Acoustic Controlled Subsea Completion System

Abstract

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for the 43rd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Sept. 29-Oct. 2, 1968. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. Introduction Water depths in the recent Santa Barbara and Texas lease sales have focused attention on the need for a technique to remotely control and monitor wellhead completion systems. There is a need for a remote control system that eliminates the requirement for either fixed electric cables or hydraulic control lines linking the surface and the subsurface wellhead equipment. Physical control cables or lines are very Physical control cables or lines are very susceptible to physical damage from various sources. If these cables become severed, complete loss of control of the subsea equipment is experienced. The use of acoustic communications as a means of reliable underwater remote control and telemetry is now a working concept. It is the only technique which can provide remote control without interconnecting cables and still maintain the required security. The AMF acoustic system was designed specifically for remote control applications where multiple commands. are required. It is secure from undesired responses to either ambient or man-made noises. This system has proved itself over the past four years in many varied underwater remote control and monitoring applications. A prime consideration in the design of a remotely controlled subsea system is the selection of the power supply. Power can be supplied in many ways:via a subsea primary battery system,via a subsea storage battery system trickle-charged by a subsea nuclear generator, andvia a subsea storage battery system tackle-charged over a hard wire line from a surface platform. There are numerous trade-offs in each of the above mentioned power supply systems, such as water depth, life expectancy and cost (initial and maintenance).