Research Funded by DOE/RPSEA Advances Ultradeepwater Technology

Abstract

Technology Update A number of research projects awarded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), with funding and oversight by the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), have shown solid potential to advance deepwater and ultradeepwater (UDW) oil and gas development. The DOE/RPSEA projects are among more than 15 to be featured in a session on funding new E&P technologies on 7 May at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston. Chairing the session will be James Pappas, vice president of ultradeepwater at RPSEA. Nine of the technologies developed through this research are discussed herein. One of the projects, highlighted on the cover of the January 2014 issue of JPT, is the Lockheed Martin Marlin autonomous underwater vehicle. This system has the following advantages over remotely operated vehicle (ROV) systems: 3D model generation in hours vs. days; the use of smaller vessels with fewer crew members; no need for umbilical management; realtime change detection, enabling on-site assessment of survey results and structural anomalies; rapid assessment capability of potential environmental damage; and the ability to generate accurate, geo-registered models for structural integrity assessment. Also under consideration is the inclusion of high-resolution visual imaging to enable accurate subsea measurement of flow rate from a blowout or from ocean floor seeps for predrilling site investigations. The project is in its final phase of development and scheduled to be complete by June. Another interesting set of projects deals with metocean issues that affect UDW development. Studies in this area have continued since the early days of UDW research and development within RPSEA. The first efforts studied the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) loop currents to develop a better hurricane forecasting model, because these relatively warmer currents often increase hurricane intensity. The goal of these projects was to develop a better long-range forecast (of up to 90 days) of hurricane activity in the GOM. The newer models with higher resolution potentially could better describe the density of the spiral rain bands caused by higher wind velocities farther from the center of the storm. The spacing of these bands appears to have a greater influence on the extent of damage sustained by an offshore vessel than hurricane classification or size, as the spacing more directly affects seawater wave height.