Oil major BP has awarded Kongsberg Digital a contract to design, engineer, build, install, and perform acceptance testing of a digital twin for the Mad Dog Phase 2 project.
Kongsberg said it would create a custom-built multi-purpose dynamic simulator (MPDS) for the Mad Dog Phase 2 project in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company added that the digital twin models would be connected to the Mad Dog 2 facility-integrated control and safety systems to create a realistic simulation environment that would deliver vital decision support for optimizing production efficiency.
Applications of the simulator will include engineering studies, validation of process design, procedure validation, control system verification, and operator training.
According to Kongsberg, the simulator will be built with dynamic process modeling software K-Spice and transient multiphase flow software LedaFlow.
The simulator model will encompass all of Mad Dog 2’s oil and gas and subsea systems, including all producing wells for water and gas injection, gas dehydration and regeneration, flare systems including systems for flare gas recovery, fuel gas, produced water and seawater, heating and cooling medium, and identified critical chemical injection systems.
Kongsberg also said that the fully built and functional simulator was scheduled for delivery at least one year before first oil.
This will allow ample time to train the operators and ensure competency in a facility operations context and contribute to safe commissioning and start-up.
BP discovered the Mad Dog field in 1998 and began production there with its first platform in 2005. Continued appraisal drilling in the field during 2009 and 2011 doubled the resource estimate of the Mad Dog field to more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, spurring the need for another platform at the field.
Mad Dog Phase 2 will include a new floating production platform with the capacity to produce up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from up to 14 production wells. Oil production is expected to begin in late 2021.