Deep water is the fastest growing offshore sector

Deep water holds tremendous promise. Huge finds offshore Angola and Nigeria, which have made headlines for nearly two decades; elephant reservoirs in the Lower Tertiary in the Gulf of Mexico; and the recent discovery of Brazil's presalt giants – estimated to hold anywhere from 50 Bboe to 100 Bboe – are solid indicators of the world's deepwater potential.

Analysts at Infield Systems expect deep water to account for 11% of global production by 2015. And experts at Douglas-Westwood predict the bulk of this deepwater development will be in Latin America, West Africa, and Asia.

While Latin America and West Africa have experienced considerable deepwater production, Southeast Asia is in the relatively early stages of deepwater development. But things are moving quickly.

ABS, which has been active in Singapore for more than 50 years, now offers advanced R&D capability through its recently created CFD Virtual Model Basin at SOTC. (Photo courtesy of ABS)

The Philippines saw first gas from Shell's Malampaya field, the region's first deepwater production, in 2001 in a development scheme that tied back subsea wells to a shallow-water platform. Two years later, Unocal's West Seno project offshore East Kalimantan became Southeast Asia's first deepwater field produced by a floating production unit. In 2007, Murphy Oil Corp. brought onstream the deepwater Kikeh oil field, which lies offshore Malaysia in 1,341 m (4,425 ft) water depth.

Rapid development is ongoing. And much of the R&D work that will take operations into deeper areas around the world is now being carried out in Singapore, which is becoming recognized as the region's deepwater hub.

ABS made Singapore its center of operations in the Asia-Pacific region in 1990 and created the Singapore Offshore Technology Center (SOTC) in 2006. The ABS SOTC has become a key R&D facility supporting the latest developments in Southeast Asia, partnering with local industry, government, and academia to extend the industry's deepwater capabilities.

The center's team of 11 researchers is developing new technologies to support future deepwater development. One area of concentration for the team is the practical application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The recently created Virtual Model Basin at SOTC now provides a broad range of advanced CFD analysis that complements testing carried out in towing tanks and conventional model basins. The Virtual Model Basin can be used to test vortex-induced motions for spars and deep-draft semisubmersibles, evaluate wave impact loads and global performance due to highly nonlinear regular waves and extreme irregular waves under hurricane conditions, perform wave run-up and air gap estimates for offshore structures, and deliver pile motion predictions for submerged dynamically installed piles. Plans are in place to add multiphase flow assurance analysis and to expand its capability to test subsea structures subjected to erosion effects, such as fixed platform foundations and seabed pipelines.

As operations continue into deeper water around the globe, the industry will have to increase the pace of activities in deepwater centers like Singapore.

ABS is expanding its capabilities at SOTC to address the challenges ahead, and other class societies now are beginning to see the value of establishing a presence in one of the fastest growing deepwater regions of the world.