SEAR JIP: the value of sharing of lessons learned on subsea integrity and reliability

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 767
Author(s):  
Adriana Botto

The award-winning Subsea Equipment Australian Reliability (SEAR) Joint Industry Project (JIP) is a partnership led by Wood and has participation of a group of OGAS Operators namely Chevron Australia, ConocoPhillips, Inpex, Quadrant, Shell Australia and Woodside. Now delivering Phase 6, the JIP is focused on collaboration and knowledge sharing, so as to improve the competitiveness of Australia’s oil and gas sector by addressing critical challenges associated with equipment that is failing prematurely subsea. The SEAR JIP was initiated in 2014 and has since developed a reliability database to collect failure information from SEAR members with Australian offshore operations. The SEAR database provides a low cost–high value method of capturing and sharing failures and lessons learnt for Australia. Over the years, the JIP has focused on different but common industry challenges, such as the impact of marine fouling affecting operability during interventions. To address this challenge, the JIP is deploying ‘living laboratories’ at different geographical locations and water depths across various Australian waters, in collaboration with suppliers and local universities to identify game-changing technology. The ability to better understand failures and intervention requirements has the potential to offer operators significant cost savings, by optimising equipment reliability and availability. This paper will provide an overview of SEAR JIP and outlines lessons learned and value created, and discusses how a similar collaborative approach can create value in other parts of the Australian LNG value chain.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning He ◽  
Hu Yang ◽  
Fanli Xu ◽  
Yongming Cheng

Abstract A riser is a key component for transporting produced oil and gas from the subsea wells to the surface production vessel. Through nearly 30 years of design and implementation, Steel Catenary Risers (SCRs) have been found to have the advantages of relatively low cost and good adaptability to floating platform’s motion. This paper investigates deepwater SCR system design for the Lingshui 17-2 (termed LS17-2) project. This paper first introduces a SCR system for the LS17-2 project. The field for this project is located in the northern South China Sea, with water depth of 1220m to 1560m. LS17-2 consists of a subsea production system, a deep-draft semi-submersible (SEMI), and an export riser/pipeline. The platform was designed to have a large storage capacity with a variable draft during its operation. Based on deepwater SCR engineering experience, the key SCR design challenges are summarized from the engineering executive perspective. The challenges to the SCR system design for the LS17-2 project include harsh environment condition in South China Sea and the impact on fatigue design for the requirement of 30-years’ service life. They call for design optimization and innovative ideas. The engineering design and analysis are discussed together solutions. To demonstrate the deepwater SCR system design for LS17-2 project, examples are provided to illustrate the challenges and solutions. The experience learned from this paper should have significant relevance to future SCR design.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3541-3569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ala Shqairat ◽  
Balan Sundarakani

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the agility of oil and gas value chains in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to understand the impact of implementing supply disruption (SD) strategies, outsourcing strategies (OS) and management strategies (MS) on oil and gas value chain agility (VCA). The results can support the oil and gas industry across the UAE to build resilience in the value chain. Design/methodology/approach The research design consists of a comprehensive literature review, followed by questionnaire-based survey responses of 106 participants and comprehensive statistical analysis, thus validate the developed theoretical framework and contribute to both practical and methodological approaches. Findings The findings indicate that oil and gas value chain in the UAE has moderate a significant degree of SD, when OS in place that are synchronized with the overall MS. Among the hypotheses developed, two were accepted thus warranting both SD strategies (r=+0.432) and MS (r= +0.457) found to have a positive moderate effect on VCA. The third hypothesis was rejected by revealing OS (r=+0.387) found to have a positive moderate relationship with VCA. Therefore, implementation of all three strategies has a positive moderate effect on the agility of the value chain and, therefore, supports to sustain competitive position. Research limitations/implications Some of the limitations of this research include the geographic coverage of the study region and other methodological limitation. Practical implications The research provides guidance for oil and gas supply chain managers to better understand the critical factors that impact and determine VCA. The paper also describes relevant strategies that should be taken into consideration by these managers in order to build their agile value chains. Social implications The research contributes to the social dimensions of supply chain sustainability of how resilient is the oil and gas value chain during uncertain conditions, so that it can respond to uncertain changes in order to contribute to corporate social responsibility. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind in the UAE region to assess the link between dimensions of agile value chain, OS, SD strategies and MS primarily from the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.


Author(s):  
Zhanibek Meiirkhanuly ◽  
Jacek A. Koziel ◽  
Baitong Chen ◽  
Andrzej Białowiec ◽  
Myeongseong Lee ◽  
...  

Environmental impact associated with odor and gaseous emissions from animal manure is one of the challenges for communities, farmers, and regulatory agencies. Microbe-based manure additives treatments are marketed and used by farmers for mitigation of emissions. However, their performance is difficult to assess objectively. Thus, comprehensive, practical, and low-cost treatments are still in demand. We have been advancing such treatments based on physicochemical principles. The objective of this research was to test the effect of the surficial application of a thin layer (¼"; 6.3 mm) of biochar on the mitigation of gaseous emissions (as the percent reduction, % R) from swine manure. Two types of biochar were tested: highly alkaline and porous (HAP) biochar made from corn stover and red oak (RO), both with different pH and morphology. Three 30-day trials were conducted with a layer of HAP and RO (2.0 & 1.65 kg∙m-2, respectively) applied on manure surface, and emissions of ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), greenhouse gases (GHG), and odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured. The manure and biochar type and properties had an impact on the mitigation effect and its duration. RO significantly reduced NH3 (19-39%) and p-cresol (66-78%). H2S was mitigated (16~23%), but not significantly for all trials. Significant (66~78%) reductions for p-cresol were observed for all trials. The phenolic VOCs had relatively high % R in most trials but not significantly for all trials. HAP reduced NH3 (4~21%) and H2S (2~22%), but not significantly for all trials. Significant % R for p-cresol (91~97%) and skatole (74~95%) were observed for all trials. The % R for phenol and indole ranged from (60~99%) & (29~94%) but was not significant for all trials. The impact on GHGs, isobutyric acid, and the odor was mixed with some mitigation and generation effects. However, larger-scale experiments are needed to understand how biochar properties and the dose and frequency of application can be optimized to mitigate odor and gaseous emissions from swine manure. The lessons learned can also be applicable to surficial biochar treatment of gaseous emissions from other waste and area sources.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Kent Longridge ◽  
Johnny Shield ◽  
Sarah Finn ◽  
Tom Fulton

Objectives/Scope As the offshore oil and gas industry has changed, deep water Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODU) are commonly outfitted with dynamic positioning (DP) systems and on-vessel mooring equipment to facilitate drilling operations at ultra-deep and shallow water well locations. However, since many shallow water locations can experience harsh conditions and may require moorings for station-keeping performance, it is beneficial to enable a DP rig to quickly disconnect from its mooring system and avoid hazardous conditions without support vessel assistance. Providing this capability, acoustically releasable subsea mooring connectors allow a rig's mooring lines to be released remotely and almost immediately. Additionally, the ability to disconnect without Anchor Handler Vessel (AHV) assistance for mooring operations and rig transit support offers reduced risk and cost savings. Methods, Procedures, Process A brief review of existing quick-disconnect mooring devices will be presented. It will highlight how the technology has evolved and is being used, particularly in recent years. Successes, problems, and lessons learned from past InterMoor and SRP product development will be summarized and focused attention will be given to a significant number of more recent improvements to increase the product's reliability, availability, serviceability, and robustness. Improvements to ensure reliable long-term battery life and power supply, enhance on-vessel accessibility and user-friendliness for rig personnel, and employ advanced acoustic signal transmission, reception, and device status analytics will be discussed. External modifications to reinforce its robustness during deployment and internal electromechanical changes to facilitate its serviceability will also be described. Results, Observations, Conclusions A substantially lighter and smaller acoustically releasable mooring connector was developed two years ago, tested thereafter, recently deployed on several offshore mooring campaigns, and has now been upgraded to incorporate high-fidelity electronics with the ability to release under tension loads as high as 900 tonnes. As such, this second-generation device's reliability, accessibility, and serviceability are significantly enhanced. Results from offshore deployments from recent MODU and barge mooring operations will be summarized. This technology provides a safer way to quickly disconnect mooring lines and offers cost efficiency by allowing faster rig moves from one location to the next with reduced risk. Novel/Additive Information The paper will cover the work, challenges, trials, and tribulations required to bring a new product to market with cutting edge capabilities. Novel highlights will include the integration of a networked data transmission and communication system, the system's fundamental change from pneumatic to electromechanical actuation, and additional enhancements and improvements that are unique to mooring quick-disconnect devices and at the forefront of subsea technology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 735-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shao Xiao ◽  
Zhixiang Chen ◽  
Bhaba R. Sarker

PurposeEquipment reliability significantly impacts productivity, and in order to obtain high equipment reliability and productivity, maintenance and production decision should be made simultaneously to keep manufacturing system healthy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the joint optimization of equipment maintenance and production decision fork-out-of-nsystem equipment with attenuation of product quality and to explore the impact of maintenance on the production and cost control for manufacturers.Design/methodology/approachA multi-period Markov chain model fork-out-of-nsystem equipment is set up based on the assumption that the deterioration of equipment is a pure birth process. Then, the maintenance cost, setup cost, inventory holding cost, shortage cost, production cost and the quality cost are analyzed with the uncertain demand and the attenuation of product quality stemmed from equipment deterioration. The total lowest cost per unit time and its specific calculation method are presented. Finally, the robustness and flexibility of the method are verified by a numerical example and the effects of equipment deterioration intensity and attenuation of product quality are analyzed.FindingsThe result shows that the joint decision model could not only satisfy the uncertain demand with low cost and strong robustness but also make the output products high quality level. In addition, the attenuation of product quality would influence the equipment maintenance and production decision and leads to the production waste and increases the operation cost greatly.Originality/valueImplications derived from this study can help production maintenance managers and reliability engineers adequately select maintenance policy to improve the equipment efficiency and productivity with high quality level at a relatively low cost.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake E. Angelo ◽  
Becca B.R. Jablonski ◽  
Dawn Thilmany

Purpose A body of literature and case studies has developed as part of the reporting, outreach and evaluation of the local and regional food system projects supported by grants and other funders. Yet, there is concern that food value chains are promoted without adequately evaluating the viability of these businesses, or how these markets affect the performance and welfare of key stakeholders: farm vendors and local communities/economies. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews and summarizes a comprehensive set of U.S.-based case studies focused on food value chains. We conduct a meta-analysis to systematically capture what available case study evidence tells us about: 1) trends in the viability of food value chain businesses; 2) the impact of these businesses on participating farm vendors; and, 3) the associated community economic development outcomes (framed in terms of ‘wealth creation’). Findings In addition to sharing findings from the meta-analysis, we demonstrate how the lack of standardized protocols for case study development is a barrier to learning about metric comparisons, best practices, and what impacts these food value chain businesses may have. We conclude with some recommendations of how the field can move forward to evaluate and share lessons learned using more uniform, project-driven case study development. Originality/value This is the first study to conduct a systematic meta-analysis of U.S. food value chain businesses.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omran Al-Kuwari ◽  
Dan Welsby ◽  
Baltazar Solano Rodriguez ◽  
Steve Pye ◽  
Paul Ekins

Abstract This report focuses on reviewing the types of carbon intensity metrics, and the use of such metrics across the oil and gas sector, to monitor progress towards transitioning away from fossil fuel production. Producers are under pressure to respond to challenging conditions resulting from increasing climate policy, tightening markets and a move away by investors. A number of commentators are suggesting that production may have peaked, given these emerging trends, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.From a combination of review and modelling, this report provides some key insights on carbon intensity metrics and the impact of different carbon intensities on future production, which are pertinent to the future strategies of the oil and gas sector -·Narrow-scoped metrics that only include upstream emissions are insufficient for producers reporting on progress towards climate goals. The carbon intensity of the final product also needs to be considered, given that it is increasingly subject to increased demand-side policy e.g. in relation to carbon pricing, bans on the sale of internal combustion engines (ICEs) etc.·Given that climate targets are expressed in absolute terms, the relative measure of progress provided by carbon intensity metrics is insufficient to guide progress towards net-zero emissions. As shown by the modelling, there is a significant decline in the levels of production permitted under climate targets by 2050. ·Given the need for diversification, metrics that account for scope 3 emissions will be important, to help monitor the transformation away from oil and gas. As discussed in this report, a number of IOCs appear to be making small steps in this direction, although their key business focus very much remains on oil & gas. As the IEA (2020a) has reported, less than 1% of capital expenditure is being spent outside of core business areas.·However, cleaner operations are also important. Therefore, scope 1&2 metrics are still useful for minimising upstream emissions. The modelling highlights the impact for example of high carbon intensity gas resources (due to methane emissions) on their production levels. Unconventional resources, which tend to require more energy input per unit of extraction, and are more costly, appear unlikely to be exploited in our Paris-aligned case.·Any assertion that higher carbon intensity production upstream can be offset by lower emissions downstream (e.g. via higher vehicle efficiency standards) is not supported by the modelling. This is particularly the case where these oil products are exported abroad to regions with low efficiency forms of transportation/limited environmental regulation.·National oil companies (NOCs) have more potential to achieve emission reduction from operational emissions, although the incentives to do so might be lower (with far less scrutiny and reporting). Diversification is also likely to be more of a challenge for NOCs, due to the reliance of public budgets on revenues gained. However, a number of high-producing countries are vigorously exploring diversification strategies. Such strategies could include massively increasing support for renewable industries, and focusing on areas such as hydrogen production and CCS applications.·For the large NOC producers, with the lowest-cost conventional reserves, it is likely that they may be able to continue producing for the longest time, as climate policy stringency increases. However, given that NOCs hold the largest reserves, risks of stranding will be greater in absolute terms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
Sergey N. Lavrov ◽  
Boris G. Dyakin

The paper deals with the problems, the resolution of which determines the specificity, direction and validity of the optimal positioning of Russian industry companies in the international business in the oil and gas sector. The driving force of this process is the use of the advantages of international business for scientific and technical re-equipment of the oil and gas sector of the Russian fuel and energy sector. The productive use of profiling capabilities implies a mutually beneficial transfer of technologies, localization of production of modern equipment in Russia in cooperation with global manufacturers and expansion of access to the world markets of natural and produced assets of hydrocarbon origin. The conclusion reached by the authors is that the identified areas and the nature of the impact of the increased involvement of Russian participants in the international oil and gas business contribute to their competitive advantages.


This paper investigates the impact of investments in DSM technologies in Palestinian electricity market in order to solve the problem of supply shortages in electrical network, especially in peak demand periods. Renewable hybrid system, which can explore solar PV source at low cost, is a popular choice for this purpose nowadays, optimal energy management solutions can be obtained with great cost savings and active control performance. This paper analyzes the performance and feasibility of implementation DSM system in Palestinian distribution network, using on-grid PV system and energy management system.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document