drilling safely & reducing downtime in gom loop currents

www.pulse-monitoring.com

Drilling Safely &

Reducing Downtime in

GOM Loop Currents

May 2015


Gulf of Mexico Loop CurrentsAn Explanation

Loop Current

• A warm ocean current that flows northward between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula, moves northward in the GOM, loops east and south before exiting to the east through the Florida Straits

• Reaches maximum flows of 5 knots

Eddy Current

• A “loop current ring” that separates from the loop current somewhat randomly

• Swirling at up to 3.9 knots, they drift west at speeds of 2 to 5 kilometers per day until they bump into the Texas / Mexico coast


Implications

Gulf of Mexico Loop Currents

“The Loop Current caused 13 deepwater rigs to be sidelined at one point or another during the quarter”

– Barron’s 2014

“The strong current has completely shut down operations as the drilling risers, pushed hard by the currents, have exceeded their environmental limits and in at least one case, required a rig to unlatch from the BOP on the sea floor.”

– gCaptain 2014

“Chevron's Big Foot TLP platform, whose sailouthad been delayed for months by the GOM loop current, is waiting offshore to head to its final destination due to further effects from same the ocean pattern.”

– Upstream 2015

Wellhead & Conductor Integrity

•Wellhead and conductor system subjected to cyclic lateral loads from drilling riser, BOP and vessel motions driven by environmental conditions

Implications

•Loop Current events can accelerate the fatigue damage of the wellhead, conductor, and riser system.

•High levels of fatigue accumulation can make workoveroperations unsafe and reduce asset and production life

Operating Windows

•Drilling operations confined by critical parameters such as flex joint angles, telescopic joint stroke, tension, & BOP motion

Implications

•When operating windows are exceeded this causes uncertainties regarding asset integrity bringing a greater likelihood of operational HSE issues and Non-Profitable Time


The Solution

A Pulse real-time Drilling Riser Monitoring

System (DRMS) that assist with

operational decision making to make

smarter decisions and reduce non-

productive time

• Supports drill / no drill decisions in harsh

environmental conditions

• Tracks fatigue accumulation of critical

components essential for asset life

extension

• Real-time KPI’s (Key Performance

Indicators)

DRMS - Safer Operations & Reduce Overall Drilling Costs

Drilling Riser vs. Diverter Housing

(2 knot current)


System Schematic

Real-Time DRMS

Wireless or

Hardwired

communicationReal-time KPI’s ensure safe

and efficient drilling ops.

*Optional

*Optional

*Optional

*Optional

*Optional

*Required

(min. 3)

*Required

Wellhead and Conductor

fatigue life accumulation is

tracked for the life of field.

Track Riser,

LMRP, & BOP

Fatigue

Accumulation


Situation Awareness through Real-Time Data and KPI’s

Real-Time Drilling Optimization

Real-Time Instrumentation Data Feed

• Allows an overall view of the system structural response

• Allows trends and anomalies to be visualized

• Data is stored and can be transmitted to base

Real-Time KPI’s

• Pre-analysis of well, vessel, and equipment performance specifications are fed into software to enable customized traffic light KPI indicators

• Rig crew can easily know when something is wrong and proper risk mitigation measures can be taken


Increasing ROI by Reducing Non-Profitable Time (NPT)

Real-Time DRMS

Deepwater Well Costs vs. Real-Time DRMS

•Average deepwater rig costs are $500k/day*

•Real-Time DRMS have a per rig annualized cost of $400k – $1 million per year to operate depending on complexity.

•Typical payback for the DRMS is achieved by saving as few as 1 day of rig time.

Case Study

•Client without a real-time DRMS came to us in the midst of high loop current events in which they shut down rig ops and needed measured wellhead fatigue data to resume operations or disconnect.

•We were only able to instrument the Telescopic Joint (TJ) and could not deploy sensors subsea to gather measured BOP motion data due to the high currents.

•The rig had 10+ days of NPT due to relying on overly conservative analysis prior to our arrival. Actual time saved was 4 days after analysis of our measured TJ data.

•If the Client had a real-time DRMS they could have known the actual fatigue within minutes and resumed operations based on further analysis.

-150%

-100%

-50%

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

350%

1 24 47 70 93

Rig Time Saved (Hours)

REAL TIME DRMS - RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Payback achieved

with <1 day of rig

time saved.

* RigLogix April 2015


Summary of Business Case for Real-Time DRMS

Real-Time DRMS

Business Objectives No Real-Time MonitoringWith DrillASSURE™ Real-Time

DRMS

Reduce Cost Per Well Drilled /

Decrease Number Of Days To Drill A

Well

Mitigation measures are REACTIVE

and often leads to NPT when

operation stops to assess situation

and perform analysis. Ex. “Loop

Currents”

Allows a PROACTIVE response to

integrity issues. KPI indicators give

quick visual “Go-No Go” to Rig Ops

Team.

No Harm To Environment, Personnel,

Or Company Reputation

No real time feedback to proactively

prevent an undesirable event such as

wellhead, riser, or conductor failure.

Real-Time feedback can be used to

proactively detect and mitigate

undesirable events. Helps to address

any regulatory scrutiny by showing

due diligence.

Asset Life ExtensionNo insight into wellhead fatigue life

utilization and risk/uncertainty

increases as asset ages.

Historical record of wellhead integrity

can be captured over its life cycle.

This can result in asset life

optimization and maximum return on

investment.

Every hour saved on an offshore operation is a savings of $20,000 to $50,000 per hour.


Real-Time DRMS

Contact Us

Pulse Structural MonitoringPhone: +1 [email protected]://www.pulse-monitoring.com

Questions?

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.pulse-monitoring.com/

drilling safely & reducing downtime in gom loop currents

Engineering