Autonomous Subsea Field Development - Value Proposition, Technology Needs and Gaps for Future Advancement

Abstract

With increasing demand of subsea processing and surveillance goals Best-in-Class Operators are developing advanced subsea instrumentation and controls to challenge in the next decade: i) a cost-effective way to inspect and repair subsea complex facilities and ii) to reduce the downtime, possibly increase the production performance while preserving the integrity and maintenance of the assets. The so called "Autonomous Subsea Field Development" is a study triggered by an ExxonMobil URC (Upstream Research Company) initiative aimed to explore possible improvements and re-designs of subsea equipment considering the advancing capabilities of ROVs and new generation of Subsea Drones, and driven by the following questions: with the advancements in AUVs and ROVs, can subsea equipment be re-designed to take full advantage of the new capabilities? Can this re-design improve from different perspectives (Availability, Costs, Operations, etc.) a subsea field development? A dedicated study was conducted by SAIPEM to identify the value proposition, technology needs and gaps for future advancement by leveraging on the technological "building blocks" that could be integrated in a subsea field development scheme and on a field operational procedure. Within the study, seven different cases, distinguished by their status of advancement (from Brown to Green Fields) and by the level of penetration of Subsea Drones in the architecture, have been analyzed. A conceptual engineering process, based on the tenets of value engineering was conducted in a holistic fashion covering the full field development facilities during the life cycle in order to steer the conceptual engineering choices that could maximize the project value. Using a systemic Value Engineering approach based on the NPV equation, the study identified the main technological and economic impacts coming from the adoption of Subsea Drones on a current and future Digital Subsea Field exploring the following pillars: i) CAPEX, ii) OPEX, iii) AVAILABILITY, and iv) RISK. In the sequence of six cases investigated, it has been identified how these incoming "subsea capabilities" will be gradually implemented into redesigned subsea architecture and serviced in view of a new Life of Field concept.