August 2009 www.bp.

com/frontiers

Deepwater
horse power
Thunder Horse sets new records

Less salt, more oil

Enhancing oil recovery

Unusual suspects
Chemical detectives at work
 FROM THE EDITOR
Few offshore projects can lay claim to have been
the driving force for advancing industry technology
on all fronts. But such is the nature of BP’s
Contents
16
pioneering Thunder Horse development in the Gulf
Galloping ahead:
of Mexico – now the world’s most productive
deepwater field – that the project can justifiably do
Achievements and challenges
so. In this issue of Frontiers we have a special in BP’s Thunder Horse project
feature on the Thunder Horse development,
charting not only its successes but also the
unexpected challenges that occurred during its
decade-long journey from discovery to production,
as the project laid the foundations for the next
generation of deepwater developments.
Moving from the mega-project scale to the
molecular level, we also report on a BP
breakthrough in the world of waterflooding,
revealing the company’s new proprietary technique
for coaxing more oil from reservoirs.
High-tech visualisation is a theme occurring in
two articles – one describing BP’s well planning
toolkit for helping to optimise well designs, the
other describing use of the simulated virtual world
to prepare people to carry out their tasks in the
real world.
And in the sphere of analytical science, we learn
how BP’s investigational analysts developed a
sophisticated technique to track down potential
contaminants in aviation fuel.
We hope you enjoy Frontiers, from the depths of
the ocean to the depths of molecular science.

Terry Knott, Managing Editor

NEWS AND VIEWS

Frontiers
Issue 25, August 2009
Managing Editor
Terry Knott
Editorial Advisory Panel
Angelo Amorelli, John Baxter, Phiroz
Darukhanavala, Joep Font Freide,
Vernon Gibson, Ahmed Hashmi (head
of panel), Stephen Hetherington, Philip
Howard, Graham McNeillie, Neil Morris,
Richard Morrison, Jackie Mutschler,
Oonagh Werngren, Terry Wood
Frontiers, the BP magazine of
technology and innovation, is
published by BP plc.
BP Frontiers, 2nd Floor, Building B,
Chertsey Road, Sunbury on Thames,
Middlesex TW16 7LN, UK
4 UPDATE
Recent news and developments from
around the BP group.
Website
www.bp.com/frontiers
Design by 15 VIEWPOINT
The Crocodile, UK Justin Adams, vice president for strategy and
ventures in BP Alternative Energy, explains why
it is important for BP to be actively engaging with
Printed by
Cousin, a carbon neutral print
emerging clean energy companies.
company accredited to environmental
management standard ISO14001 31 INSIGHT
In Frontiers’ anecdotal series from BP’s Technical
Advisor community, John Etgen, senior advisor
on seismic processing, relates the tale of how a
simple wager led to a step change in the complex
world of seismic imaging.

43 IN BRIEF
Copyright and legal notice
A roundup of shorter news items on recent
Copyright in all published material including photographs, drawings and images in this magazine
remains vested in BP plc and third party contributors to this magazine as appropriate. Accordingly
BP activities worldwide.
neither the whole nor any part of this magazine can be reproduced in any form without
express prior permission, either of the entity within BP plc in which copyright resides or the third
party contributor as appropriate. Articles, opinions and letters from solicited or unsolicited third
party sources appearing in this magazine do not necessarily represent the views of BP plc. Further,
while BP plc has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that everything published is accurate it does
not accept any responsibility for any errors or resulting loss or damage whatsoever or howsoever
caused and readers have the responsibility to thoroughly check these aspects for themselves.

Any enquiries about reproduction of content from this magazine should be directed
to the Managing Editor: terry.knott@uk.bp.com

2 | Frontiers | August 2009

6 32
Drumming up more oil:
How low salinity water
enhances oil recovery
FEATURES
6 LESS SALT, MORE OIL
When it comes to injecting water into
hydrocarbon reservoirs to improve oil recovery,
lowering the water salinity can have the welcome
effect of delivering more oil. Nina Morgan finds
out how BP has been working to gain greater
understanding of this phenomenon, which is now
giving the company a competitive advantage.
10 VIRTUALLY PREPARED
Preparing people in a simulated virtual world for
their work in the real world has many advantages.
Malcolm Brown learns more about BP’s
advances in creating 3D virtual environments.
16 DEEPWATER HORSE POWER
BP’s flagship Thunder Horse project in the
Gulf of Mexico is setting new records for
deepwater oil production. In this special Frontiers
feature, Terry Knott maps out some of the key
achievements and challenges of this pioneering
development, which is leading the way for the
next generation of deepwater opportunities.
38
Chemical detectives: Designer drilling:
New techniques for Mastering the art
analysing fuels of well planning
28 Green thinker:
We meet Sandra Eager
28 PROFILE: GREEN THINKER
BP renewable energy expert Sandra Eager
talks to Hester Thomas about her long-standing
commitment to help the world make greater use
of cleaner energy sources.
32 FINDING AN UNUSUAL SUSPECT
They may wear lab coats rather than trench
coats, but, as Michelle Brown learns, BP’s
investigational analysis team in the UK is setting
new standards when it comes to detective work
in the fuels and lubricants sector.
38 THE ART OF WELL PLANNING
Knowing how to locate and design wells reaching
down into subsurface reservoirs can be a
tricky business. But thanks to a sophisticated
planning tool developed by BP, the company’s
well planners are finding more effective ways to
optimise well designs. Mike Moss reports.
August 2009 | Frontiers | 3
 UPDATE
Tangguh LNG heads to market
The first cargo of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) produced
by the BP-operated Tangguh
development in Indonesia
was lifted in July, marking the
startup of the multi-billion dollar
Tangguh project, four years
after it was sanctioned by the
Indonesian government.
Tangguh is Indonesia’s third LNG
centre to come into operation,
following Bontang and Arun
which are operated by the state oil
company Pertamina. The Tangguh
LNG plant, located in Papua Barat
some 3000 kilometres from the
nation’s capital Jakarta, is fed by
natural gas from offshore reservoirs
discovered in 1994.
Gas is produced from six offshore
fields developed under the Wiriagar,
Berau and Muturi production
sharing contracts in the Bintuni area
of Papua in eastern Indonesia. The
gas flows from nine wells through
two normally unmanned offshore
platforms and is transported via
two 22 kilometre long pipelines to
two onshore liquefaction trains,
each with a production capacity of
3.8 million tonnes of LNG per year.
The first train began production in
mid-June, delivering the LNG for
Seismic sweeps the Libyan desert
Deep in the Libyan desert, BP is
setting new records for seismic
acquisition while also significantly
reducing costs. Working with
service companies Western Geco
and Agesco in the Ghadames
basin, BP has recorded 13,215
vibrator points in a 12-hour
working day – a world record
compared with the industry
average of around 1500 a day.
Vibrator points are recorded
when seismic vibroseis vehicles
send energy waves into the
subsurface at a particular location
to gather reflected signals which
are used to build up high-resolution
visual images of geological
structures in the subsurface.
The outstanding performance
4 | Frontiers | August 2009
LNG tanker Tangguh Foja berthing at the BP-operated Tangguh plant
the first cargo, with the second train
expected to come on stream soon.
The first LNG cargo was
transported on board the tanker
Tangguh Foja, bound for POSCO’s
LNG regasification terminal in
Gwangyang in South Korea.
The Tangguh project, which
BP operates on behalf of the
Indonesian oil and gas regulator,
BPMIGAS, plus six other partners,
has long term contracts in place to
supply 2.6 million tonnes of LNG
in Libya has been made possible
by the first full application of a
new seismic technique developed
by BP geophysicists known
as independent simultaneous
sweeping (ISS).
‘With conventional seismic
techniques, the productivity of
several vibroseis units working
together is constrained by the pace
of the slowest vehicle,’ explains
Dave Howe, a senior geophysicist
with BP. ‘ISS involves 14 vibroseis
units working independently, at
their own pace. Each can generate
more than 800 vibrator points per
day on a 50 metre by 50 metre
grid, while the geophone spread
is continuously recording the
signals. The result is improved data
a year to the Fujian terminal in
China, 1.15 million tonnes a year
to K-Power and POSCO in South
Korea, and a flexible contract to
supply up to 3.7 million tonnes a
year to Sempra’s LNG regasification
terminal in Baja California, Mexico.
The remote location of the LNG
plant – built in jungle hundreds of
kilometres from the nearest major
city and accessible only by air or sea
– presented many engineering and
logistics challenges, among them
quality and very high productivity
operations, enabling us to survey
up to 30 square kilometres of
desert each day.’
The 3D survey, which began
at the end of last year and will
continue at least until the end of
2010, has also recorded well over
one million vibrator points, the
highest number ever achieved
in the industry in a single land
seismic campaign.
The success of ISS means that
large scale 3D land surveys can be
undertaken routinely, overcoming
previously prohibitive cost barriers.
BP is licensed to explore 24,000
square kilometres of the Ghadames
basin, one of the most prospective
hydrocarbon areas in North Africa.
the construction of Indonesia’s two
largest LNG storage tanks, each
with a capacity to hold 180,000
cubic metres of liquefied product at
a temperature below –162°C, and
the accommodation and support
of up to 10,000 people on site
during peak construction.
KJP, a consortium of KBR, JGC
Corporation and PT Pertafenikki
Engineering, acted as the main
engineering contractor for the
project’s onshore infrastructure,
while Saipem was lead contractor
for offshore and subsea
construction.
In terms of capital efficiency on
a dollar per tonne basis, Tangguh
is one of the most cost-effective
LNG plants to be built, when
benchmarked against other world-
class LNG developments. For West
Papua, Tangguh will provide an
important revenue stream to help
develop the region, still Indonesia’s
most underdeveloped province.
Tangguh will also raise BP’s LNG
production profile. By the end of
2009, BP expects to be producing
around 70 million cubic metres
of gas a day into its global LNG
operations, up by 15 per cent on the
beginning of this year.
Vibroseis seismic survey truck
in the Libyan desert

Plug-in power Statistical Review
to cut pollution For the first time ever, the
BP’s shore power connection
at the Port of Long Beach
BP’s tanker terminal at the Port
of Long Beach in California has
become the world’s first dock to
be equipped with shore power
for handling bulk liquid transfers,
such as crude oil. Normal practice
in pumping liquid cargoes to
shore requires the vessel’s diesel
engines to be kept running. By
connecting a ship to electrical
power from onshore, the vessel
can close down its diesel
engines once berthed to
eliminate engine emissions.
Shore power, also known as
‘cold ironing’, allows a specially
equipped tanker vessel to ‘plug in’
at the berth, and then draw power
for its pumps, communications,
ventilation, lighting, and other
needs from the electricity
grid. The reduction in diesel
exhaust emissions associated
with offloading an oil tanker is
equivalent to removing 187,000
automobiles from the road for a
day. In a year, shore power will
eliminate more than 30 tonnes of
atmospheric emissions.
The BP shore power installation
delivers up to eight megawatts of
power at 6,660 volts, with cable
handling and other equipment being
purpose designed to ensure safe
operation. The Alaska Tanker
Company has equipped two of
its vessels that regularly visit
the port to be able to plug into
the BP terminal.
gives
World energy energy insights
consumption
developing world, led by China,
has overtaken the nations of the
OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and
Development) in the consumption
of primary energy, according to
the 2009 BP Statistical Review of
World Energy.
At the launch of the Statistical
Review, BP chief executive
Tony Hayward said: ‘The centre
of gravity of the global energy
markets has tilted sharply and
irreversibly towards the emerging
nations of the world, especially
China. This is not a temporary
phenomenon but one that I believe
will increase still more over time.
It will continue to affect prices and
bring with it new challenges over
economic growth, energy security
and climate change.’
Reflecting the extremes of
the world economy throughout
2008 – strong growth followed
by sharp decline – the report
shows that overall primary energy
consumption rose by just 1.4 per
cent in the year, the smallest rise
since 2001. China alone accounted
for almost three quarters of the rise,
with most of the balance coming
from the wider Asia-Pacific region.
In the developed world, energy
consumption fell by 1.3 per cent,
Royal Academy recognises BP talent
John Bucknall, an automotive
engineer in BP’s global lubricants
technology (GLT) business, has
become BP Young Engineer of
the Year 2009, awarded by the
Royal Academy of Engineering.
Bucknall won the award against
stiff competition from a large
number of talented engineers
across the BP group.
The award recognises engineers
from companies that support the
Royal Academy along with other
young engineers who have benefited
from development programmes
initiated by the Academy.
According to the judges, Bucknall
Million tonnes oil equivalent
Coal
Hydroelectricity
Nuclear energy
Natural gas
Oil
1985 1990 1995
World energy consumption (million tonnes of oil equivalent) 1983-2008.
Source: 2009 BP Statistical Review of World Energy
with demand in the USA seeing
the steepest single year decline
since 1982, a drop of 2.8 per cent.
The Statistical Review reports
remaining proved oil reserves,
excluding Canadian oil sands, of
1258 billion barrels – enough for 42
years at 2008 production rates. On
the same basis, reserves of gas are
sufficient for 60 years and coal for
122 years.
While nuclear power output
fell for the second consecutive
year, by 0.7 per cent, hydroelectric
output continued its recent strong
performance with growth of 2.8
per cent, with all of the global
increase being accounted for by
growth in China – climbing by 20.3
per cent, nearly twice the country’s
John Bucknall at work in BP’s
Pangbourne laboratories
was selected for his significant
contribution to the development of
lubricants for both automobile and
marine applications, and possesses
UPDATE
10000
5000
0
2000 2005
10-year average rate.
Renewable energy grew
strongly albeit from a low base,
with wind and solar generating
capacity growing 29.9 per cent
and 69 per cent respectively, both
above their 10-year average rate.
The USA’s wind power generating
capacity grew by 49.5 per cent,
overtaking Germany to have the
largest installed wind generating
capacity in the world. UK wind
generating capacity grew 36.3 per
cent to 3.3 gigawatts, but accounts
for less than 3 per cent of global
installed capacity.
The 2009 BP Statistical Review of
World Energy is available online at
www.bp.com/statisticalreview
‘a professional engineering
approach combined with practical
skills developed through his
involvement in designing, building
and racing hovercraft’. He is now
involved in testing the hydraulic
fluids used to control deepwater
subsea valves.
‘This is a great achievement and
accolade for John who is a real
credit to GLT and our lubricants
business,’ said Angela Strank, BP’s
technology vice president for fuels
and lubricants.
Two other GLT engineers, Gareth
Dowd and Alex Cutler, also reached
the finals of the competition.
August 2009 | Frontiers | 5
In brief
Production has begun from the
BP-operated Dorado and King South TANKER FLEET GETS REAL-TIME TECHNOLOGY
projects in the Gulf of Mexico, with
both fields being completed as subsea BP has installed a new onboard
tiebacks to the existing BP Marlin vehicle computer system in its US
tension leg platform. Dorado comprises road tanker fleet that allows drivers,
three new subsea wells located about fleet managers and fleet schedulers to
three kilometres from Marlin, while exchange data about deliveries, truck
King South is a single subsea well located location, scheduling, and compliance
some 29 kilometres away, which is with state and federal regulations in
being produced using the subsea pump real time, rather than after a time lag as
in the nearby King field (Frontiers, experienced in the previous system. In a
April 2008). joint project between BP’s US pipelines
and logistics group and the company’s
BP has made its 18th oil discovery, Information Technology and Services
named Oberon, in ultra-deepwater function, 150 tanker trucks and 21 fuel
Block 31 offshore Angola. The terminals have been equipped with the
Oberon-1 well was drilled in a water new system, providing improvements in
depth of 1624m and reached a total efficiency, safety, security and customer
vertical depth of 3622m below sea level. relations.
Oberon is 4.3 kilometres to the northeast
of the Dione discovery.
in the Kamennoye project amounted to Hydrogen Energy International, a currently undergoing rigorous thermal
BP and SOCAR (the State Oil over $600 million and by the middle of the joint venture between BP Alternative cycle testing to emulate 25 years of
Company of the Republic of next decade output from the field is Energy and Rio Tinto Hydrogen, volatile solar field conditions.
Azerbaijan) have signed a expected to reach about 29 million has won $308 million of US
memorandum of understanding to barrels a year. Department of Energy (DOE) funding MMC Ventures has invested
jointly explore and develop the for its integrated gasification £1.1 million in E-Stack, which
Shafag and Asiman structures in the BP has been awarded import combined cycle (IGCC) power plant designs and manufactures
Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. capacity at the newly built Adriatic in Kern County, California, which will ultra-low-energy ventilation systems.
This gives BP the exclusive right to LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal capture and permanently store 90 per E-Stack was spun out of the University of
negotiate a production sharing near Rovigo in northeast Italy which cent of its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Cambridge in 2006 following a BP-funded
agreement to explore and develop in will enable the company to bring in up to The new plant would be part of the research programme at the University’s BP
some 1100 square kilometres which have 12 LNG cargoes a year, equivalent to Hydrogen Energy California (HECA) Institute. E-Stack’s patent-pending,
never been explored before, located in about 1 billion cubic metres of gas, for 10 project, the aim of which is to generate controlled natural ventilation system
650–800m of water with a reservoir years starting in October 2009. BP will low-carbon, hydrogen power to meet reduces overall energy consumption of
depth of about 7000m. supply LNG from its portfolio of equity California’s increasing electricity demand, buildings by 50 per cent compared with
gas from Egypt and Trinidad & Tobago, as while capturing CO2 to meet California’s buildings using conventional ventilation
TNK-BP has begun commercial well as from the wider market. Adriatic requirements to reduce greenhouse gas systems. Almost half of all CO2 emissions
production in the Northern Hub of the LNG has been developed and is owned by emissions. The IGCC power plant would globally are produced by buildings.
Kamennoye oil field in the Khanty- ExxonMobil, Qatar Terminals and Edison. take petroleum coke, coal, or blends of In the European Union, heating and
Mansiisk region of West Siberia. The terminal is a concrete gravity-base each, combined with non-potable water cooling accounts for 40 per cent of
With the northern part of the field now in offshore structure with receiving and and convert them into clean burning these emissions.
operation, Kamennoye is expected to regasification facilities, and 250,000 hydrogen. The hydrogen would be used to
produce around 13 million barrels of crude cubic metres of LNG storage. BP’s award fuel a 250 megawatt power station, while Technology co-operation between
oil in 2009, a 40 per cent increase on the equates to 20 per cent of the terminal’s the CO2 would be transported by pipeline BP and Toyota relating to automobile
previous year. In 2004–2008, investment total capacity. to nearby oil reservoirs and injected for engines and fuels has achieved a
storage, with the additional benefit of thermal efficiency of 42.9 per cent
enhanced oil recovery. from an experimental gasoline
AWARD RECOGNISES BP ‘YOUNG EXPLORER’ engine fuelled with an advanced
BP Solar and SolarEdge have agreed BP fuel, a significant improvement
Barnaby Roome, a geoscientist in BP’s Algerian exploration team, to explore commercialisation of a compared with conventional gasoline
has been awarded the ‘Young Explorer’ medal by the Petroleum photovoltaic module-integrated combustion and an efficiency level
Group of the UK Geological Society. The medal is presented to power harvesting system embedded similar to that achieved by diesel
geoscientists under the age of 35 who have made a significant contribution directly into modules made by BP engines. The co-operation agreement
to the discovery of hydrocarbons and/or who have made an impact Solar. The combined solution will covers both gasoline and diesel engines,
on production. Roome has been a key integrator at the centre of BP’s North maximise energy generation throughout including the use of biofuels, and
Africa exploration team, with his work leading to a major discovery in Algeria the life of the solar power system while focuses on increasing power train
during 2008. dramatically reducing complexity and efficiency combined with reducing
costs. The combined technologies are carbon dioxide emissions.

August 2009 | Frontiers | 43

Copyright and legal notice
Copyright in all published material including photographs, drawings and
images in this magazine remains vested in BP plc and third party contributors
to this magazine as appropriate. Accordingly neither the whole nor any
part of this magazine can be reproduced in any form without express
prior permission, either of the entity within BP plc in which copyright
resides or the third party contributor as appropriate. Articles, opinions and
letters from solicited or unsolicited third party sources appearing in this
magazine do not necessarily represent the views of BP plc. Further, while
BP plc has taken all reasonable steps to ensure that everything published
is accurate it does not accept any responsibility for any errors or resulting
loss or damage whatsoever or howsoever caused and readers have the
responsibility to thoroughly check these aspects for themselves.