IBP1500_12 TOWED INSTALLATION OF SCRS AND FLOWLINES FOR OFFSHORE DEEPWATER FIELD DEVELOPMENT Jacob Chacko1 and Kalyana

Janardhanan 2

Copyright 2012, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP

This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012, held between September, 1720, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the final paper submitted by the author(s). The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute opinion, or that of its Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Proceedings.

Abstract
This paper describes one method of increasing local content by constructing and pressure testing all the Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) and Flowlines on an appropriate land site using local skilled workers and then towing the fabricated system to the field for offshore installation using NOC contracted Anchor Handling Towing and Supply (AHTS) Vessels. Subsea integrity will be the basis for all stages of design, fabrication and installation without compromise on the quality standards. Brazil is ideally suited for this type of construction. The reasons for choosing Brazil is that Petrobras and other oil companies are planning on developing a large number of their deepwater offshore fields in the next ten years. The slated amount of expenditure for the next ten years is 10 billion US dollars. Brazil requires a large percentage of local content. In order to be able to meet this goal all methods of installation of flowlines using international and local contractors is envisaged. One method of using locally available skilled workers is to building the flowlines onshore and then towing them to the offshore field for installation. The tow method selected for this paper is off-bottom tow method. This installation method is suitable for many countries such as Angola, China, India and Brazil where there is push to use local skilled workers. For this paper, the selected country for example, where this method can be used is Brazil. This method can be used for developing any offshore field in Brazil where a reasonably flat beach area for fabrication the SCRs and flowlines is available. As an example here in this paper a typical deepwater field development in the offshore Campos Basin area is chosen.

1. Introduction
Many National Oil Companies (NOCs) require high percentage of local content in the development of their Offshore Oil & Gas Fields. This can be achieved by allowing subsea flowlines/pipelines and SCRs to be fabricated and tested on land and then towed to the deepwater field for installation by using Company owned/leased AHTS vessels. There are several methods of towing the fabricated flowlines and SCRs depending on the depth at which the flowline is situated during tow. The tow methods are listed below: Surface Tow Below surface or Mid-depth Tow Off-bottom Tow Bottom Tow In this paper the selected method is off-bottom tow. The reason for selecting off-bottom tow is to be able keep the towed system away from the higher currents and wave induced effects. Keeping it off-bottom, avoids having to deal with hazardous irregularities found along the seabed. This however does not preclude having to do a detailed bottom survey along the route that is finally chosen. Off-bottom tow requires additional buoyancy and chains to be attached along the towed system which increases the cost when compared to a bottom tow. But this additional cost can be distributed as long as there are several tows to be performed using the same buoyancy and chains. For towing integrity in off-bottom tow, two AHTS vessels are required one in the front and one at the back. While towing the flowlines and SCRs using two vessels imparts tension helping to stabilize the towed system in shallow areas where there could be large cross-currents.

______________________________ 1 Subsea Pipeline Engineering Manager - BECHTEL OG&C 2 Subsea Systems Manager BECHTEL OG&C

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Brazil is beginning to develop its newly found large number of offshore fields in the Campos and Santos Basins. Therefore, this paper is directed to installation of flowlines and SCRs in offshore deepwater field in these areas using off-bottom tow method. However, this method can be used to develop offshore fields anywhere along the coast of Brazil using locally available skilled labor and Companys AHTS vessels.

2. Description of a Typical Offshore Field in the Campos Basin

A typical offshore field consists of several producer wells and water injection wells. This field could be located in any of oil basins such as Roncador, Albacora, Pirambu, Jubrate and others. This typical field is assumed be located approximately 140 km from the coast of Brazil (See Figure 1) in a water depth of 1,800m in the Roncador area. The development of the field is assumed to consists of a moored floating production facility, FPS, and all the production and water injection wells located within 4.5 km distance (Figure 2 and 3). The proposed method of developing these wells is to have the flowlines connected with SCRs to the FPS. It is assumed that wells from the same formation can be connected together and can flow through the same flowline. A typical layout of flowlines and SCRs connected to the facility is shown in Figure 4. As the flowlines are rather short, the tension from the SCRs can easily be transmitted to the flowlines. Therefore, the far locations of the touchdown point of the SCRs are anchored using suction piles to prevent transmitting the tension to the flowlines. Each flowline has multiple inline sleds and a Pipeline End Termination (PLET). Rigid or flexible jumpers can used to connect to the wells from the sleds and PLETs. Pigging of water injection lines is assumed to be a requirement and this can be accomplished using a flexible pipeline connected between the injection flowlines (Figure 3). It is assumed no pigging of the flowlines is required but if it is, flexible lines with a similar arrangement as done for the water injection lines can be included.

Figure 1. Location of Offshore Field

Figure 2. FPS & Well locations

Figure 3. Proposed Field Development

Figure 4. Insulated Flowline

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3. Design of SCRs and Flowlines

The design of the SCRs and flowlines will follow the DnV Codes as is the practice in Brazil. The flowlines will require insulation to maintain the temperature of the fluids above the wax or hydrate formation temperatures. A view of the cross-section of the insulated flowline is shown in Figure 4. This shows the flowline with an inner Fusion Bonded Epoxy (FBE) anti-corrosion coating, covered by a syntactic foam/wet insulation coating. The outside abrasion resistance coating is a layer of HDPE. The water injection flowlines require no insulation as shown in Figure 5. The production SCRs will require insulation and strakes to mitigate Vortex Induced Vibrations (VIV), while the water injection ones will only have strakes. This is shown in Figure 6. A line diagram of the SCR and flowline system is shown in Figure 7.
SOLID PE or PU

SYNTACTIC INSULATION

PRODUCTION LINE

W.I. LINE TRIPLE START STRAKES

Figure 5. Water Injection Line

Figure 6. Cross-section of SCRs

Figure 7. Line diagram showing Flowline/SCRs System

Figure 8. Potential Fabrication Sites

4. Onshore Site for SCR and Flowline Fabrication

The selection criteria for an onshore fabrication site for towing are as follows: Sufficient area for storage and fabrication of flowline/SCR strings Sufficient length for a rail perpendicular to the beach Easy road access to the site Close to a town for lodging and boarding Short distance to the 10m depth contour from the beach Distance to the Offshore Field Near offshore Campos Basin area, along the coast of Brazil, three sites were considered (see Figure 8 above) but only one site, Praia do Acu, met all the above criteria and was selected. Figure 9 shows location of the fabrication site with respect to the coast. The distance to the 10m depth contour from the beach is approximately 1 km. This is the location nearshore where the AHTS will be located to begin the tow. The site needs to be cleared and graded and have a rail line installed. The length of the rail would be approximately half the combined length of the longest flowline and SCR together. The layout of a typical fabrication site is shown in Figure 10. The onshore site must be set up to receive the following materials required for fabrication: 3

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 Insulated pipe joints for production flowlines Straked joints with and without insulation Three layer Polyethylene (3LPE) or FBE coated joints for water injection lines Pre-fabricated PLETs, inline sleds and anchoring clamps for SCRs Heavy Chain and Buoyancy Modules for Flowlines, SCRs and Sleds/PLETs Rigging Material Railway Bogies for supporting the flowline on the rail

All the heavy equipment required for handling onshore pipeline fabrication must be made available at the site mainly, cranes and sideboom tractors.

Figure 9. Selected Fabrication Site Praia do Acu

Figure 10. Onshore Fabrication Site Layout for Rail Launch

5. Flowline & SCR Fabrication for Off-bottom Tow

The fabrication consists of making up of SCR and flowline strings in lengths that can be accommodated in the fabrication area along the side of the rail. The string lengths would be that between inline sleds and PLETs for the flowlines shown in the field layout. The water injection line would be longest and can be made up three strings each approximately 2.1km long. Therefore, the length of the rail would be approximately 2.2 km. The strings are fabricated alongside the rail in the same sequence that it would be towed out. This sequence would be established as part of the towing schedule. Typical welding operations for welding and NDE of the flowlines on the beach are shown in Figure11. In the development of this field, the SCR string with the Flex joint/Stress Joint would be the front end of the completed flowline system. The stress joint would be enclosed in a steel shroud to protect it during towing. The steel shroud would be designed to have a pull-head in front. The completed flowline strings are hydrostatically pressure tested. The pressure is held only for four hours and serves as a leak test. A flowlines and SCRs are then dewatered and dried. For an off-bottom tow, buoyancy modules and chains are needed along the length of the flowline and on the inline sleds and PLETs as shown in Figure 12 and Figure 13. A welding station is located near the water line end of the rail for welding in the PLETs and inline sleds to the flowline during the pull out of the strings into the water.

Figure 11. Welding of Pipe Strings on the Beach

Figure 12. Buoyancy and Chain on Flowline 4

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Figure 13. Buoyancy attached to the Sled

Figure 14. Tow Route to Offshore Field

6. Tow Route Selection and Preparation

The tow route to the offshore Field is shown in Figure 14. A route survey from nearshore Praia do Acu to the offshore field in the Roncador area needs to be completed prior to preparing the onshore site. This survey will consist of three surveys: a nearshore survey, a shallow water survey, and a deepwater survey Each of the above surveys requires different equipment and can be given to three different contractors working concurrently. The nearshore survey will consist of wire dragging between two shallow draft boats from the beach to a depth of 15m. Any snagging of the wire will be checked out by divers and marked. All sunken debris lying on the centerline of the route needs to be removed. If it consists of a geohazard, the centerline may need to be moved and that will affect the centerline of the rail onshore. The shallow water survey will start at a water depth of 10m to provide some overlap. Clear area near the 20m contour will be established as the first parking area for the towed flowline. This is where the towing will stop to confirm that the flowline is suspended above the seabed at the designed height of 2m to 3m. The shallow water survey route will extend to a depth of 200m at the beginning of the continental slope. In this case the length to this contour is 100km from shore as shown in Figure 15. The shallow water route survey will typically use side-scan sonar and a magnetometer. Any features that can disrupt a tow will be checked out by an ROV. All cable crossing and pipeline crossing coordinates will be established.

Figure 15. Route Profile for 125 km from Praia do Acu

Figure 16. Tow Route to 2nd Park Area in 1800m wd

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 The deepwater survey will run from 190m water depth to infield area at 1800m water depth. Another parking area (2nd) in deepwater is required. From here the flowlines will be reverse towed as shown in Figure 16. This second parking area needs to be surveyed. The route for parking each of the flowlines is shown. The back-end of the flowline with the PLETs will become the front-end for towing into the infield area. Preparation of the tow route consists of covering all cables and pipeline crossings with several layers of concrete mats for protection. All the crossing locations and hazards close to the 50m corridor of the tow route will be marked with transponders in such a way that the tow vessels and the survey vessels used during the tow can pick up these locations from the transponder signals.

7. Preparation for Launch and Tow

The first action in the preparation for launching the flowlines from the beach is to mobilize the Tow Spread. As this is an off-bottom tow, two tow vessels are required one in the front and one at the back. The other vessels required for tow are: Assist Tow Vessel ROV/Survey Vessel During the preparation for launch, additional vessels required area; Crew Boat Chase Vessels (to keep fishing vessels away from the launch area)

In preparing to launch, SCR string with a pull-head in front is placed on bogies sitting on the rail. Sideboom tractors are used in this operation of lifting the flowline string on the bogies as shown in Figure 17 and Figure 18.

Figure 17. Lifting flowline strings using sideboom

Figure 18. Flowline String placed on rail bogies

At the same time, the Front Tow vessel is anchored nearshore at the 10m contour water depth. In this case the distance from the beach to the tow vessel is 1 km. The tow wire from the vessel is transferred to shore using a winch on the beach as shown in Figure 19. To prevent the tow wire from dragging along the seabed, Norwegian buoys can be attached at a pre-determined spacing as shown in Figure 20. The tow wire is now ready to be connected to the pull-head in front. The side-boom tractors lift and move the completed flowline string on to the bogies sitting on the rail as shown in Figure 18. A holdback winch is connected to the rear end of the string to provide some back tension. As the rail would be sloping towards the beach, the string will have a tendency to move towards the water and is prevented by the back tension provided by the holdback winch. The tow wire is connected to the front pull-head of the SCR string. The SCR pipe joints will come with strakes fitted on it or it can be fitted on the beach as shown in Figure 21. The SCR string is ready to be launched. The tow wire is attached to the pull-head in front of the string. Buoyancy and chains are attached to the SCR string at predetermined spacing. The chains at this time are tied along the top of the buoy. This will allow the abrasion resistant HDPE outer layer of the flowline to rest on the seabed when launched into the water. Launching of the SCR string is performed by the tow vessel slowly moving forward on its own propulsion until the end of the string is near the welding station. The divers release the chains tied to the buoyancy modules allowing the SCR section to rise up above the seabed. The back end of the SCR string is fitted with an anchor 6

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 clamp. When this is near the water line, the flowline string is lifted and placed on the bogies on the rail. Then the front end of the flowline string is welded to the back end of the SCR string. Buoyancy and chains are attached to the flowline string. When the welding and NDE are completed, the tow vessel will move forward again to pull the flowline string into the water. An inline sled is then welded to the back end of the flowline string. The number of strings that need to be welded depends on the number of inline sleds. The PLET is welded to the back end of the last string near the water line. With the flowline system completely fabricated and pulled into the water, the flowline can be pressurized with nitrogen from the PLET end. A successful pressure test is assumed when the pressure is held for four hours without any significant drop in pressure. Now the first SCR/flowline system is ready for tow to the first parking area in 20m water depth.

Figure 19. Winch used for Pulling Tow wire to shore

Figure 20. Norwegian Buoys on Tow wire

Figure 21. SCR Strings with Strakes

Figure 22. Tandem tow

Table 1. Tow Vessel Features

Vessels Features Bollard Pull Winch Capacity Storage Capacity for 203mm F Polyester rope MAERSK BOULDER 235 t 500 t 2 drums @ 1,600m NORSKAN COPACABANA 180 t 350 t 4 drums @1,300m

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8. Towing Operation
Initiating tow after fabricating and testing the flowline will require the maximum tow force. In this case with the longest flowline with the SCR attached is approximately 6.3km requiring a tow force of approximately 200 metric tons. Table 1 above shows two of the candidate tow vessels that may be available offshore Brazil. If one tow vessel does not have the capacity to initiate tow, two vessels in tandem can be used as shown in Figure 22 as shown above. The tow will proceed to the first parking area in 20m water depth. The tow is stopped here to check if the off-bottom height is more or less as designed (~2m to 3m). If not, divers can trim the height by adding more chain. The tow can then proceed after confirming that the flowline is suspended at the designed height above the seabed.

9. Towing Across Existing Cables and Pipelines

Shortly after the first parking area in 20m water depth, the tow route crosses a communication cable at a distance of 25 km. Further along in deeper water, the flowline would need to cross several pipelines and cable before arriving at the designated second parking area. Several layers of concrete mats have been placed at the crossing locations to allow chains to drag across. A better way to perform the towing across these crossings is to increase the speed of the front vessel to induce more tension into the suspended flowline. At a certain critical tension the whole length of the flowline with buoyancy and chain will suspended above the seabed as shown in Figure 23. During this operation, the ROV/Survey vessel will be moving at the same speed as the tow vessel and located near the middle of the flowline length. Transponders are placed along the length of the flowline and some of them will be at the middle. The Survey Vessel can interrogate with the transponders to determine the height of the flowline above the seabed. This information is displaced on the screen that the captain of the front tow vessel can see. The captain can control his speed to maintain the height of the flowline above the seabed and continue along the tow route till crossings are all completed. This method is preferred at the crossings. The distance between the front tow vessel and rear tow vessel can be as much as 14km in 1800m water depth. The ROV/Survey vessel will be sailing between the tow vessels. Continuous communication between all the vessels is essential for a successful tow.
KEEL HAULING PROCEDURE Keel Haul Wire 3 2 1

Mooring Lines Tow Wire Riser

Figure 23. Towing over existing cables and pipelines

Figure 24. Keel Hauling Procedure

10. Towing into the Infield Area

The off-bottom towed flowline is brought into the second parking area by going through a horizontal curve as shown in previous Figure 16. Each flowline has a specific location to be placed in the parking area such that the reverse tow into the field is straight as shown in the Figure. If the FPS is present at the time of tow, the flowline will need to be keel hauled under the FPS. It is easier without the FPS on location. The flowline is towed to location in the infield area with the SCR anchor clamp placed alongside the pre-installed suction piles. The connection of the SCR anchor clamp to the suction piles would only take place after the riser is hung in the receptacle on the FPS. The same goes for the jumper connections from the inline sleds and PLETs. Once it is confirmed that the flowline and SCR are at the correct location. The chains and buoyancy modules are released by the ROV and collected by the Tow and supply vessels and taken back to beach for reuse on the remaining flowlines. However, when the FPS is brought into the field and anchored on location, the riser would still need to be keel-hauled to bring it to the riser hang-off location on the other side of the FPS. The keel hauling procedure requires that a keel haul wire to be placed under the FPS with two vessels on either side of the FPS as shown in Figure 24. One vessel connects to the SCR and brings the pull head up to a depth where an ROV connects the keel haul wire lowered by the 8

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2012 platform crane to the pull-head. The other end of the keel haul wire is lowered to the Tow vessel on the other side of the FPS. This tow vessel will slowly haul in the keel haul wire and move the pull-head of the SCR under the FPS to the same side as this vessel. Only when the SCR pull-head has completely cleared the FPS pontoon will the ROV release the tow wire of the other vessel on the other side. The second tow vessel will pass the connection to the winch on the FPS. This winch will pull the SCR up and place it into receptacle with the help of a ROV.

11. Summary and Conclusions

A method for developing a deepwater field using off-bottom towed flowlines and SCRs is presented. This method uses local content in the fabrication and testing the flowlines and SCRs on the beach site. It also uses Tow vessels that have long term charters with the NOCs. In this method, the installation stresses cycles are minimized. The candidate countries that this method of installation can be used for the development of offshore fields are Brazil, Angola, China and India. However, there are some limitations as listed below: limited to approximately 2000m water depth due to large buoyancy requirements in deeper water limited to short lengths of flowlines and SCRs several flowlines and SCRs are required for the field development such that the chains and syntactic foam buoyancy are reused syntactic foam buoys are expensive but may be leased from manufacturer requires several experienced personnel for offshore operations

12. Acknowledgements
This paper is based on the approximately 40years of experience the author has accumulated while working in the offshore pipeline industry. The author also acknowledges Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc. for allowing the publication of this paper.

13. Related References

BROWN, R.J., Past, Present, and Future Towing of Pipelines and Risers, OTC Paper 18047, 2006 ALF ROGER HELLESTO, A.R., KARUNAKARAN, D., AND GUDMESTAD, O. T., Deep Water Pipeline and Riser Installation by Combined Tow Method, OTC Paper 18797, 2007 M. BECKMANN, M., RILEY, J.W., VOLKERT, B.C., CHAPPELL, J. F., Troika - Towed Bundle Flowlines OTC Paper 8848, 1998 LEY, T., AND REYNOLDS, D., Pulling and Towing of Pipelines and Bundles, OTC Paper 18233, 2006