Objective
This project aims to develop a complete production system able to exploit in an economical way marginal offshore fields with heavy oils (density 8./.12 API and viscosity 50,000 ./. 150,000 cSt).
This is accomplished by the use of several innovative technologies, concerning structural design, fluidification of viscous oils and multiphase pumping systems. The application of each single technology to the heavy oils and the combination of them to exploit heavy oil marginal field are innovative.
The application and tests of each innovative technology in an onshore field will give all the information needed to evaluate the cost effectiveness and the technical performance of the corresponding offshore plant.
- Industrial qualification of the multiphase heavy oil pumping technology.
- Industrial qualification of heavy oil artificial lifting technology by jet pump powered by water + chemical.
- Development from laboratory level to industrial pilot level of the technology of fluidization and long distance transportation of heavy oil in water.
- Engineering study with economical evaluation of the production system applied to offshore marginal heavy oil fields (Gianna and Emilio in Adriatic Sea)
The production system to be defined throughout this project will use innovative techniques to solve some of the most important problems to be faced when developing an offshore heavy oil field similar to the ones where Agip could operate in the Adriatic sea.
The main activities of the project will be the following:
A global study will be executed in order to individualize the most economical production system configuration with the use of the innovative technologies today available. This study will produce the main indications for the dimensioning and the execution of the planned field tests. A multiphase screw pump will be designed for the use with heavy oils and will be applied in a real case in order to verify its efficiency and reliability looking forward to apply it on an unmanned platform. The pump will be subjected to an endurance test (about 7000 hours) when working on real heavy oil produced from a field located in the South of Italy.
A Jet pump, using water as power fluid(added by chemical additive), will be tested on a well that produces an oil very similar to the ones that are present in the typical marginal oil fields in Adriatic sea. The down hole formation of the oil-water emulsion will be verified together with the efficiency of the artificial lifting system.
Fluidification of viscous oils and their pumping using water added with a dispersant agent will be demonstrated in a pilot plant able to reproduce the characteristics of the real application. All the most critical aspects related to the start-up and shut-down operations of a production system will be verified.
A light weight offshore platform concept will be developed. The platform will be unmanned and will support the multiphase pumping system. The structure will be designed taking into account the possibility of an easy removal and reuse on a second location characterised by a moderately different water depth.
All the data gathered by the here above listed field applications and theoretical evaluations will be used to perform a complete economical evaluation of the whole production system.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
20097 S. Donato Milanese (MILANO)
Italy