Mobile Mudmats Research Shows Promise for Economical Deepwater Production
When it comes to offshore advancements, Australia is on the cutting edge of developing technology aimed at lowering the costs of deepwater production.
One of those advancements is mobile mudmats, or offshore foundations that gently slide along the seabed rather than remaining in place – much like a skyscraper slightly bends with the wind.
During the mudmats’ first experimental tests, which began in late 2013 in the geotechnical centrifuge at the Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems (COFS) at the University of Western Australia, the new technology showed excellent performance, indicating that it can contribute to economically producing hydrocarbons from remote locations or from deepwater fields, said Susan Gourvenec, a professor of offshore geomechanics at COFS, to Rigzone.
COFS is renowned for offshore technology advancements and boasts the largest number of geotechnical researchers in the world, said Mark Randolph, Fugro Chair of Geotechnics and founding director of COFS, to Rigzone.
Australia’s many hard-to-reach gas fields coupled with the country’s complex seabed composition have driven the success of COFS, which is funded by industry and the government.
“We continually strive to be at the leading edge of offshore developments, including mobile foundation technology,” Randolph said, adding that the technology spotlight has been thrown on Australia as Royal Dutch Shell plc plans to introduce the world’s first floating liquefied national gas facility off the country’s northwest coast.
Moving Mudmats
In relatively shallow waters with relatively simple seabed compositions, fixed foundations can work well because they are often small enough to be installed on the seafloor by the same vessel that lays the subsea pipelines – saving operators money, Gourvenec explained.
When in place, the mudmat foundations support the pipeline infrastructure that connects individual wells to manifolds and carries the hydrocarbons across the seabed to a fixed or floating facility, Gourvenec said.
As the industry moves into deeper waters, the soils of the seabed become softer and more precarious, requiring larger and more substantial foundation systems. The traditional design requirement that a foundation should remain fixed leads to a size and weight of mudmat that must be installed by a specialized vessel, which can quickly escalate project costs, Gourvenec explained.
Allowing the foundation to tolerably slide in response to pipeline thermal expansion loads enables foundation footprints to be reduced. Ultimately, reduced footprint size enables the mobile mudmats to be fabricated and installed more cost-effectively, Gourvenec said.
123
View Full Article
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Falcon Oil Declares Commercial Flow Test Results for Shenandoah Well
- Macquarie Strategists Expect Brent Oil Price to Grind Higher
- Japan Failing to Meet Corporate Demand for Clean Power: Amazon
- Pennsylvania County Joins List of Local Govts Suing Big Oil over Climate
- UK Oil Regulator Publishes New Emissions Reduction Plan
- PetroChina Posts Higher Annual Profit on Higher Production
- US, SKorea Launch Task Force to Stop Illicit Refined Oil Flows into NKorea
- McDermott Settles Reficar Dispute
- Russian Navy Enters Warship-Crowded Red Sea Amid Houthi Attacks
- USA Commercial Crude Oil Inventories Increase
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- Oil Demand Outpaces Expectations, Testing Calculus on Peak Crude
- House Passes Protecting American Energy Production Act
- TotalEnergies Restarts Production in Denmark's Biggest Gas Field
- Republican Lawmakers Say IEA Has Abandoned Energy Security Mission
- USA Oil and Gas Job Figures Jump
- Blockchain Demands Attention in Oil and Gas
- Houthis Warn Saudi Arabia of Retaliation If It Backs USA Attacks
- Macquarie Sees USA Oil Production Exiting 2024 at 14MM Barrels Per Day
- Summer Pump Prices Set to Hit $4 a Gallon Just as Americans Hit the Road
- New China Climate Chief Says Fossil Fuels Must Keep a Role
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- VIDEO: Missile Attack Kills Crew Transiting Gulf of Aden
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Another Major Oilfield Discovery
- What Is the Biggest Risk to Offshore Oil and Gas Personnel in 2024?
- Vessel Sinks in Red Sea After Missile Strike
- Exxon Rights in Stabroek Do Not Apply to Hess Merger with Chevron: Hess
- Equinor Makes Discovery in North Sea
- Analysts Reveal Latest Oil Price Outlook Following OPEC+ Cut Extension