Deepwater Tie-ins of Rigid Lines: Horizontal Spools or Vertical Jumpers?

摘要

Movement towards deeper waters and harsher environmentalconditions has, and will, require the continuous developmentof new technologies. Especially the design and operation ofremote tooling to complete subsea field developments.One of the principal problems faced during both the designand operational phases of a project is the definition of methodsand systems to perform the tie-in of production lines to subseafacilities. This, in fact, influences some critical decisions suchas:· Type of lines (rigid/flexible);· Structure layout (tie-in porches and interfaces);· Installation method (first- or second-end connections).Sonsub International has developed different systems toperform remote connections of either flexible or rigid lines.Among these, special attention was paid to rigid lineconnections since this is the preferred option of the industrybecause of both technical and economic reasons. This has ledto the development of a dedicated set of tooling able toperform tie-ins of rigid lines using standard spool pieces andbolted flanges.Sonsub simultaneously investigated the concept of verticaljumper installation in deep water as part of a largerdevelopment study.This paper presents a comprehensive comparison between thehorizontal (spool piece) tie-in versus the vertical jumpermethod.The evaluation will include an overview of the systems considered and will outline advantages and drawbacks, bothtechnical and financial, of the two solutions.