Subsea BOP Stack Systems

Subsea BOP Stack Systems (figures illustrated are Cameron) incorporate the newest technology required by the demands of deepwater and ultra-deepwater drilling. Subsea engineers have tackled the tough challenges of deepwater by successfully evaluating deepwater criteria including: Height and Weight Several features incorporated into BOP stacks to reduce the height and weight of for deepwater applications are;

BOP stacks using specially designed BOPs that weigh less and are shorter in height than conventional stacks. Funnel-up stack design to decrease the height of the LMRP by as much as 18" (46 cm), allowing five BOP cavities to fit into the space of four. Annular BOP provided in dual body design to further reduce the height required by two individual annular BOPs. Lightweight riser systems featuring riser connectors designed to meet the constraints imposed by variable deck load and space limitations on existing and new rigs. Multiplex Electro-Hydraulic Control Systems that are significantly smaller and lighter than previously manufactured.

Pressure and Bending Loads In deep water, bending stresses are dramatically increased. This challenge has been met with a range of high capacity, deepwater collet connectors for the wellhead-to-stack and BOP stack-to-lower riser package connections. Innovative designs have also been introduced to strengthen the API connector flanges to handle increased bending loads. Riser systems are thus designed to accommodate high bending loads in the deepwater riser string. Intervention Deepwater equipment must be ROV compatible. E.g. functions such as riser connector unlock, choke and kill connector unlock, shear ram close and lock, pipe ram close and lock, accumulator dump and emergency stack recovery ROV compatible. MUX control system can also offers options for ROV assisted pod installation and retrieval. Operational Considerations Closing a pipe ram or shear ram displaces wellbore fluids below the annular BOP, increasing the pressure being contained by the annular. Bleed valve arrangement in the LMRP allows a controlled bleed-off of the increased pressure between the pipe rams and the shear rams.

Time Savings TIme savings is of critical importance when operating in deepwater. Drilling systems therefore utilise quick make-up riser flanges, retrievable subsea pods and long life BOP elastomers. BOP stacks are available in funnel-up or funnel-down designs at the Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP)-to-BOP Stack interface and the BOP stack-towellhead interface. LMRP Connection The funnel-up design allows the stack mandrel to become shorter, reducing overall stack height by as much as 18" (46 cm). The funnel-up design allows five BOP cavities to be incorporated into a stack height comparable to a funnel-down stack with only four cavities. Funnel-up design also increases the LMRP pull-off angle. The funnel-down design still provides precise alignment for choke and kill line connections and control pods. Wellhead Connection Stack frames are often provided with bolting patterns for both funnel-up and funnel-down installation. To convert a funnel-down stack to funnel-up, simply unbolt the structure for the funnel-up system. Bolt-on guideline capability allow easy convertion from guideline less to guideline operation.

Discoverer Enterprise; Deepwater BOP, riser system. The 15,000 psi 183/4-in. multiplex BOP stack on the Discoverer Enterprise consists of six rams and a combination annular/lower flex joint. Three of the rams are 41/2-in. to 7-in. variable bore rams with 151/2-in. operators, two of the rams are blind/shear rams with 22-in. operators, and one ram is a casing shear ram with 22-in. operators capable of shearing 13 3/8-in. casing. The annular is rated for 10,000 psi. Temperature and pressure probes and a gas bleed valve under the annular are incorporated in the BOP stack. The stack is 45 ft in height and is capable of being handled in one piece below the substructure on the moonpool deck with the use of a powered cart system with tracks on the moonpool deck and on powered spider beams. A dedicated combination low-pressure/high-volume and high-pressure/low- volume BOP test pump system rated to 15,000 psi will reduce pressure-testing times. Riser joints are 75 ft long with a 21-in. OD and 13/16-in. wall thickness. Riser couplings are rated for 2.5 million lb and the riser is equipped with 41/2-in. ID 15,000 psi choke and kill lines, a 3.82-in. ID 6,000 psi boost line, and a 2.62-in. ID 5,000 psi hydraulic supply line. The Discoverer Enterprise has storage capability for up to 20,000 ft. of 21-in. riser. Six 400-ton solid body tensioners with 50-ft. strokes provide a tensioning capability of 4.8 million lb. A riser tensioner ring with a fluid assist bearing is utilised providing low breakout torque. Split construction with hydraulic locking pins significantly reduces make-up time. Three flex joints are utilised in the riser string - an upper flex joint at the diverter, an intermediate flex joint below the slip joint, and the lower flex joint combined with the annular. The slip joint has an 85-ft stroke and a profile machined in the inner diameter of the outer barrel to allow engagement with a BOP landing assist tool. The BOP landing assist tool will enable the latching and unlatching of the BOP stack utilizing the draw works and compensator in combination with the tensioners. This landing combination eliminates the time associated with nippling down the diverter and rigging up a landing joint. A BOP test plug can be run below the BOP landing assist tool out of the critical path to allow testing of the BOP stack immediately after latching up. The tensioning capability of the Enterprise Class drillships and room underneath the substructure will allow installation of a high-pressure concentric riser in the 21-in. marine riser with a surface.

Subsea Control systems Introduction. Subsea control systems enable remote control of seabed and downhole valves and monitoring of the multiplicity of valves, chokes and gauges included in a sophisticated subsea production system. Such a system is vital to the safe and efficient operation of a subsea system. They differ from surface systems in that they may have to be in operating service without failure or repair for a longer working period (i.e. in this case 15-20years filed life.) Hydraulic power is transmitted to the seabed template Central control manifold (CCM) through hydraulic lines whilst command signals from the surface are transmitted through hydraulic and/or electric umbilicals to the CCM. The CCM is then connected to individual Subsea control manifolds on each well via similar smaller hydraulic/electric umbilicals. Information from all monitoring devices are transmitted from each well, via SCM to CCM and then to the surface facility via hydraulic and/or electric lines. Functionality. Subsea Control systems must be designed for both system installation, well reentry operations and for long term control and monitoring of the producing completion, Xmas tree and template components. During drilling and completion an interface between drilling rig and intervention vessel or in Oceanus case potentially the FPSO itself would be able to control and operate individual functions from surface. E.g. hydraulic latches, running tools, control over production Xmas tree etc. During production all functionality would be performed from the FPSO itself. The functions that would be controlled are: Operation of tree wing and crossover valves Operation of downhole safety valves Operation of subsea chokes and manifold valves Monitoring information regarding choke positions, reservoir or seabed flowing temperatures and pressures, control system variables, hydrocarbon leaks, electric or hydraulic supply failure, Multiplexed electro hydraulic Activated electric signals would be encoded and transmitted from the surface facility down a single cable to the subsea central control manifold (CCM) where they would be decoded, processed then transmitted to respective wells subsea control manifold (SCM). The signals then operate solenoid pilot valves which in

turn release hydraulic power from the function larger, hydraulic lines to actuate the selected function. Such systems improve response times, require fewer hydraulic and electric conduits , needing only one for the signal and one for the main power supply. With a complex multiplexed system, there is increased life of failure and hence provision of back up facilities or redundancy would be built into any system to reduce risk. HPU, Control panel Control lines & control fluid. A hydraulic power unit (HPU) would be located on the FPSO, providing storage fluid, high pressure generation and high pressure fluid storage. The HPU would comprise of a low pressure fluid storage reservoir to store control fluid, a high pressure pump, and a high pressure (3000psi) storage reservoir (accumulator). Accumulators would be of sufficient capacity to accommodate system cycle rate and recharging of the pumps, and fluid filter to ensure cleanliness of the control fluid. Accumulator capacity would also have sufficient capacity for certain redundancy if all electric power to pumps was lost. E.g. Ability to shut in and isolate all primary functions to secure all wells. Control panel The control panel may be a stand alone or an integral part of the HPU. It utilises a series of valves to direct the hydraulic and/or electric signals or power to the appropriate functions. Control lines Control lines transmit information in form of pressure pulses or electric signals or to conduct high pressure fluids to activate the subsea functions. Hydraulic control lines conduct fluid from the surface to the subsea function. The lines mat be manufactured from carbon steel, be corrosion resistant alloys or thermoplastic materials. The control lines are generally bundles together with a protective jacket and/or armour protection. Electric control lines or cables generally contain both power and signal conductors and can be deployed as a separate control line or combined in a common bundle with hydraulic control lines. Electric connectors at the subsea end of the system are of two types. Either inductive couplers where electric energy is transmitted through the magnetic coupling of the two connector halves. Or energy that is more common where electrical is transmitted with little power loss through conductive pin and socket connectors.

Control fluids. Both water based and petroleum-based fluids are used in hydraulic systems. Petroleum based are more desirable as they do not cause corrosion or biological growth within the system. Control fluids need to comply with the National Aerospace standard 1638, Class 6 cleanliness standard. (NAS6) Control pods. (CCM & SCMs) The control pods are the subsea distribution points for the surface generated power and surface control, to the components positioned on the template facilities. They are also the data collection and transmission points for the data collected by the various monitors on or below the seabed. The pods are mounted in accessible positions, are retrievable for repair, maintenance or replacement as necessary. The pods are therefore functionally self contained and retrievable units, housing typically the following components. Solenoid operating pilot valves and logic decoding system of the Electrohydraulic control systems. Pressure operated valves of the piloted hydraulic control systems Hydraulic operating cylinders that operate the mechanisms that lock and interface pods to base plates and common lines. Hydraulically operating cylinder that operates a retractable multi-pin electrical connector.

The electronics are housed in a pressure compensated oil-bath. A pressure compensation bladder unit in or adjacent to control pods interface with the Ocean environment to maintain balancing pressure at any operating depth. Other electrical components, such as pressure switches, transducers, flow-meters etc. are normally designed to operate at ambient temperatures. Pods can be retrieved using a running tool or a work class ROV. The control hose bundle would supplies running tools with the required control pressures to latch, unlatch pods once tools were attached. Finally, a hydraulic override of the control system could maintain the tree in production or service state while the pod is being retrieved and serviced. Reliability of control systems. Reliability as a whole is dependent on the reliability of each of its components parts. Valves: Are probably the most critical components especially so in a subsea completion. Most common failure being high fluid leakage rate, valves sticking after a long period in pressurised state. The only method to predict valve behaviour is extensive testing under conditions identical to field and environment operating conditions.

Monitoring capabilities and equipment. Status sensors Used for the control module functions and production tree. The control module status is normally referred to as housekeeping status because it provides data on the incoming supply voltage, the voltage of the module power supplies and the hydraulic supply pressure. Pressure sensors The most simple being where the transducer is located within the control module housing. This provides accuracys of 1% and the best reliability as the most simple circuits can be used. Disadvantage is that the measured pressure must be tied into the control module on a hydraulic stab, placing sensing lines at risk and requiring isolation to be attended for. To eliminate this risk sensors that mount at the sensor point are used, mounted on flanged ports that contain block and bleed valves for safe removal. The housings for such pressure transducers contain the necessary signal conditioning to use inductive couplers designed to be a secondary containment vessel in case of transducer leakage. This design does not allow diverless replacement therefore the circuitry has been kept as simple as possible to maintain high reliability. Accuracy is +/- 3% over full pressure range. Downhole pressure sensors now have accuracy of 0.5% and have been adapted from standard downhole sensors to the subsea control electronics, utilising a pin to pin type connector to provide the Dc connection required to the downhole element. Temperature sensors Use standard platinum wire probe interfaced with the signal conditioning electronics. The probe is mounted in a thermal well to allow its removal without interrupting production, Such design required subsea intervention for replacement. Pig detector If through flowline tools are used for well maintenance to clean production flowlines, it is desirable to know the location of the tool in the pipe prior to performing critical operations. The detector simply uses a strap tool on a sensor to sense the reluctance between its elements. When a steel pig passes the pole pieces it is sensed and the data transmitted to the surface by the control module. Leak detector A leak detector monitors the build up of hydrocarbons or gas under an inverted still pan. The sensor uses two coils in close proximity to measure the conductivity of the surrounding medium. When sea water is around the sensor it conducts current and couples the excited coil to the passive coil and the signal is detected by the electronics. When the conductive path is broken by hydrocarbons or gas,

the excited coil is no longer coupled to the passive coil with a resultant loss of signal detected by the electronics. Sand detector Generally one that uses erosion on a probe in the flow stream and a go/nogo device. Sand eroding through the reference tube allows production pressure to shift a valve in the end of the probe. The position of this valve is sensed by a hydraulic circuit using an orifice and pressure transducer. Risers & umbilicals Riser and umbilicals are important and complex items of any offshore development. Production, drilling, work-over, wire-line and production export risers may all be required for a development project. The functional and design specification for each of these systems is different and must be specific for the type of riser preferred.