• Title/Summary/Keyword: offshore oil production

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A Study on the Separation Efficiency of In-line Type Subsea Oil-water Separator (In-line형 심해 유수분리기의 분리 효율에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Hyun-Ji;Kim, Gwi-Nam;Kim, Young-Ju;Woo, Nam-Sub;Huh, Sun-Chul
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.253-260
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    • 2021
  • The implementation of subsea separation and liquid boosting is becoming a common development scheme for the exploration of deep water fields. Subsea separation is an attractive and economic solution to develop deep offshore fields producing fluid without hydrate or wax. A subsea separator can avoid or simplifying costly surface platforms of floating vessels, as well as being an efficient tool to enhance hydrocarbon production. Subsea separation system should be reliable to ensure successful operation in a wide range of 3-phase flow regime. In this study, multiphase flow characteristics inside in-line type subsea separation system are investigated for the design of subsea separation system.

Cumulative Angular Distortion Curve of Multi-Pass Welding at Thick Plate of Offshore Structures

  • Ha, Yunsok;Choi, Jiwon
    • Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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    • v.1 no.2
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    • pp.106-114
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    • 2015
  • In the fabrication of offshore oil and gas facilities, the significance of dimension control is growing continuously. But, it is difficult to determine the deformation of the structure during fabrication by simple lab tests due to the large size and the complicated shape. Strain-boundary method (a kind of shrinkage method) based on the shell element was proposed to predict the welding distortion of a structure effectively. Modeling of weld geometry in shell element is still a difficult task. In this paper, a concept of imaginary temperature pair is introduced to handle the effect of geometric factors such as groove shape, plate thickness and pass number, etc. Single pass imaginary temperature pair formula is derived from the relation between the groove area and the FE mesh size. By considering the contribution of each weld layer to the whole weldment, multi-pass imaginary temperature is also derived. Since the temperature difference represents the distortion increment, cumulative distortion curve can be drawn by integrating the temperature difference. This curve will be a useful solution when engineers meet some problems occurred in the shipyard. A typical example is shown about utilization of this curve. Several verifications are conducted to examine the validity of the proposed methodology. The applicability of the model is also demonstrated by applying it to the fabrication process of the heavy ship block. It is expected that the imaginary temperature model can effectively solve the modeling problem in shell element. It is also expected that the cumulative distortion curve derived from the imaginary temperature can offer useful qualitative information about angular distortion without FE analysis.

Assessment of the Structural Collapse Behavior of Between Offshore Supply Vessel and Leg in the Jack-up Drilling Rig (잭업드릴링 리그의 레그와 작업 지원선 충돌에 의한 구조붕괴 거동 평가)

  • Park, Joo-Shin;Seo, Jung-Kwan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.28 no.4
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    • pp.601-609
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    • 2022
  • Jack-up drilling rigs are mobile offshore platforms widely used in the offshore oil and gas exploration industry. These are independent, three-legged, self-elevating units with a cantilevered drilling facility for drilling and production. A typical jack-up rig includes a triangular hull, a tower derrick, a cantilever, a jackcase, living quarters and legs which comprise three-chord, open-truss, X-braced structure with a spudcan. Generally, jack-up rigs can only operate in water depths ranging from 130m to 170m. Recently, there has been an increasing demand for jack-up rigs for operating at deeper water levels and harsher environmental conditions such as waves, currents and wind loads. All static and dynamic loads are supported through legs in the jack-up mode. The most important issue by society is to secure the safety of the leg structure against collision that causes large instantaneous impact energy. In this study, nonlinear FE -analysis and verification of the requirement against collision for 35MJ recommended by DNV was performed using LS-Dyna software. The colliding ship used a 7,500ton of shore supply vessel, and five scenarios of collisions were selected. From the results, all conditions do not satisfy the class requirement of 35MJ. The loading conditions associated with chord collision are reasonable collision energy of 15M and brace collisions are 6MJ. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the identical collision criteria by DNV need to be modified based on collision scenarios and colliding members.

Experimental study on Green Water in Regular Waves

  • Han, Ju-Chull;Lee, Seung-Keun;Lee, Gyoung-Woo
    • Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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    • v.28 no.7
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    • pp.647-651
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    • 2004
  • FPSOs are commonly proposed and used for offshore oil production. Due to the fundamental requirement of FPSOs to remain moored at their location, they are unable to avoid severe weather. FPSOs normally operate head to the weather, and sensitive equipment located near the bow will be susceptible to green water damage. Damage may occur to both equipment and superstructure, with resulting risk to personnel. To initially access green water is allowed by the physical understanding of green water events. In this paper the main focus is put on the physical phenomena of green water accounted for with the tested data in regular waves.

Risk-sharing Strategies on EPC Contracts: Lessons-learned from Sabine Pass Liquefaction Project

  • Yoon, Sang-Moon;Lee, Jung-Heon;Lee, Eul-Bum
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2015.10a
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    • pp.629-630
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    • 2015
  • 'Sabine Pass Liquefaction Project (SPL Project)', a case study in this report, is the first construction project of a U.S. liquefaction facility for shale gas export overseas. This study analyzes the SPL Project to give understanding and a guideline to Korean EPC companies by benchmarking about effective risk-sharing strategies on EPC contracts. This study consists of three parts. The first summarizes the liquefaction process adopted on the SPL Project, named the 'ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade Process', and compares it with other competitive liquefaction processes. The second introduces the unique features of the SPL EPC contract by comparing it with two other EPC forms of contracts: a FIDIC Silver Book for onshore plant projects and a contract of an offshore oil production (FPSO) project. The third focuses on the complexity of project financing (PF), especially lenders control and impact on the EPC contract such as covenant provisions to constrain variations and changes on the EPC Contract. From these conclusions, it is anticipated that this case study can provide a guideline for successful performance of Korean EPC contractors overseas.

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Geology of Athabasca Oil Sands in Canada (캐나다 아사바스카 오일샌드 지질특성)

  • Kwon, Yi-Kwon
    • The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.1-11
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    • 2008
  • As conventional oil and gas reservoirs become depleted, interests for oil sands has rapidly increased in the last decade. Oil sands are mixture of bitumen, water, and host sediments of sand and clay. Most oil sand is unconsolidated sand that is held together by bitumen. Bitumen has hydrocarbon in situ viscosity of >10,000 centipoises (cP) at reservoir condition and has API gravity between $8-14^{\circ}$. The largest oil sand deposits are in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The reverves are approximated at 1.7 trillion barrels of initial oil-in-place and 173 billion barrels of remaining established reserves. Alberta has a number of oil sands deposits which are grouped into three oil sand development areas - the Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, with the largest current bitumen production from Athabasca. Principal oil sands deposits consist of the McMurray Fm and Wabiskaw Mbr in Athabasca area, the Gething and Bluesky formations in Peace River area, and relatively thin multi-reservoir deposits of McMurray, Clearwater, and Grand Rapid formations in Cold Lake area. The reservoir sediments were deposited in the foreland basin (Western Canada Sedimentary Basin) formed by collision between the Pacific and North America plates and the subsequent thrusting movements in the Mesozoic. The deposits are underlain by basement rocks of Paleozoic carbonates with highly variable topography. The oil sands deposits were formed during the Early Cretaceous transgression which occurred along the Cretaceous Interior Seaway in North America. The oil-sands-hosting McMurray and Wabiskaw deposits in the Athabasca area consist of the lower fluvial and the upper estuarine-offshore sediments, reflecting the broad and overall transgression. The deposits are characterized by facies heterogeneity of channelized reservoir sands and non-reservoir muds. Main reservoir bodies of the McMurray Formation are fluvial and estuarine channel-point bar complexes which are interbedded with fine-grained deposits formed in floodplain, tidal flat, and estuarine bay. The Wabiskaw deposits (basal member of the Clearwater Formation) commonly comprise sheet-shaped offshore muds and sands, but occasionally show deep-incision into the McMurray deposits, forming channelized reservoir sand bodies of oil sands. In Canada, bitumen of oil sands deposits is produced by surface mining or in-situ thermal recovery processes. Bitumen sands recovered by surface mining are changed into synthetic crude oil through extraction and upgrading processes. On the other hand, bitumen produced by in-situ thermal recovery is transported to refinery only through bitumen blending process. The in-situ thermal recovery technology is represented by Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage and Cyclic Steam Stimulation. These technologies are based on steam injection into bitumen sand reservoirs for increase in reservoir in-situ temperature and in bitumen mobility. In oil sands reservoirs, efficiency for steam propagation is controlled mainly by reservoir geology. Accordingly, understanding of geological factors and characteristics of oil sands reservoir deposits is prerequisite for well-designed development planning and effective bitumen production. As significant geological factors and characteristics in oil sands reservoir deposits, this study suggests (1) pay of bitumen sands and connectivity, (2) bitumen content and saturation, (3) geologic structure, (4) distribution of mud baffles and plugs, (5) thickness and lateral continuity of mud interbeds, (6) distribution of water-saturated sands, (7) distribution of gas-saturated sands, (8) direction of lateral accretion of point bar, (9) distribution of diagenetic layers and nodules, and (10) texture and fabric change within reservoir sand body.

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A Study on Knowledge Based-AR System for Pipe Maintenance Support in Offshore Structure (해양구조물에서의 파이프정비 지원을 위한 지식기반형 증강현실 시스템에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Chung-Hyun;Lee, Kyung-Ho;Lee, Jung-Min;Kim, Dea-Seok;Han, Eun-Jung
    • Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.178-184
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    • 2010
  • Today, there has been a decrease in international shipping because of the weakening in global economies. Therefore, shipowners are thinking more about Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), which can perform functions related to the transporting, storage, and tracking of crude oil from oil wells. Given the huge expense of these special ships, shipowners require workers who can solve problems quickly and secure sustainable production functions in this age of globalization. Furthermore, it is important to design, construct, and maintain facilities so that a ship remains in operation over a long term. This paper discusses a system that uses knowledge-based AR to help workers improve their understanding and deal with pipeline equipment problems safely. In addition, it displays a 3CAD model and status information for products to improve their recognition on the FPSO that they intend to inspect. At the same time, the system works quickly and offers solutions for dangerous circumstances or malfunctions. It thus helps to maintain the functionality of the FPSO throughout its life-cycle.

Investigation on the Penetration Resistance of Suction Bucket Foundation in Sand using Model Test (모형실험을 통한 모래지반에서 석션버켓기초의 관입저항력 평가)

  • Kim, Keunsoo;Kwon, Osoon;Oh, Myounghak;Jang, Insung
    • Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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    • v.15 no.6
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    • pp.75-83
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    • 2014
  • Suction bucket foundation is installed with the differential pressure created by pumping water out of bucket. Bucket foundation has usually been utilized in mooring anchor for offshore platform or floating oil and gas production facilities in the open sea. After suction bucket foundation successfully was applied as the foundation for offshore wind turbines in Europe, it recently attracts much attention in Korea, too. To estimate the penetration resistance of the suction bucket foundation is one of the important matters that should be considered during its installation. This study carried out a series of model tests to investigate the penetration resistance of suction bucket foundation. And the mobilized soil strength factor was reviewed through comparing the experimental results by two installation ways (e.g., push-in-load and suction) and the results calculated by the conventional equation.

Static displacement and elastic buckling characteristics of structural pipe-in-pipe cross-sections

  • Sato, M.;Patel, M.H.;Trarieux, F.
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.263-278
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    • 2008
  • Structural pipe-in-pipe cross-sections have significant potential for application in offshore oil and gas production systems because of their property that combines insulation performance with structural strength in an integrated way. Such cross-sections comprise inner and outer thin walled pipes with the annulus between them fully filled by a selectable thick filler material to impart an appropriate combination of properties. Structural pipe-in-pipe cross-sections can exhibit several different collapse mechanisms and the basis of the preferential occurrence of one over others is of interest. This paper presents an elastic analyses of a structural pipe-in-pipe cross-section when subjected to external hydrostatic pressure. It formulates and solves the static and elastic buckling problem using the variational principle of minimum potential energy. The paper also investigates a simplified formulation of the problem where the outer pipe and its contact with the filler material is considered as a 'pipe on an elastic foundation'. Results are presented to show the variation of elastic buckling pressure with the relative elastic modulus of the filler and pipe materials, the filler thickness and the thicknesses of the inner and outer pipes. The range of applicability of the simplified 'pipe on an elastic foundation' analysis is also presented. A brief review of the types of materials that could be used as the filler is combined with the results of the analysis to draw conclusions about elastic buckling behaviour of structural pipe-in-pipe cross-sections.

Damping Plate Effects on the Fatigue Life of Riser Connected to Cell Spar Platform

  • Jeong, Hyeon-Su;Choi, Hang-Shoon;Lim, Seung-Joon
    • Journal of Ship and Ocean Technology
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    • v.10 no.3
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    • pp.17-26
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    • 2006
  • Spar platforms have been installed as a competitive alternative offshore production structure for deepwater oil field. Since the first spar platform was constructed, its configuration has evolved to the so-called the truss spar and then the cell spar. This paper describes the dynamic analysis and fatigue life assessment of steel catenary riser (SCR) connected to cell spar platform. Two different cell spar platforms are considered herein; the original cell spar and the modified one. The original cell spar was modified by introducing an additional damping plate at its bottom in order to reduce wave-frequency motions. Firstly the wave-frequency motions of cell spar platforms are calculated based on the potential theory. Then, the dynamic responses of SCR induced by platform motions are computed. Finally the fatigue life of SCR is estimated by spectral method and the performance of two spar platforms are compared in terms of the fatigue life. Through the present study, it is found that the fatigue life of the modified cell spar increases only slightly.