Aker Omega Inc., Houston, will continue a joint industry program to develop a subsea completed buoyant riser (SCBR) for deepwater field development projects.
Engineering to date, begun last October in a program sponsored by seven major oil companies, has helped establish the feasibility of using an SCBR system to develop fields in water 3,000 ft deep or more in the Gulf of Mexico.
The SCBR, designed by Aker in Phase I of the program for use in the Gulf of Mexico, ties together as many as 20 individually buoyant, rigid risers at a location far below the water's surface. From there, bundles of flexible risers extend upward to a surface vessel.
Aker said the Gulf of Mexico SCBR is made of proven components, can be installed and removed by a standard drilling rig, allows convenient well servicing, and can be installed one riser at a time, allowing companies to bring some wells on production while drilling others.
In the next phase, expected to begin this month and to be complete by the end of July 1992, Aker and industry participants will try to improve the Gulf of Mexico SCBR design and begin developing an SCBR system for deepwater applications off West Africa.
Sponsors of Phase I of the program were Amoco Corp., ARCO, BP Exploration Inc., Marathon Oil Co., Mobil Corp., Den norske stats oljeselskap AS, and Texaco Inc. Six of those companies will participate in the next step, Phase 1A.
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