Deepwater Challenges: SUT Technical Conference, Rio 2010 - Day 2

New Wave Media

The Society for Underwater Technology Technical Conference in Rio de Janeiro discusses the main challenges to be faced in Deepwater O&G exploration and examines the many possible solutions through technological innovations. Summary of the first presentations during the second day of the conference.

The second day of the SUT Technical Conference started off with keynote speaker David Brookes, Chief engineer Subsea and Floating Systems for BP. Mr. Brookes has been with BP since 1979 and has been in various subsea related positions within the company, been an acknowledged specialist is subsea system. His was an inspiring presentation about the perspectives on subsea development, where he went through the various possibilities and major technological breakthroughs in the company´s  subsea developments, including major developments in Angola .

Important challenges such as subsea processing, subsea tiebacks, concept through design and subsea equipment quality and reliability issues were examined during his excellent presentation.

The other early morning presentations were by Mr. Porciúncula from Petrobras, speaking about the company´s GOM developments Cascade and Chinook, both of which are deepwater developments where subsea technology and equipment are extensively used. One of the interesting topics related to the C&C operations is their use of releasable buoys connected to AR risers and flowlines that can be easily disconnected from the production FPSOs in the even of approaching hurricanes, which are commonly occur in the GOM region during the northern hemispheres summer.

The third presentation of the day was by Mr. H. Cook, also from BP speaking about their technological developments in advanced riser designs for deepwater production.

After the lavish coffee break offered daily by the conference organizers and expertly set up the the Pestana Rio Hotel staff, all participants returned to the conference room for the three remaining presentations before lunch.

Here I must comment on how impressed I was that the great majority of the conference participants from various countries were attending all the presentations, even when not directly related to their areas of expertise, which I would say is not only a testament to the quality of the presentations being given but also to the dedication of these professionals to their work in finding solutions to the many challenges in E&P development in hazardous deepwater environments.

Next week we will look at the other presentations given during the second day of the conference and some conclusions that can be made about deepwater O&G exploration and  production and a summary of the challenges we face in order to have reliable and efficient results in deepwater E&P.

 

Claudio Paschoa

Photo courtesy of SBM Offshore