Offshore technology, LNG headline OTC
Over the years, the mood at the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston has waxed and waned as the offshore market tanks or flourishes. If the crowd at this year’s OTC was any indication, we may be headed to the apex of an up cycle again.
There were several themes this year at OTC but one stood out: increased production capacity, especially in the U.S., is changing industry dynamics. The offshore industry is wrestling with where it goes from here, how it gets there, and how it deals with “America’s energy renaissance” as John Minge, BP’s chairman, president, and CEO put it at the OTC’s opening breakfast session in May.
Primary among this year’s topics has been developing next generation technology for exploring and developing deepwater and ultradeepwater resources.
Roberto Faldini of Saipem described the issues facing deepwater pipeline installation. “These ultradeep scenarios, unimaginable and out of reach just a few years ago, require the new generation of S- and J-laying vessels to be capable of applying pipe-holding tensions beyond 500 tons during normal operations,” he said. If unplanned flooding of the pipeline should occur, the pipe-holding tension requirements may double or triple.
To address these issues, Saipem has designed two new deepwater pipelay vessels, the field development ship FDS2 and CastorOne. FDS2 is a DP multipurpose vessel, equipped with a J-lay tower capable of laying up to 36"-dia. pipelines in ultradeepwater. The CastorOne is capable of laying up to 60"-dia. pipes in S-lay mode or up to 36" in J-lay mode.
A second hot topic at this year’s OTC is the continuing move to develop LNG export capacity to deal with the shale gas glut in the U.S. Topics addressed included loading and offloading technology as well as floating LNG facilities for offshore liquefaction. These systems, along with all other oil and gas facilities in U.S. waters, are subject to continuing Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regulations that require both development of safety systems by all offshore lease holders and periodic audits of those systems.
With the June 4 deadline to comply with the SEMS II final rule looming, SEMS and SEMS II compliance has been an ongoing issue and considerable time and attention was devoted to the subject at OTC. — Bill Pike
