3000 m Water Depth Flexible Pipe Configuration Portfolio

摘要

Since several years, Technip flexible pipe technology has been successfully used in water depths downrnto 2500 m and a test campaign was completed in 2010, proving its suitability down to 3000 m WaterrnDepth (WD). However, hitherto no complete engineering studies had been conducted in realistic projectrnenvironment for such WD. The aim of this paper is to deliver optimized flexible pipe configurations usingrnconventional or alternative optimized technologies to reach 3000 m WD.rnThis engineering study has been conducted on realistic project specifications, representative of thernBrazilian Offshore Region, adjusted to 3000 m WD with the objective to cover conventional applicationsrnsuch as Oil Production, Gas Injection, and Gas Export. The process was o challenge and push further thernengineering and technology to a very detailed level, using these case studies to highlight the benefits ofrnthe most cutting-edge technologies. In particular the development of Carbon Fiber Armours (CFA) withrnhigh strength/weight ratio, high fatigue performance and corrosion free has opened new frontiers for UltrarnDeep Water (UDW) with optimized riser configurations.rnThe result is a portfolio of advanced flexible pipe configurations for a set of applications in a waterrndepth of 3000 m, derived either from conventional configurations, such as Lazy Wave and Free-Hanging,rnor alternative concepts such as Free Standing Flexible Riser. One of the main conclusions of thisrnengineering study is that the use of Carbon Fiber Armours permits more simple configurations whenrncompared to conventional ones, which has a positive impact on interference issues, simplifies therninstallation process, by removing the need for buoyancy modules, and finally leads to a global CAPEXrnreduction. Additionally, the use of the high inertia pressure armour wires, called "PSI", enables consideringrnhigher diameters in this water depth by optimizing the weight of the flexible pipe structures.rnThis portfolio aims at anticipating the petroleum industry needs with diversified flexible pipe configurationsrnas well as identifying and adressing the design challenges to address Ultra Deep Waterrndevelopments.