The Video below shows an OTC 2015 executive session presentation on Subsea Compression with Margareth Øvrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects & Drilling and Mads Andersen, President, Processing Systems at OneSubsea.
In March this year, OneSubsea delivered the world’s first subsea wet gas compression system to Statoil which is being installed on the seabed and tied back to the Gullfaks C platform to provide another 22 million barrels of oil equivalent from the Gullfaks South Brent reservoir.
By adding 22 million barrels of oil equivalent from the Gullfaks South Brent reservoir the compressor will help extend the field’s productive life.
This is the world’s first wet gas compressor, developed in collaboration with OneSubsea with large parts of the compressor station built by suppliers and sub-suppliers in western Norway and in the Bergen region.
Since October last year, the wet gas compressor station has been through the final system integration tests at Horsøy outside Bergen.
The delivery from OneSubsea consists of a 420-tonne protective structure, a compressor station with two five-megawatt compressors totalling 650 tonnes, and all necessary topside equipment for power supply and control of the plant.
The seaded installation of the compressor started in April. The following months the umbilical will be installed as well as the modules within the compressor station. Everything will be hooked up to the Gullfaks C platform during this summer. According to Statoil, start-up is scheduled for this autumn.
Important for subsea factory future
Subsea gas compression represents a considerable technological leap forward and is one of Statoil’s most important measures for delivering volumes on existing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. When the reservoir pressure falls below a critical level, subsea wet gas compression will help maintain high gas production.
Compression on the seabed provides greater effect than a conventional topside compressor. In addition, the platform avoids the extra weight and space required by a topside compression module. The advantage of a wet gas compression facility is that it does not require any treatment of the well stream before compression. This makes for smaller modules and simpler construction on the seabed.
Statoil is currently developing two subsea compression projects together with its partners, on Åsgard and Gullfaks. These projects represent important pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of designing the subsea factories of the future.
Video/Image: Statoil