The Economic Assessment of McT Multi Column TLP and Jacket Platforms Application in Multiple Marginal Oil Fields

Abstract

Abstract Recent offshore drilling success in shallow water and marginal fields development has spurred a tremendous growth in new and innovative solutions that are required to reduce costs, shorten development schedules and exploit previously uneconomical fields. For the redevelopment of Brownfields, a cost efficient offshore production and drilling platform has to increase production capacity within existing field infrastructure. For the Greenfield development, the efficient platform has to offer cost and schedule savings for applications where conventional fixed jacket platforms are uneconomical or where site-specific design requirements or constraints need to be met. In this paper, we will benchmark an emergent, proven and more cost-efficient technology - Multi Column TLP ("McT"), against the typically utilized offshore platform - "Fixed Jacket." McT is a proprietary technology, patented by Petroneering and its unique design is derived from the commercially-proven technologies of TLP (Tension Leg Platform) and Cell Spar, the two preferred solutions for deepwater development around the world. Having combined the inherent mobility of TLP and simplicity of Cell Spar, McT has now been developed to deliver both the operational reliability and production stability and can be re-used and re-located among disparate marginal fields that were not economically viable using the existing Fixed Jacket technology. This minimizes the CAPEX allocation for the oil & gas operator's individual marginal field project. This paper will also discuss about the overall benefit of McT technology and its economic advantages for various field development plans (i.e.: of drilling & completion, fabrication to abandonment stages; from single to multiple marginal fields). Further assuming a similar OPEX of both technologies, the cost and schedule of each stage will then be examined and rationalized at different price points of oil. The resultant benchmarking metrics include the accumulative net profit increase over the life of the marginal field (at 5 years).