Surveyors in The Oil & Gas Industry what on earth do those guys do? Walter Jardine Lead Surveyor, BP North Sea Region Hydrofest 13 April 2011
Why Geography Matters in the O&G Industry Around 80% of the data used by Oil & Gas companies are spatially referenced. Errors in positioning, or a poor understanding of spatial relationships, can be extremely costly and have hugely significant safety and commercial implications. Some real examples.. Lease Blocks poorly defined Seismic surveys mis-located Wells drilled in the wrong place Seabed hazards mis-located Platforms, seabed assets installed in the wrong place Uncertainty in platform, seabed asset location knowledge Pipeline or other asset damage Inaccurate reserves estimation..with just some of the implications : major HSSE incidents, legal costs, drilling targets missed, incorrect interpretation and understanding of reservoir characteristics, loss of asset value, loss of revenue, higher lifting costs, delays to schedules, loss of reputation
The Lifecycle of an Oil Field..and the role played by Offshore Survey Production Coordinate Reference Systems and GIS Rig Site surveys Seabed and shallow Installation geophysical surveys support sites & routes More Rig Site surveys Environmental sampling surveys Navigation and Positioning for Seismic surveys Rig & Well Positioning Pre-Installation surveys As-built surveys 4D Seismic Infill Drilling Inspection surveys Tie-back support Abandonment & Post Abandonment surveys
The Global Nature of our Business. 0 m to 2500 metres water depth - increasing Tropical, mid latitude and arctic conditions - expanding Governments and Regulatory authorities - complex, variable Little standardisation clients always want something slightly different - improving Project timing highly uncertain - no changes there!
Lifecycle Phase: Access & Exploration Production Surveyor Inputs : Coordinate Reference Systems - understand the options, define standard/s to be used. Lease & Licence boundary coordinates - define and know what you own and operate. Existing legacy / trade datasets, speculative seismic data - spatial verification. GIS / regional chart build & satellite imagery acquisition - to assist explorers. Exploration seismic - positioning for seismic source and receivers - explore for new reserves. Exploration site survey - confirm seabed and shallow soil conditions for exploration wells. Rig moves - positioning support so that the well is drilled in the correct place.
Lifecycle Phase: Access Coordinate Reference Systems & Legacy Data Checks Coordinate Reference System definition Naparima 1955 Trinidad 1903 WGS84.Cassia A Helideck! 420 metres Legacy Data Examples and Check Computations
Lifecycle Phase : Exploration Seismic Navigation and Positioning 3D seismic in-water equipment 10 steerable streamers 6kms long 100m lateral separation 2400 hydrophones to be positioned every 11.5 seconds For a 1000 sq km 3D survey = 135 million coordinated hydrophone positions Vessel Navigation Gun timing control Streamer steering Streamer positioning Real time navigation data processing
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like -3D marine seismic i spread
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic - what does that look like - streamer positioning sensors
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - acoustic network
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - navigator workstation ti
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - line planning
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - coverage plots
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - streamer positioning i
Lifecycle Phase: Exploration Marine Seismic i - what does that t look like - the final product
Lifecycle Phase: Appraisal & Development Production Surveyor Inputs : Development site surveys - confirm seabed and shallow soils for installation of platforms, manifolds, development wells, FPSO anchors. Development route surveys - confirm seabed and shallow soil conditions for pipelines, flowlines, umbilicals, power cables, ties-ins. Environmental baseline surveys - seabed and water sampling to establish pre-field conditions, metocean studies. Ri iti i t th t th i l & d l t ll d ill d i th Rig moves - positioning support so that the appraisal & development wells are drilled in the correct place and rig anchors do not damage existing facilities.
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid some examples
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid unstable slopes, gas expulsion features etc
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid poor understanding of water depth
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid un- mapped shallow gas
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid poor understanding of seabed morphology
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid seabed geohazards mud volcanoes
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid unsuitable soils
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid existing seabed hardware and asset damage
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid old unexploded ordnance
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & Route Surveys - what are we trying to avoid archaeological features
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use Survey Vessels
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV)
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use Low Logistics AUVs
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use hull (or ROV or AUV) mounted Multi-beam Echosounder
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use sidescan sonar, sub-bottom profiler (towed)
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use deployment equipment A-frames / davits
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use high resolution seismic streamer & airguns
Lifecycle Phase : Appraisal Site & route survey - what equipment do we use geotechnical sampling
Lifecycle Phase: Field Development Production Surveyor Inputs : Rig moves & well-setting more positioning support for development wells Pre-installation surveys - confirm seabed is suitable immediately prior to installation. Installation positioning support - ensure hardware is installed where planned - during installation of platforms, manifolds, templates, pipelines, flowlines, umbilicals. Installation positioning support - acoustic or INS metrology for tie-ins. As-laid and as-built surveys - confirm as-installed positions and perform all as-built surveys trenching, rockdumping / mattress protection, spool / jumper tie-ins etc. Integration - collate all results and update corporate GIS, Field Charts etc.
Lifecycle Phase : Development Rig Moves & Well Positioning Different types of move require different support & positioning techniques : Semi-submersible rigs onto open or existing locations, or new well spuds using acoustics Jack-up rigs onto open locations, templates or platforms Deep-water moves - Dynamic Positioning rigs Flotels adjacent to existing platforms
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support platform jackets Tow-out Barge
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build platform jacket installation from Heavy Lift Barge
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support pipelines pp anchored pipelay barge
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support anchors used to hold rigs, barges on location
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support pipelines pp anchorless dynamically positioned pipelay barge
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build?
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build manifolds, drilling templates, subsea safety isolation valves
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build tie-in spools
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build suction anchor systems
Lifecycle Phase : Field Development Asset Installation & As-built Support what do we build pipeline supports
Lifecycle Phase: Production & Abandonment Production Surveyor Inputs : Platform monitoring - subsidence / levelling surveys. GIS & Charting - ongoing Enterprise GIS & Chart updates infill drilling, tie-backs, sampling. Environmental sampling ongoing sampling campaigns. Life of Field & 4D seismic monitoring reservoir depletion, optimising wells, water injection. Inspection, Maintenance, Repair - pipeline and asset inspection support acoustic and ROV. General spatial integrity & coordinate reference system support Abandonment more or less reverse process hardware removal, decommissioning rig moves, post removal clearance surveys, environmental sampling over several years.
Lifecycle Phase : Production Seismic for Reservoir Monitoring Seismic array covers an area of 40 sq. km >120 kms of 4C seismic cable 300m between cables Designed around seabed infrastructure Available hub connectors allow for adding more cables in the future. Cable trenched into seabed Umbilical connection to platform based seismic recording system Valhall Field, Norway Cables trenched to an average depth of 1.1 metres 79 locations were rock dumped Seabed Array Termination Cannister
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS Regional Operations Planning
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS Operations Charting
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS Field Development Chart
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS Drill Centre asset chart
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS rig move planning chart
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS seismic navigation lines
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS infield flowline / pipeline pp & seabed asset layout
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS pipeline pp landfall & aerial photography / satellite imagery
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS pipeline events & long profile
Lifecycle Phase : Production Operations Charting & GIS integration of pp pipeline inspection video
Lifecycle Phase : Abandonment Platform abandonment GoM Grand Isle post Hurricane Katrina
Lifecycle Phase : Abandonment Example Platform abandonment GoM Grand Isle post Hurricane Katrina SideScan Sonar Mesotech Sonar Vessel Multibeam ROV Multibeam
Conclusions Offshore Survey is a truly global industry. There is a plethora of equipment and systems required to support exploration, development, and production of oil & gas. It is a high-end technology user geophysical, acoustic, electromagnetic, electronic, laser, computing, information, communication, visualisation, hardware minimisation technologies to name just some. There are significant sub-discipline skills within the sector geodesy, seismic navigation, site survey, construction, remote sensing, GIS, data management, AUV, acoustics, operations & project management. Survey / Geomatics skills are scarce and not always well understood by non-survey management. By and large there are highly interesting, rewarding, and varied career opportunities. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING