Shuttle Tankers Research Articles

О БЕЗОПАСНОМ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИИ ПОДВОДНОГО ЧЕЛНОЧНОГО ТАНКЕРА УГЛЕВОДОРОДОВ

The article presents the results of the study "Providing a control system for the trajectory of an underwater shuttle tanker of hydrocarbons". The purpose of the work is to study the safe operation of an underwater shuttle tanker (Subsea Shuttle Tanker, SST) during ascents and dives in an accident-free operational zone (Safety Operating Envelope, SOE). The analysis of scientific and technical literature on the design of underwater shuttle tankers, their operating conditions inside the safe operational zone, including in emergency situations, is carried out. The paper analyzes scenarios of possible emergencies.

Digitalization of Indonesian Offloading Management Systems from FPSO to Shuttle Tanker

Artificial Intelligence has experienced significant improvements, including its use in sustainable maritime security. This journal discusses the development of information systems that are interconnected and real time providing reports to all parties who need information. Overall, we find that the potential for oil sabotage is always present in the delivery of tankers from FPSO to shuttle tankers. The concept of integrated FPSO offloading management to tankers implies minimizing the potential loss of cargo. At the same time, the intelligent technology most often used to control maritime security is the Automatic Integrated System.

Digitalization of Indonesian Offloading Management Systems from FPSO to Shuttle Tanker

Artificial Intelligence has experienced significant improvements, including its use in sustainable maritime security. This journal discusses the development of information systems that are interconnected and real time providing reports to all parties who need information. Overall, we find that the potential for oil sabotage is always present in the delivery of tankers from FPSO to shuttle tankers. The concept of integrated FPSO offloading management to tankers implies minimizing the potential loss of cargo. At the same time, the intelligent technology most often used to control maritime security is the Automatic Integrated System.

Höegh LNG and Altera Infrastructure is scaling up large scale CCS infrastructure

In a joint initiative, called “Stella Maris CCS” Altera Infrastructure and Höegh LNG are working together to provide cost efficient floating Carbon Capture and Storage infrastructure solutions for a global market, not limited to size or geographical location.Valuable infrastructure experience is brought together; with FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) and Dynamically Positioned Shuttle Tankers from Altera and FSRU’s (Floating Storage Regasification Unit) from Höegh. We intend to continue to build on our heritage and experience, using our combined skills to contribute to carbon emission reduction around globe. With the “Stella Maris CCS” project, we will essentially be doing what we are doing today, only in reverse. Our solution, initiated in 2019 as the first of its kind, will offer a large-scale floating infrastructure for collection, transport, and injection of CO2 into subsea reservoirs/aquifers.Our infrastructure concept consists of 2-3 Carbon Collection Storage Units (CCSU) to aggregate volumes at different key locations, 3-4 CO2 Shuttle Carriers and one Floating Storage and Injection Unit, the total amount of CO2 injected with these assets can reach up to 10 million tons per year.In order to realize large scale CCS, the unit costs must come down, and the barriers for emitting industries to invest in capture plants must be lowered. With Stella Maris we are addressing these hurdles. The larger ship design enables carrying volumes of CO2 at low pressure and will allow for greater economies of scale in the absence of a pipeline which places less limitations on distance to reservoir and ultimate flow capacity. Having a centralized conditioning of CO2 in a CCSO hub allows more flexibility for on-site capture design from multiple onshore industrial emission sources with shared port access. To defray high logistics cost in e.g. the Baltic region, a hub and spoke transportation approach enables collection in smaller parcels, milk-run gathering and conditioning for large scale transfer for storage in an offshore subsea reservoir on the Norwegian Continental shelf.

Digitalization of Indonesian Offloading Management Systems from FPSO to Shuttle Tanker

Artificial Intelligence has experienced significant improvements, including its use in sustainable maritime security. This journal discusses the development of information systems that are interconnected and real time providing reports to all parties who need information. Overall, we find that the potential for oil sabotage is always present in the delivery of tankers from FPSO to shuttle tankers. The concept of integrated FPSO offloading management to tankers implies minimizing the potential loss of cargo. At the same time, the intelligent technology most often used to control maritime security is the Automatic Integrated System.

CFD Prediction of Wind Loads on FPSO and Shuttle Tankers during Side-by-Side Offloading

This study entailed the estimation of wind loads performed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for four typical offshore vessels and for a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) and shuttle tanker in a side-by-side configuration on offloading. For all vessels, under the wind heading condition, four meshes were used to carry out the verification and validation (V&V) study to check the numerical uncertainty. The CFD simulation results for the aerodynamic coefficients were compared with wind tunnel tests from the Offloading Operability 2 JIP. All CFD simulation results show generally good agreement with the experimental data, and the overall trend of the coefficients are well captured. In addition, the effect on the gap sizes between the FPSO and shuttle tanker in the range of 4–30 m was examined. On this basis, the shielding effect was analyzed according to the size of the gap between the two ships.

The Study of Mooring Buoy Operability to Support Offloading Operation of Shuttle Tankers with Various Capacities

This study was conducted to analyse of the operability of mooring buoy initially designed for offloading operation of 35,000 DWT shuttle tankers enhanced to serve the offloading operations of shuttle tankers with 50,000 DWT, 75,000 DWT, and 111,000 DWT capacities. Operability is reviewed in term of mooring line tensions induced by each new variation of tanker capacity under environmental conditions of 1-year, 10-year, and 100-year recurrence. The governing criteria is that the safety factor should meet the appropriate limit as stated in the API RP2SK. Tension on the mooring line increases in parallel with the increasing of tanker capacity. For the case of 35,000 DWT and 50,000 DWT shuttle tankers the operation can be performed in all environmental conditions. For the case of 75,000 DWT shuttle tanker with full load and 67% DWT capacity can fully operate in all environmental conditions, but with 47% DWT capacity could not be operated in the 100-year environmental condition with significant wave height 3.31 m for the direction of inline-L1, inline-L2, and between line-L1&L4. For the case of 111,000 DWT shuttle tanker at all capacity conditions can fully operate in the 1-year environmental condition with significant wave height up to 1.48 m.

Separation of Methane from Shuttle Tanker Vents Gases by Adsorption on a Polyurethane/Zeolite Membrane

Shuttle tankers are becoming more widely used in deep water installations as a means of transporting crude oil to storage plants and refineries. The emissions of hydrocarbon vapours arise mainly during loading and offloading operations. Experiments have been carried out on the use of polyurethane/zeolite membrane on an alumina support for the separation of methane from carbon dioxide and oxygen. The physical properties of the membrane were investigated by FTIR. Single gas permeation tests with methane, propane, oxygen and carbon dioxide at a temperature of 293 K and pressure ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 x 10-5 Pa were carried out. The molar flux of the gases through the membrane was in the range of 3 x 10-2 to 1 x 10-1 molm-2s-1. The highest separation factor of CH4/CO2 and CH4/O2 and CH4/C3H8 was determined to be 1.7, 1.7 and 1.6 respectively.

Application of Minimum-Cost Flow Problem for Shuttle Tanker Transportation Planning

With the increasing demand for crude oil, offshore oil exploration has become a prevailing industry. Shuttle tankers, the watercraft for offshore oil transportation, play a key role in ensuring the safety of the offshore oil supply. Transportation cost is a critical consideration for offshore oil companies. The shuttle tanker transportation problem is formulated here as a network flow model with the objective of improving the efficiency of transportation as well as reducing the cost for offshore oil companies. The proposed model is converted to the typical minimum-cost network flow problem and is solved by the classical minimum-cost path algorithm. A real-world example is presented to demonstrate the application of the model. Results show that the proposed model and the corresponding algorithm can provide guidance to minimize the transportation cost of shuttle tankers.

A Shuttle Tanker Position Cooperative Control Applied to Oil Transfer Operations Based on the LQG/LTR Method

The present paper addresses the development of a cooperative control applied to Ships with Dynamic Position Systems (DP) under oil transfer operation. The objective of the cooperative control is to maintain constant the relative distance between the two shuttle tankers. The benefits of this control will be evaluated by numerical simulation. The obtained results will be compared to the non cooperative control.

EVOLUTION OF CRUDE OIL OFFSHORE LOADING IN BRAZILIAN WATERS

This paper gives an overview on the oil exploitation in Brazilian waters, the operational aspects, and the experience to implement DP shuttle vessel operations. Besides that, the Shuttle Tankers (ST) basic requirements for Campos Basin conditions and the acceptance tests required by PETROBRAS, at the present time, are also presented. In addition, the authors make comparisons between converted and new building shuttle tankers, describing the pros and cons of each one. Naturally, the most cost effective alternative for the Campos Basin scenario is discussed.

Dynamic analysis of a DP-FPSO: offloading with DP and non-DP shuttle tankers in the Gulf of Mexico

The present paper addresses a comprehensive analysis carried out with a DP-FPSO (Dynamic Positioned-FPSO) for the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). As an outcome of this, a methodology for evaluating the DP-FPSO response and its offloading alternatives was devised, including different failure possibilities. Fully time-domain dynamic simulations were carried out in order to analyze the DP-FPSO stationkeeping ability under different environmental conditions, to determine drifting times after a blackout and to analyze the behavior of the vessel in drive-off situations. Simulations also allowed determining limit environmental conditions for offloading operations, considering either a non-DP or a DP Shuttle Tanker (ST), restrained within the boundaries of the allowable excursion that is dictated by the riser/flexible jumper design.

Evaluation of bergy bit populations on the Grand Banks

Shuttle tankers and hydrocarbon production platforms operating on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland must be designed for some level of ice loading. In some cases, high ice loads can result from relatively small icebergs, bergy bits, or growlers. This is particularly true when wave-induced ice motions are significant (in high sea states) or when vessel speeds are high (e.g., a transiting tanker). Safe and economic operations can be achieved by designing structures that are strong enough to withstand ice loads, planning for and managing ice to reduce the risk of collisions, or a combination of the two. In all cases, accurate information on the number of small ice masses is important. Unfortunately, reliable information on small ice mass populations is not available. The extensive, detailed aerial surveys that would be required to build up meaningful statistics on bergy bit populations would be prohibitively expensive, and other methods of estimating bergy bit populations are required for the development of a reliable database. The approach used in this study was a reanalysis of International Ice Patrol (IIP) operational iceberg observations. Although the IIP does not detect and report all bergy bits and growlers, their database contains critical information on the location of small ice masses in relation to the aircraft track, and the prevailing visibility and sea-state conditions. By resampling only those ice masses observed when detection conditions were favourable, and within a prescribed distance from the aircraft, more accurate bergy bit statistics have been determined. A convenient measure of the number of bergy bits and growlers is the ‘small ice mass to parent iceberg’ (SIMPI) ratio. This relates the number of small glacial ice masses to the number of parent icebergs from which most small ice masses are calved. The average SIMPI ratio for the study region was 0.59. Some interesting phenomena revealed in the study include the apparent geographical variation in the small ice mass to parent iceberg ratio, with increasing values to the north and west. The ratio also varied seasonally. Of the months in which sufficiently large numbers of icebergs were observed to produce meaningful statistics, the SIMPI ratio was lowest in March (0.25) and highest in May (0.81).

Assessment of Oil Spill Risk for Shuttle Tankers in the Gulf of Mexico

To date, all deepwater oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico have been developed with systems that transport oil to shore via pipelines. This paper describes the methodology used to assess the oil spili risks for a feasible alternative to these systems, a tanker-based Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) system with oil transportation to shore via shuttle tankers. This methodology provided a rational and consistent framework for combining available historical data with input from technical experts. The methodology tracked all potential sources of uncertainty, including uncertainties due to a limited quantity of data (particularly for large spill incidents), uncertainties due to any adjustments made to the data to reflect current operating practices, and uncertainties due to extrapolating data reflecting current operating practices to predict future performance. The major conclusions are that the oil spill risk for shuttle tankers is dominated by rare, large spills rather than frequent, small spills; that the confidence intervals in the results are very wide, reflecting the limited quantity and quality of historical data available to estimate frequencies for rare events; and that the results from this study should be periodically updated because they provide a valuable baseline for future analyses of pollution risk in the Gulf of Mexico.