

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Subsea Tree concept selection The subsea tree concept was selected during the design competition phase by TotalFinaElf E&P Angola to be a vertical (conventional) tree. The main reasons for this choice were: Only a 5in completion was required. The vertical xmas tree was field proven compared with the horizontal tree at the time. The vertical tree requires one trip only with the BOP and BOP tripping is time consuming in these water depths. Later developments have made this feasible for horizontal trees as well using a drillthrough desgin and the use of wet parking technique. The selected tree concept includes an ROV installable and retrievable tree cap. This is parked on the xmas tree during deployment and workover to save operational time. The cap is installed during retrieval of the emergency disconnect package (EDP) and the lower riser package (LRP). In order to simplify the workover system, a sliding sleeve valve for the annulus in the tubing hanger was developed. This valve is only operated by the workover system and replaces the requirement for setting the annulus plug in the tubing hanger for tree/BOP retrieval and installation. The valve is fail as is and is designed for 10,000 psi service. The production tree and tubing hanger (TH) is prepared for intelligent completions as the TH has four hydraulic and two electrical penetrations. Workover System & Design Philosophy The workover system is based on utilising a 5in monobore riser and one combined umbilical being used both for tubing hanger (inside marine riser) and tree installation (open water) mode. This requires the umbilical to have circulation hoses and enough lines to run the TH and landing string and tree, LRP and EDP. The solution selected was a true electrohydraulic system in both modes. For the tubing hanger mode, a riser control module (RCM) was developed. This includes sufficient functions to cater for a dual-bore subsea test tree and landing string with bore selector and disconnect feature. This landing string was later cancelled as the requirement for a flow test in tubing hanger mode ceased to exist. A simplified landing string was introduced which consists of an orienting joint, a shearable joint and an annular slick joint for the BOP bag. The RCM was, however, maintained and has been utilised successfully during completions as it makes the verification process of the functions more accurate and simpler. An interesting aspect is that the ambient pressure will vary significantly with water depth/mud weight. This has an effect on the pressure available to operate the functions with hydraulic return to the marine riser. The xmas tree is installed utilising the EDP and LRP and the same riser and umbilical. For circulation purposes, the umbilical contains two 1in high collapse resistant hoses. In order to cope with emergency shutdown (ESD) sequences, a workover control module is installed on the EDP. This

controls the valves and connectors on the EDP and LRP and the tree wellhead connector. Combined with stored and pressurised hydraulic fluid for cutting coil tubing and disconnection, this give satisfactory timing for ESD and quick disconnect. The EDP is also prepared for accepting a hydroacoustic disconnection system. Soft soil/Manifold foundation Seabed conditions in the development area are soft which presents the following main challenges: Loads from the BOP on the wellhead would introduce high bending loads to the conductor. To ensure structural integrity and reduce movements, a 36in by 2in conductor was selected for the top part. The installation of the conductor was carried out by waterjetting. ROV work close to the seabed had to be limited due to lack of visibility when the thrusters stir up mud. The manifold foundation may become large and difficult to handle.

The manifold foundation is designed as a closed caisson (CCF) with 10m penetration and 5.7m dia. The main driver for the size of the foundation is overturning by flowline loads. The initial calculations showed from 4m to 9m selfpenetration. Initial installation of other items on the field indicated that the soil was at the soft end of the range utilised during design phase. The installation of the CCF validated the design calculations and a typical self-penetration of 8.5m was achieved. The original design of the manifold had a requirement of installation accuracy of +/-2.5o. This tolerance was increased by TotalFinaElf E&P Angola to +/-5o, resulting in the introduction of a manifold support structure with levelling as it seemed impossible to design the manifold and tie-in system for installation and retrieval with such a tolerance. In retrospect, based on the installed structures, a 2.5o tolerance is easy to achieve, although the 5o requirement can be correct for Girassol taking into account the commercial impact on the installation contract and knowledge at the time of decision. Tie-in The main design drivers for the tie-in system was: Simple and reliable system. All ROV work away from seabed. A preference for horizontal connections on process lines. The tie-in system selected for Girassol is based on staband-hinge termination heads and an ROV-deployed connection tool. The range of connections required was:: Flowline connection: monobore 8in and multibore 8in and 2in (four x 1in); Umbilical: multibore 10 x 0.5in and up to seven electrical quads (first and second end); Production well jumper (between tree and manifold): multibore 6in and 2in and eight x 0.5in and two electrical quads;

V. BORHAUG / B. STTENES / A. LANDSVERK / P. M. SYVERTSEN / E. OLSEN

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Injection tree: multibore 6in and 2in and four x 0.5in. The 2in and the 0.5in lines are terminated in an MQC plate on the termination head to receive a flying lead.

The manifolds and trees contain the hub while the termination heads includes a 10in collet connector. The connector is the same for all except for the bore configuration. The ROV-deployed connector actuation tool (CAT) lands on the termination head and the hub. The tool first strokes the connector and flowline forward and closes the connector. To verify connection, a low pressure back seat test is performed. The production flowline and WI jumper is based on a rigid spool design between a bundle head or tee and the manifold or tree, respectively. Production Well jumper The production well jumper is the connecting member between the production tree and manifold. The jumper consists of: 1 off 6in NB X52 production pipe insulated 1 off 2in NB duplex service line 8 off 0.5in ID duplex hydraulic and chemical injection pipes 2 off electrical quads The jumper has a Z shape and is installed horizontally with the option of utilising local guidewires with buoyancy for additional guidance. Later in the project, a U-shaped jumper was developed in order to minimise requirements at the installation vessel. The jumper has a termination head in each end and is prefabricated in Norway. Based on metrology of the actual location, the final well jumper layout is established and the prefabricated spools are cut to suit and welded together. Insulation is then applied and FAT testing finalised prior to transportation to quayside. Subsea Acoustic Monitoring System/Downhole acquisition system When the completion and installation program became available it was evident that quite a few wells would be completed prior to connection to the FPSO. In order to learn more about the reservoir, it was important to monitor the downhole sensor of one of the neighbouring wells while performing injection or production testing. This was achieved by developing a small ROV-installed devise called subsea acoustic monitoring system (SAMS). The SAMS is a battery-powered device that is connected to the SCM and reads and stores the data from the downhole sensors. It can be triggered remotely by a hydro-acoustic system and can communicate data back to the rig, either in batches or realtime. The realtime transfer proved difficult as it interferes with other hydro-acoustic rig equipment. The operational experience with SAMS has been that the measurements have provided additional information at an early stage, enabling optimisation of the field layout.

Verification philosophy and activities Due to equipment complexity, numerous interfaces and combination of field proven and newly-developed equipment, a comprehensive qualification and test program was defined at an early stage of the project. As the design progressed, repeated reviews of the needs for qualifications was required. Qualification testing More than 40 individual qualification tests were performed. Among the most important tests were: Tubing hanger sliding sleeve (SS) 5-in deepwater actuator and coil tubing cutting capacity Subsea multiphase flowmeter (MFM) Riser control module (RCM) Workover control umbilical Monobore workover riser Monobore-/multibore compact connector External sealing capability of seals Electrical feed through system in tubing hanger Thermal insulation Tie-in fools Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) Factory acceptance tests were defined with test procedures for all deliverable components/assemblies. Sub-system Tests The following sub-system tests were performed on the first system in a series: Control system extended factory acceptance test (EFAT) Wellhead stack-up test Completion system stack-up test Foundation/manifold EFAT Well jumper tie-in test Personnel from the service department and it operational procedures were utilised for this testing. In addition some testing of extreme limits was carried out. Integration Test The following main items were tested at system level in order to demonstrate correct interfaces and functionality; Manifold including foundation Xmas tree Production control system Tie-in system Electrical and hydraulic distribution system (test jumpers) ROV tools, as applicable The tests were run by the offshore service crew, using the offshore running procedures. Shallow Water Test This test was performed to demonstrate interfaces and operations in submerged environment with ROV equipment

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and operations as applicable. Equipment included in test were: Manifold including foundation Production xmas tree Injection xmas tree Production control system Electrical and hydraulic distribution system (test jumpers) Workover control system (WOCS) Lower riser package (LRP) and emergency disconnect package (EDP) Connector actuation tool (CAT) ROV tools Test umbilical Test well jumper Umbilical distribution box (UDB) This test was also carried out by the offshore service crew, using the offshore running procedures. It should also be noted that company provided the ROV crew to train and gain valuable experience for its contractor. Pre Delivery Stack-up Tests Tests were performed for final verification of the completion equipment and to familiarise offshore personnel, both from FKS and TotalFinaElf E&P Angola. Equipment and personnel from both rigs were involved. Tests initiated by Company In addition to the above test programme, TotalFinaElf E&P Angola initiated and completed additional test with other contractors where FKS equipment was utilised and which further validated the equipment. These tests included: Topside control system integration test (Paris) Tie-in deepwater tests ROV interface tests (new type of ROV) Lessons Learned from the testing The upfront testing had two main aims: Prove that the equipment is fit-for-purpose. Educate the operators (both company and contractor) about functions and limitations of the equipment. Based on the above it is important to involve operations personnel as early as possible in design and testing of equipment. It is evident that the good track record on the rig is partly due to the amount of testing, as this improved: Quality and understanding of procedures Understanding of the design limitations in the equipment Debugged the equipment for design errors. It should also be noted the remote location suggests imply that the equipment should be thoroughly tested prior to shipment, as local repairs and retesting are time-consuming, difficult and expensive.

Technical problems experienced To date, few problems have been experienced with equipment and the feedbacks from the operations are generally positive. However some issues have been encountered: Wash-out capability of the wellhead systems and tools Electrical insulation issues for the workover system Workover umbilical failures Except for the workover umbilical, none of the technical issues are directly linked to deepwater environment, but more to do with design and quality of equipment. Ideally this should have been possible to avoid. Establishment/operation of service support base in Angola General In order to provide ongoing assistance to TotalFinaElf E&P Angola in Luanda during drilling, completion, marine operation and start-up activities, a separate contract, the Installation Assistance Contract (IAC), was signed. In parallel, an Angolan branch of FMC Kongsberg International was formed and land secured for establishing a base within Sonils base in Luanda. Establishment of the base The base began as a 4,280m2 area. The area was concrete paved and a special outdoor area with high load capacity for stack-up testing was included. Aan office building of 232m2 including eight offices, a conference room, etc. was slos erected. The main hall is 1,600m2 and has two 20t lifting capacity in half of the hall. The rest is used as a warehouse and for the repair, assembly and testing of smaller units and has a 10t crane. The base management is by locally employed staff. In addition, a large training program has been initiated and carried out to train a number of locals as service technicians. These employees, as their training and experience expanded, have been replacing expatriate service engineers in the project and presently four of 32 service engineers in the completion crews are locals. A total of 16 have been through the training program. The base main activity is to receive equipment from Europe, store it and then prepare the equipment for offshore use or installation. This involves extensive testing of the equipment. All tooling, which is part of offshore installation operations, has to be maintained on the base and repaired as required. The base is also equipped for minor repairs on permanently installed equipment, such as tree valves or a subsea control modules, should this become necessary. Data and communication are an important aspect of the bases operations and a separate satellite link was set up in order to establish simple telephone and e-mail/computer communication with the FMC International network.

V. BORHAUG / B. STTENES / A. LANDSVERK / P. M. SYVERTSEN / E. OLSEN

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The base has already been expanded with a 5,000m2 outdoor storage area, half concrete paved with the rest hard pack gravel. Project base operations The first shipment to arrive came by dedicated freighter with more than 700 items weighing 1,000t. This created a very busy period at the base as most of the equipment was needed immediately for offshore operation. Today the base operations are support the offshore operations at Girassol. These include the two drillships doing drilling and completion and marine operations with respect to installation of manifolds and foundations, well jumpers and carrying out connections. In addition there is the administration of spare parts and activities related to commissioning work onboard the FPSO. The project manning at the base typically has been a project manager, engineering support, a pair of workshop technicians and service engineers to cover the offshore tasks plus the local trained technicians. The IAC requires limited engineering to be performed and engineering support beyond the local engineer is through the existing EPC contract. In addition to these tasks, we have expanded the base later with an additional 4,000m2 concrete paved land for assembly of well jumpers. This activity is manned separately and utilises a local construction company for most of the work. Lessons Learned To establish and run a base in a remote industrial area like Luanda, a practical and pragmatic approach is required. Training of national personnel requires constant attention to develop the long-term growth of the local operation companies with life of field activities. Installation assistance requires a simplified administration routine, allowing as much time possible for operational and technical issues. When commencing an operation on a new base, there is no benefit of leftovers from previous projects and the focus on determining consumables, spare parts and special tools before start up is important for a smooth operation. Project schedule and logistics Ambitious targets were set for the development of the Girassol field. However, although the schedule was ambitious, TotalFinaElf E&P Angola never departed from their top priorities of safety and quality. Converting the overall targets into specific schedule and logistics milestones for each of the main subcontracts entailed careful and detailed planning of all project activities and associated deliverables and the related logistics operation. The governing objective for the SPS project was to establish a viable schedule and logistics scenario to meet the defined drilling, installation and commissioning campaigns. FKS in-house experience and track record from executing large scale EPC projects is extensive, but Girassol represented

a substantial challenge from a schedule and logistics point of view. In the following, we will try to explore some of the facts and experiences behind the schedule and logistics of the SPS contract. Key schedule data and milestones for the development of the subsea production system for Girassol can be summarised as follows: Milestone Contract award: System Integration Test: Stack-up test WO/Completion system: Shipment of first xmas tree system: First oil: Date July 1998 Nov 1999 May 2000 June 2000 Dec 2001

Although at the outset the project had a more ambitious schedule than indicated from the milestones, the delivery of subsea equipment met the actual dates dictated by the offshore drilling and completion schedule and subsequent marine installation campaigns. No delays were experienced due to late deliveries. At the same time, the adjustment of the project schedule allowed ample time for extended verification and qualification of prototype solutions and enhanced system and stack-up testing. The extended testing phase enabled close involvement of operations crews from TotalFinaElf E&P Angola and FKS for familiarisation and training. This later proved to be a primary driver for the successful and efficient installation and operation of the subsea equipment in the field. As a rule of thumb, based on FKS previous experience, subsea projects typically fall within the following three categories from a schedule perspective: Category Fast track Standard Extended Degree of innovation Use of standard off the shelf equipment Low/Medium High Duration (delivery of HW) 6-12 months 15-18 months 18-24 months

The Girassol development clearly falls within the last category as an extended type (two year) project due to the scale and degree of technological impetus. On project scheduling, the overall logistics proved to be a real challenge. The EPC contract for the subsea system was inclusive of all material movement and final transport of the equipment to the Luanda base. This involved a massive logistical task. Initialy it was to keep track of the movement of thousands of items during project execution and later on to ship by sea and air-transport from sites in Norway, the UK and the US to Angola. The initial logistics planning was based on the assumption of transportation by sea with a certain number of well defined batch transports. In reality, it proved difficult to operate by this initial assumption. Although the bulk of the equipment was shipped by dedicated charters, which proved cost-

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effective, and regular liner vessels, the planning of such transport proved to be less predictable than initially assumed. Furthermore the level of transportation of goods by airfreight was considerable to cope with urgent operational needs. Logistics and supply-chain management is of vital importance in the planning and definition of equipment supply and, in particular, for definition of spares for the project. For a most of the subsea equipment, one needed to be aware that in a critical situation the fastest schedule to replace faulty equipment is at least three weeks. When Girassol offshore operations were at peak with two drilling vessels working in parallel and numerous installation vessels operating in the field, it is not difficult to imagine why this aspect is so critical. As a result of tedious and dedicated planning and follow-up of the logistics from the joint TotalFinaElf E&P Angola and FKS project teams, the logistics element of Girassol has been successful and has to date not caused any delay in the offshore operations. Key logistics data for the subsea project can be summarised as follows: 1,800 standalone assemblies for delivery 6,000t total shipment weight Sea shipment require three to five weeks Airfreight requires one week Local understanding is crucial for efficient logistics Lessons Learned Among lessons learnt from a schedule and logistics perspective particular attention should be paid to the following issues: Realistic planning for the development of new solutions and equipment is crucial for a project like Girassol. The schedule for a project of this size and complexity needs to reflect the innovative nature of the project and to allow ample time for thorough verification and qualification testing The development of the subsea system for Girassol demonstrated that the overall duration from start to first delivery for hardware for a project of this nature needs to be between 18 and 24 months The logistics involved in a large project like Girassol is less predictable than one might assume at the outset and particular attention and realism should be applied to the planning and logistics management required from start to finish of the project The importance of proper onshore verification of equipment and related operational procedures, familiarisation and training of personnel prior to shipment of the equipment to the remote location is crucial in order to save time and money and reduce the overall operational expenditure of the development. Challenges related to logistics are as important as the technical issues.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Girassol project is a development operated by TotalFinaElf E&P Angola under a production sharing agreement awarded by Sonangol to a contractor group including TotalFinaElf, ExxonMobil, BP, Statoil and Norsk Hydro. FMC Kongsberg Subsea who the authors work for would like to thank TotalFinaElf E&P Angola, Sonangol and all of the partners for their support in the preparation of this paper and their permission to publish.