Jeremy Daniel
Infield Systems Ltd.
London
Operators are considering 1,339 new offshore oil and gas fields for development between 1992 and 1997.
Tracking planned offshore field developments has become an increasingly difficult task as exploration has moved into more and more offshore areas.
The fields listed in Worldwide Offshore Field Prospects to 1997, prepared by Infield Systems Ltd., are spread over 64 countries.
In its digest of data on planned fields, the report also lists 1,104 platforms, 871 subsea units, and 40,697 km of pipeline of 6 in. diameter and greater being considered for 1992-97 (Table 1).
The report is based on information contained in the Infield Database, under development for nearly 7 years.
Dr. Roger Knight, a geologist who maintains the database, has included dates of discovery and production, estimated reserves, production rates and operators, and detail on platforms, pipelines, flowlines, umbilicals, subsea installations, loading buoys, and terminals.
The report refers to existing and planned offshore fields worldwide.
REGIONAL FIGURES
The estimated recoverable reserves of the fields being planned in Eastern Europe at 9.786 billion metric tons of oil equivalent are significantly higher than any other region's reserves (Table 2).
The Northwest European continental shelf comes next with 5.132 billion tons of oil equivalent. However, the Eastern Europe figures are spread between only 28 fields while Northwest Europe has 307 known fields.
The figures make interesting comparison with their equivalents for offshore fields on stream by 1992, where the greatest cumulative reserves are found in the Middle East with 19.055 billion tons of oil equivalent spread over 48 fields.
DEEPWATER FIELDS
Technological trends can also be clearly discerned from statistics. The distribution of deepwater field developments using floating production facilities is well illustrated (Table 3).
The U.S. Gulf of Mexico presents the greatest technological challenge of the decade for deepwater production.
The maximum water depth being considered for a floating system is 2,300 m, 900 m deeper than the deepest field with floating production in another country, namely Brazil.
The U.S. may also be in a position to hold the record for the water depth of subsea completions with its deepest potential subsea completion site being in 2,482 m of water.
Elsewhere, Brazil's deepest subsea completion site being considered is in about 1,630 m. Next in depth come the Philippines at 738 m and Italy at 634 m.
DEEPWATER PIPELINES
Pipelaying statistics are often revealing and sometimes surprising.
The distribution of lengths of pipelines within specific diameter bands contains some surprises.
For example, in Southeast Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, where many new gas trunklines are being considered, the greatest length of pipeline appears in the larger than 26 in. bracket.
In contrast in North America and West Africa, where good infrastructures exist, the greatest length of pipeline planned comes in the 6-10 in. band.
In Northwest Europe, Australasia, India, North Africa, South and East Africa,
and Southern Europe, where new gas trunklines are also likely, the 19-26 in. band stands out.
Almost half the pipe of less than 6 in. diameter being planned in the world is for the mature Northwest European continental shelf area. The length is 1,404 km against a world total of 2,969 km.
CONCLUSIONS
Offshore field developments in the 1990s will be significant in many more countries than many realize.
New forms of technology that have evolved during the last decade or so are likely to be used increasingly as water depths are seriously considered which until recently would have been thought ridiculous.
This will particularly be the case in the Western Hemisphere.
Another conclusion that reinforces evidence from many directions is that the changes in Eastern Europe, which holds 35% of the world's untapped offshore hydrocarbon resource, are very relevant to the oil and gas industry as a whole.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
