Challenges and techniques in deepwater exploration
As announced in January 2020, Total is preparing to drill a record offshore well at a water depth of 3,628 meters off the coast of Angola. The Maersk Voyager drilling rig will be deployed for this campaign.
Although deep-sea drilling has already been carried out at a depth of 7,725 metres for scientific and research purposes, the new drilling being carried out by Total will set the world record for the deepest oil well ever drilled.
The well will be larger than Total’s Raya-1 well in Uruguay, which is currently the deepest offshore well and was drilled in 2016 at a water depth of 3,400 metres by Maersk Voyager’s drillship Venturer.
The Southern African drilling campaign includes a total of three wells, two in Angola – Blocks 32 and 48 – and one in Namibia. Work at the sites reportedly began in January and will last 240 days.
The total value of the contracts is approximately $46.3 million, including a mobilization fee. As part of the contract, Maersk Drilling will work with local operators in South Africa to boost the local oil and gas industry.
Deepwater Exploration Market Overview
Deepwater drilling is a mechanical process of drilling a deep borehole to a depth of more than 300 m. Only recently has the technology become available to enable economically viable deepwater exploration, but with improved technical development and increased demand for oil exploration, operators have recently invested in deepwater projects to access deposits buried very deep beneath the seabed.
Key companies leveraging the potential of deepwater drilling include: Petrobras, Shell, Total, BP, EquinorExxon and Statoil, with some of the popular locations off the coast of Brazil, East Africa, China, Cuba, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.
According to a 2018 deepwater and ultra-deepwater study market report Figures from oil, gas and maritime analysts Infield show that the outlook for this market is positive, with capital growth predicted to be around 8% between 2014 and 2018.
A spokesman for TMK, an oil and gas pipe manufacturer, said: “The need to explore even more difficult to reach reserves has been a major driver of advances in oil and gas technology.”
In addition, deeper exploration has made it possible to unlock new hydrocarbon reserves and obtain essential information about the geology and tectonics of the ocean.
Challenges in deepwater operations
The complexity of ultra-deep drilling has made it highly dependent on project engineering and design. Operators must take into account a number of considerations and risks.
As Chuck Chauviere, Baker Hughes Drilling vice president for Oilfield Equipment, says, once operators start planning infrastructure at such a deep level, they have to factor in “the cost of traveling up and down to two miles of depth.”
“If you can imagine that every time you have to install a piece of equipment, or re-enter that piece of equipment, you have to make a two-mile trip. The actual trips to install it, the confidence in the installation, the weight of the installation all play a role. And so it becomes an economic story that the operator has to solve,” he adds.
TMK in turn focuses on the need for piping solutions to avoid potential technical issues that may occur during deepwater operations. A key consideration is the reserve base, which must be developed efficiently through a limited number of wells, while maintaining full control over all subsea wells at every stage of drilling.
The company said the main risks its clients typically report during deepwater drilling include: drillship movement, underwater currents, corrosives in the water, shallow gas and gas hydrates. Some of these issues can be avoided by using pipe strings that significantly exceed the capabilities of standard solutions, they said.
“Therefore, high-quality tubular products are used in the construction of deep-water wells, as they can reduce the risks of the project due to their reliability and high performance, which has been confirmed by numerous field tests,” the spokesperson said.
Impact of declining oil exploration on Angola’s economy
Angola’s declining production, with oil output falling by a third over the past decade due to a lack of investment, has had a major impact on the country’s economy, especially as 95% of export revenues come from this industry.
Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer, currently pumping about 1.4 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), according to OPEC’s latest monthly oil market report. The country’s prosperity is therefore heavily dependent on new exploration.
To reverse earlier losses, Angola has opened up to new offshore opportunities by launching a licensing round to auction 55 new oil blocks in June 2019.
After Italian oil and gas company Eni announced that its new Agogo exploration in Angola had already reached 10,000 barrels per day in January 2020, and with Total as one of the country’s largest foreign explorers, the country saw some revival in early 2020.
As for the ambitious new ultra-deep exploration, it remains to be seen whether Total’s efforts will set a precedent and generate more interest in deep drilling in the area, and whether it will support Angola’s ambition to attract new foreign investment.
“Deepwater Exploration: What It Takes to Drill Really Deep” was originally created and published by Offshore technologya brand of GlobalData.
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