Offshore oil & gas development activities and challenges

During the last fifteen years the demand for oil and gas has increased by over 30%, thereby providing the need to develop reservoirs located in either harsh environments or in regions not easily accessible. New frontiers for the development of “stranded gas” have also emerged as a result of sustained commodity prices. Exploration and development of deepwater oil and gas reserves is not without its challenges, ranging from engineering design issues such as hydrostatic collapse, and on bottom vortex induced vibration, to flow management concerns associated with hydrate formation and wax deposition. More recently dynamic riser service requirements have become an issue because of reservoir souring caused by water flooding. In particular the use of corrosion fatigue testing is being used to re-validate life-of-service fatigue models for steel catenary riser systems. With the move to deeper water the installation challenges associated with subsea equipment, infield flow lines and export pipeline systems are becoming more problematic. Increased installation requirements have resulted in the upgrading of offshore vessels as well as the introduction of strain based design criteria. (AU)