Greenfield recovery challenges
Only complex reservoirs remain
Operators face several challenges when developing greenfield projects:
The depletion of onshore and shallow water fields has compelled oil companies to focus on deepwater areas with increasingly complex reservoir characteristics to find new oil and gas reservoirs.
West Africa has extensive deepwater production and significant oil reserves, however, the geographical distribution of fields is requiring multiple discoveries to be tied-back subsea to one central processing facility. The geographical distribution combined with the presence of heavy oil in very deep waters requires additional pressure to make subsea developments feasible as seen in the development of some Oligocene reservoirs. Subsea processing solutions provided the most efficient and economic option to develop and produce these fields.
The Campos Basin in Brazil presents a similar situation. These fields hold significant amounts of heavy oil which is more difficult and expensive to extract and process compared to lighter crude oil. Additionally, the newly discovered pre-salt reservoirs are bringing a new level of complexity, with high levels of corrosive gases expected.
Finally, in the ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, attention is drawn to new projects in the Lower Tertiary or Paleogene trend. These reservoirs have a combination of low-temperature, low-pressure and poor rock and fluids quality. This leads to quickly declining natural production flowrates and lower volumes of ultimate recoverable reserves. For the Lower Tertiary, subsea processing allows economic production rates and reserve recoveries to be achieved. These technologies act as an enabler, allowing the economic development of these highly capital intensive field developments.
Compared to traditional methods, subsea processing technologies have gained industry acceptance as more effective and efficient methods to maximize production, increase recovery and enable development of challenging deepwater reservoirs.
Delivering a high quality project: managing cost, schedule, and technical risk
As reservoirs become more complex, the technology and engineering to develop these reservoirs also get more complicated. However, operators need to ensure that the project delivers on time and on budget in line with the project sanctioning. FMC Technologies has developed a successful track record in delivering the most complex subsea processing projects in the industry. A rigorous technology qualification program coupled with a disciplined approach to project management ensures subsea processing projects are delivered on-time and within budget. Learn more about our strategies to manage risk.
Maintaining production throughout the life of the field
Maintaining the expected production over the life of the field is crucial for operators. Any production shortfall against expectations reduces the long run economics of the field development and causes a significant loss of cash flow to the corporation.
Subsea processing technologies are well equipped to prevent or mitigate a variety of operational or flow assurance issues that can cause loss of production like hydrates and slugging. These benefits have often been sources of value for using subsea processing technologies in greenfield developments. In addition, FMC Technologies employs a variety of methods to maximize uptime of subsea processing equipment.
Learn more about the solutions to these greenfield challenges.
- Determining how to best develop the reservoir with the trend of increasing reservoir complexity
- Ensuring that cost, schedule and risk are well managed to deliver a successful project
- Ensuring that the field continues to deliver the production and reserves promised
The depletion of onshore and shallow water fields has compelled oil companies to focus on deepwater areas with increasingly complex reservoir characteristics to find new oil and gas reservoirs.
West Africa has extensive deepwater production and significant oil reserves, however, the geographical distribution of fields is requiring multiple discoveries to be tied-back subsea to one central processing facility. The geographical distribution combined with the presence of heavy oil in very deep waters requires additional pressure to make subsea developments feasible as seen in the development of some Oligocene reservoirs. Subsea processing solutions provided the most efficient and economic option to develop and produce these fields.
The Campos Basin in Brazil presents a similar situation. These fields hold significant amounts of heavy oil which is more difficult and expensive to extract and process compared to lighter crude oil. Additionally, the newly discovered pre-salt reservoirs are bringing a new level of complexity, with high levels of corrosive gases expected.
Finally, in the ultra deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, attention is drawn to new projects in the Lower Tertiary or Paleogene trend. These reservoirs have a combination of low-temperature, low-pressure and poor rock and fluids quality. This leads to quickly declining natural production flowrates and lower volumes of ultimate recoverable reserves. For the Lower Tertiary, subsea processing allows economic production rates and reserve recoveries to be achieved. These technologies act as an enabler, allowing the economic development of these highly capital intensive field developments.
Compared to traditional methods, subsea processing technologies have gained industry acceptance as more effective and efficient methods to maximize production, increase recovery and enable development of challenging deepwater reservoirs.
Delivering a high quality project: managing cost, schedule, and technical risk
As reservoirs become more complex, the technology and engineering to develop these reservoirs also get more complicated. However, operators need to ensure that the project delivers on time and on budget in line with the project sanctioning. FMC Technologies has developed a successful track record in delivering the most complex subsea processing projects in the industry. A rigorous technology qualification program coupled with a disciplined approach to project management ensures subsea processing projects are delivered on-time and within budget. Learn more about our strategies to manage risk.
Maintaining production throughout the life of the field
Maintaining the expected production over the life of the field is crucial for operators. Any production shortfall against expectations reduces the long run economics of the field development and causes a significant loss of cash flow to the corporation.
Subsea processing technologies are well equipped to prevent or mitigate a variety of operational or flow assurance issues that can cause loss of production like hydrates and slugging. These benefits have often been sources of value for using subsea processing technologies in greenfield developments. In addition, FMC Technologies employs a variety of methods to maximize uptime of subsea processing equipment.
Learn more about the solutions to these greenfield challenges.
