Subsea Engineering [OE4654]

MSc Offshore & Dredging Engineering 2014-2015

Course Supervisor: Dr John Preedy
Group 15 - Pazflor Manifolds, Mounting Bases and In-Line Tees
17-12-2014

The PAZFLOR Field Development

Personal

1. Name
Email
Student ID

Dommerholt, Sicco
siccodommerholt@gmail.com
1543660

2. Name
Email
Student ID

Boone, Jordy
jordyboone17@hotmail.com
4015231

3. Name
Email
Student ID

Li, Ang
lyon58day@gmail.com
4415671

4. Name
Email
Student ID

Liu, Yang
nostalbach@hotmail.com
4384954

5. Name
Email
Student ID

Tan, Hao
tanh87@icloud.com
4408950

6. Name
Email
Student ID

Feng, Xuelei
oliversnowvon@gmail.com
4413989

7. Name
Email
Student ID

Gerritsen, Jasper
jaspergerritsen@gmail.com
4004124

Contents
Personal ............................................................................................................................................ 2
General Work .................................................................................................................................... 4
Specific Work relating to Manifolds and Mounting Bases................................................................... 8
Part A - Seabed Mounting Base...................................................................................................... 8
Installation Subsea manifold mounting base...................................................................................... 8
Installation .................................................................................................................................... 8
Positioning mounting base ............................................................................................................ 8
Placing mounting base................................................................................................................... 9
Finalizing mounting base placement ............................................................................................ 10
Part B - Oligocene Oil Field........................................................................................................... 12
Manifold is designed to deliver the following functions at 1200m depth. ................................. 12
Part C - Miocene Oil Fields ............................................................................................................... 17
Installation of a manifold ................................................................................................................. 19
Costings........................................................................................................................................... 24
References ...................................................................................................................................... 26

General Work
The area of interest is located in Angola, block 17. Below, several maps of the Pazflor group of fields
are given. These maps show the locations of four fields: Perpetua, Zinia, Acacia and Hortensia. Acaia
reservoir is Oligocene field, while Hortensia, Perpetua and Zinia reservoirs are Miocene field.
Figure 1 illustrates the exact location of block 17 with respect to Angola.

Figure 1 Location of block 17

(Source: www.endofcrudeoil.com)
Figure 1 indicates the location of field Pazflor project with respect to other projects and fields.

Figure 2. Location of field Pazflor project

(Source: yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com)

Figure 3 shows the exact location of fields in Pazflor with respect to project CLOV and Dalia, a
zooming view of the block 17.

Figure 3. Location of fields in Pazflor

(Source: www.total.com)
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Figure 4 clarifies the location of the fields in project Pazflor and the Oligocene and Miocene
reservoirs.

Figure 4. Location of the fields in project Pazflor and the Oligocene and Miocene reservoirs
(Souce: www.total.com)
The Pazflor field is unique in that two phased (gas/liquid) subsea separation was utilized for the first
time and both heavy and light oil were produced simultaneously from a single field.
Producing from such different fields gives many difficulties, compared with the common production
host. As in common production host it is always single phased production without separation of gas
and liquid. Moreover, normally in a single field there is only one type of oil, either heavy or light oil.
First, as two phased (gas/liquid) subsea separation was utilized, the design of each loop becomes
complex, compared to the common pipeline loops design without separation of mixture. In terms of
the complex equipment needed in the separation process, more modules should be added to the
loop, which increase the difficulty not only in design, but also in the installation process. As a result,
the whole subsea production system should be well devised.
Second, the field consists of reservoirs of two ages, Oligocene age and Miocene age (figure 5). There
are a lot of differences between these two ages. The Oligocene age contains light oil, while the
Miocene age contains heavy oil. They also differ in oil temperature, reservoir pressure, fluid
viscosity, gas oil ration (GOR), porosity, permeability, etc. The difference in property of the reservoirs
is shown in table 1.

Figure 5 Oligocene age and Miocene age reservoirs

(Source: www.total.com)

Table 1. Main difference in property between Oligocene age and Miocene age
Oligocene age
Miocene age

Gravity(API)
35-38
17-22

Pressure(bar)
350
200

GOR(scfg/bbl)
1070
215

Temperature(C)
115
65

Viscosity(cP)
0.2-0.8
3-10

Due to the different properties of the reservoirs between Oligocene age and Miocene age, the
design of the subsea production system for these two kinds of reservoir is somewhat different. For
instance, when considering the design of the pipelines for the Oligocene production loop, the high
probability of formation of waxes with the Oligocene oil should be considered, which results in the
presence of pigging loop. However, the forming of wax regarding the Miocene oil will be ignored.
When considering the production loop for Oligocene oil, manifolds are obviously in need. Whereas,
in-line tees (ILT) is enough for Miocene oil production.

Specific Work relating to Manifolds and Mounting Bases

Part A - Seabed Mounting Base
Installation Subsea manifold mounting base
The soil in the Pazflor area is very soft. This makes it ideal for a suction pile mount. In this section the
installation method of the manifold mounting base will be discussed. To clarify the works, pictures
are added.

Installation
After the support vessel carrying the manifold mounting base arrives at site, the suction pile can be
hoisted overboard. The vessel uses dynamic positioning to stay in position. As can be seen below,
helpful depth indication marks have been distributed over the length of the suction pile. This will
enhance the installation at a later stage.

Figure 1
a) Vessel arrives at site
c) Depth indication marks on suction pile

b) Crane hoists suction pile

d) Suction pile being lowered into the water

Positioning mounting base

While lowering the suction pile, ROVs monitor the process. When approaching the seabed, two
ROVs connect to the base. One will be used to place the suction pile above the designated area,
where the other will be used to rotate the pile into the desired orientation. Markings on the base
indicate the desired orientation, saying which side should face what direction. Operated from above,
the ROVs guide the suction pile to the operation area.

Figure 2
a) Lowering of suction pile being monitored by ROVs
c) ROVs position mount base to desired spot

b) ROVs connect to base mount

d) rotates base to desired orientation

Placing mounting base

After the suction pile touches the seabed at the desired spot and orientation, the pile will sink in the
soil due to gravity. When the pile has settled, the safety pins of the lifting cables can be retracted by
the ROV. Once all cables have been disconnected, these can be retrieved to the vessel. To be able to
create a vacuum within the suction pile the water release hatch will be closed and secured by the
ROV. Subsequently, the ROV will connect its suction hose to the base mount and will pump water
out of the pile. Monitoring-ROVs will show the operator the aforementioned indication marks on the
pile. This way, the desired penetration depth of the pile can be reached.

Figure 3
a) suction pile is lowered in seabed
c) Vessel hoists cables
e) Suction valve is secured by ROV
g) ROV sucks water out of the pile

b) ROV disconnects cables

d) Suction valve is closed
f) ROV connects suction valve to pile
h) Suction pile is sucked to desired depth

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Finalizing mounting base placement

When the suction pile has reached the desired penetration depth, the mount has to be made level.
Using a gyroscope and turn buckles mounted on the base, the ROVs will complete this final phase of
the installation. After the base is fully installed the ROVs can be retrieved to the vessel.

Figure 4
a) Suction pile is lowered to desired depth
c) ROV rotates turn buckles on mount base to make level

b) ROV checks gyroscope

d) Mount base is made level

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Part B - Oligocene Oil Field

Manifold is designed to deliver the following functions at 1200m depth.
1. Advantages of a template manifold
In this field, clustered satellite subsea well developments are less expensive than widely spaced
satellite wells mainly because of flow-line and control umbilical saving. If several satellite wells are in
proximity to one another, a separate production manifold may be placed near the wells to collect the
production from all the wells and deliver it in a single production flow-line that is connected to the
production facility. For multi-well templates, some cost savings can also be realized during drilling
because the vessel does not have to be relocated for each well. Further, major savings may be realized
by transferring the reservoir fluids through one large flow-line rather than individual flow-lines. Well
testing is accomplished by installing a separate flow-line with a valve manifold for switching wells.
Potential further cost savings may be possible for the control systems and piping for gas lift and water
injection.

2. Template manifold vs. clustered manifold.

The definition of the two different manifold systems:
Template system: a subsea production facility where the wells, connections and manifolds are on a
common supporting structure or template shows in figure 5.

Figure 5 Template Manifold with 4 well slots

Cluster well system: A centrally located manifold around which independent satellite wells are
clustered. These wells individually connect to the production manifold shows in figure 6.

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Figure 6 Cluster Manifold

When we design the manifold, we must consider the requirements for production, installation,
drilling, completion and maintenance and also compare the basis of cost, feasibility and risk.
Considering about a 4-production wells manifold, both template structure and cluster well can work
well in deep water. For templates system arrangement, the benefits are below: 1) reduces the
number of connections between flow lines and wells; 2) facilities tree to manifold connections by
maintaining dimensional tolerances between the wellheads and manifold; 3) locates the wellheads
in a convenience area for access by the drilling rigs. While at the same time, a template will come
across with the difficulties like structure design and the installation. The design of the template
structure must consider the load sharing between the well casings and the template support piles
along with loading due to other facilities. The installation difficulty of template due to the sake of
hoisting is also a significant disadvantage.
An arrangement of using a cluster well system will be more popular in deep water for several
reasons stated below:

A Cluster System is more efficient than template system. Cluster wells can be drilled as soon
as the wellheads and the MODU are available but for template, drilling cannot begin until
the template is installed. The installation of template in deep water requires a longer time.
A Cluster System suffers less risk compared with template system. In consideration of the basis
of operational risks, the involve installation and handling of smaller payloads are more spread
out so there is a reduced risk of critical collisions during tree and BOP installations. Template

13

systems, because of their compactness, may have greater potential for critical damage
resulting from a collision of facilities.
A Cluster System is more economical. Figure 7 shows the comparison of cost with these two
concepts in deep-water of North Sea Area (supposed the same condition with Pazflor Area).
Two curves for the cluster well system show the impact of the completion guide-base and
well-jumper costs. A minimum and maximum cost per well of $250,000 and $750,000,
respectively for these items is added to the basic cluster manifold cost. From the graph, we
can get the templates manifold is more expensive than the cluster one for the range of
manifold sizes shown.
A Cluster System needs less crane vessel capacity. By use of a barge, a template system costs
more space and load than the separate cluster system. By use a crane vessel, a template
system needs high capacity of crane vessel and the rent of high capacity of crane vessel is
expensive in Angola.
The cluster manifold design can be changed and expanded during a drilling program as the
reservoir requirements become better defined. For a template system all capability must be
built-in prior to the start of drilling.

Make a conclusion, in the Pazflor area, we preferred cluster manifold than templates manifold.

Figure 7 Comparison of cost with these two concepts

3. Manifold specifications
Project

Manifold
type

Foundation

connection

Size(L*W*H)

Weight

Water
depth

Oligocene field
development

4-slot Cluster

Suction
Anchor

Rigid jumpers
Horizontal

6*9*8m

160Tons

1200m

14

Figure 8 Manifold Function Design

Figure 8 is drawn by CAD software referred to the picture presented in Lecture 5.

4. Use of protective structure

There is no need to use Protective Structure Covers in deep-water Angola. Based on DNV code, the
protective structure covers the template, manifold and the trees to protect the equipment from
third part damages as e.g. dropped objects, anchors, or trawl equipment. For the case here, the
manifold in the Oligocene area of Pazflor oilfield is designed at 1200m depth. Compared with the
North Sea Area, Pazflor Area has no fishing activities and the manifold locates in an ultra-deep water
area. Above all, Protective Structure Covers are not required for manifolds in deep-water Angola.

Figure 9 protection structure for manifold

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5. Disadvantages of manifolding the flow

Though using the manifold system has many benefits, still there are some disadvantages:

Manifold and trees may have the choke when manifold the flow from individual wells.
Operational risk increases by using the jumpers and pipelines which also increases the cost of
maintenance.
Poor insulation of trees and manifolds/ non-insulated connection between tree or manifold/
flow jumper or flow-line/ pressure drop in chokes or flow path leading to joule-thompson
cooling.
Reduce the efficiency.

16

Part C - Miocene Oil Fields

Miocene oil field general information
Miocene oil is found at Perpetua, Hortensia and Zinia reservoirs in water depths of 600 to 900
meters.
Heavy oil of about 1722 API,
GOR of 50 Sm3/m3,
Reservoir Pressure of 200 bar,
Temperature around 65C and a
High viscosity (=40 cP at 55C).
The reservoir has aquifers.
The Miocene field has a total of 25 production wells, 22 water injection wells and 2 gas wells.
Hortensia field has 8 production wells and 4 water injection wells. Perpetua has 6 production wells
and 7 water injection wells. Zinia field has 7 production wells and 7 water injection wells. The wells
are connected in the daisy chain format to the flow line on the sea bed.
The fluid from the Miocene field has a 50 bar flowing pressure with an average temperature of 60C.
There is no risk of barium sulphate precipitation to form scale. The fluid from the production wells
flows via 6 inch jumpers to a single or double In-line Tees that connect to a 10 inch flow line.
General information about in-line tees
The Miocene oil doesnt have a high probability of forming waxes or scale. As a result a single
flowline with In-Line Tees is chosen as it is highly cost effective compared with manifolding. Because
of the low probability of formation of waxes there is no pigging loop included in the flowlines.
Inline tees or inline sleds are subsea connection systems integrated in the production flowline. The
Inline tees or sleds forms a connection between the wells and the flowline. The flowline with the
integrated tee or sled is connected to the well with a jumper. Advantages of inline tees or sleds are
the lower costs compared with the large pipeline end manifolds. They can also be installed as a cost
efficient and flexible way to prepare for future tie-ins. There is the possibility to install spare inline
tees along the pipelines for future planned connections such as extra wells.
Difference between In-Line Tees and In-Line sleds:
An inline sled = a single line with a plug in connection to a well.
An inline Tee = a single line coming in one end and two lines going out the other creating a
tee, figure 10 shows an inline tee with a total weight of 10 tons.

Figure 10 Inline Tee ready for installation

17

Hortensia field has 8 production wells, so this field needs 8 tie-ins to connect the wells to the
flowline. Therefore 7 inline tees are installed in the flowline and 1 inline sled at the end of the
flowline. Zinia has 7 production wells so 6 inline tees and 1 inline sled are installed. For the Perpetua
field, which has 6 production wells, this will be 5 inline tees and 1 inline sled. To connect all the wells
to the flowlines, 21 jumpers have to be installed. Figure 11 shows the layout of the Miocene field
with its different wells connected to the flowline.

Figure 11 Layout of the Miocene field.

Installation of the ILTs
Inline tees or sleds have been developed with special focus on compact design in order to allow for
installation as an integrated part of the pipeline. This compact integrated design leads to a minimal
delay in the pipeline installation process. The inline tee will be welded into the pipeline on board of a
pipe lay vessel. For the installation of the pipeline with the integrated tees a J-lay vessel is used
because of the large water depth at the Miocene field. The Deep Blue is a suitable vessel for the
installation of the pipeline with the integrated tees. In figure 3 the inline tee is lowered to the
seabed after it is welded on to the flowline.

Figure 12 installation of an inline tee from a j-lay vessel.

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When the pipeline with the integrated tee is lowered to the seabed a buoyancy element will be
attached to the tee. This will be done to support the pipeline during installation and for stabilisation
on the sea bed. This method is shown in figure 13.

Figure 13 Installation of an inline tee with a buoyancy element attached to the tee
The inline tee is equipped with ROV operated closing valves on the branch. ROV assistance is needed
to control the whole installation.
Installation of the jumper between the tree and the ILT
The installation of the jumper which connects the flowline and the tree will take place after the
installation of the flow line and the tree. The jumper forms the connection between the production
tree and the flowline. The In-Line Tee forms the connection between the flowline and the jumper.
Installation of the jumper to the subsea system will occur from an offshore supply vessel with its
own crane. If possible, the jumpers are stored on deck of the installation vessel. If not, a barge is
needed to store the jumpers. The installation vessel will lift the jumpers from deck or from the barge
and lower them to the seabed. ROV assistance is needed to guide the jumper to the exact position
and connect the jumper to the tree and the In-Line Tee. Figure 14 shows the jumper installation
lifted from a barge and lowered to the subsea system.

Figure 14 Jumper installation

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Installation of a manifold
Objective: launch and install a Cluster Manifold on a pre-installed sea mounting base safely and
economically.
Preparations for installation:

Selection of crane barge (lift capacity, daily rate, availability): the lifting capacity must be
economically compatible with the manifold to be installed. Considering the limited heavy lift
vessel availability in West Africa, a lighter manifold may be money-saving.
Sling design and plan: a detailed calculation and analysis must be performed as to the number of
the slings, angles, rigging height, static equilibrium and dynamic effects.
Safety of personnel on board: necessary training and emergency plan must be prepared according
to rules and regulations.
Site specific conditions (water depth, soil characteristics): with given water depth, the loweringdown time of manifold and ROV can be estimated.
Sea states and vessel motions; monitor: determine the permissible weather conditions based on
hydrodynamic response analysis and monitor the motions of the vessel during the whole process
of installation.

Procedures
Step 1 Crane vessel arrives at the specified site with manifold on board.
Step 2 Connect the crane and manifold with the sling.
Step 3 Lift the manifold and revolve the crane to position to make manifold overboard.
Step 4 Lower the manifold into water until it reaches near the extended frame posts of mounting
base.
Step 5 Aided by ROV, the cone on manifold should accurately secure one extended post on
mounting base.
Step 6 Aided by another ROV, the manifold is pushed over another extended frame post.
Step 7 Continue to lower the manifold until it sits on the mounting base
Step 8 Aided by ROV, unbolt the connections between lifting wires and manifold. Retract the wires
to vessel.
Step 9 Lower a long wire deep down. Use ROV to connect the wire with extended frame posts.
Step 10 Use ROV to disconnect extended posts with mounting base. Lift the wire together with the
extended posts to vessel.
Step 11 Retract ROVs.

20

Figure 15 Manifold installation

Reference:
(Source: http://www.offshore-mag.com/content/dam/offshore/print-articles/volume74/11/1114HeavyLift-Poster102414-Ads.pdf from Offshore Magazine)
21

Connections of jumpers
Objective: launch and connect the flow spool/control jumper between tress and manifolds safely
and economically.
Preparations for connection: mostly they are quite similar to installation preparations only with
some notice on how to design and analyse sling and rigging attached to spread beam/spool.
For the rigid spool and jumper, a horizontal connection method is applied. Several advantages over
this method are identified:
Designed for installation with guide wire to accommodate for harsh weather conditions.
Quick, easy changes to switch between guide wire and guide wire-less
Applicable for Shallow Water and Deep Water
Applicable for Rigid, Flexible or Umbilical lines
Allow retrieval of XT/ manifold without removal of the spool/jumper
Seal Replacement and Hub cleaning without retrieving the jumper
Only using lightweight ROV carried tools
The key of this connection method is to understand the system component, shown below.

Figure 16 interface components

Since all the connecting activities are conducted by ROVs, several tooling are needed:

Figure 17 ROV tools

22

Procedures
Step 1 Attach spreader beam. Lift off and lower jumper to seabed. If required attach guide wires.
Step 2 first end entry
Step 3 second end entry.
Step 4 Lower terminations until landed on porch
Step 5 Disconnect spreader beam
Step 6 Stroke terminations towards IB hub using ROV carried stroke tool
Step 7 Close clamp with ROV carried torque tool
Step 8 Perform back-seal test connection completed

23

Figure 18 spool connection

(Source: http://www.ffu.no/uploads/kompendier/akersolutions_tie-in_systems_development.pdf
from AkerSolutions.)

Costings
The main costing of a manifold system consists of multiple parts, mainly: procurement, fabrication &
assembly, integration & testing and the offshore installation. (Source: cost data base of FINA block
210/15a, year 1998)
Procurement
The manifold weighs 160 ton and consists of the following components:
1. The protective structure
This weight is around 90% of the total weight, resulting in: 0.9*160 = 144 ton.
1250 pounds/ton 180.000 pounds
2. Anodes
This weight is around 10% of the total weight: 0,1*160 = 16 ton.
2250 pounds/ton 36.000 pounds
3. ROV panel (docking ports, torque tool receptor)
1 set of operating switches is needed for the ROV to open/close valves and other types of
works.
25.000 pounds/set
4. Painting
For such a structure a price of 20.000 pounds is used. (Corrected for using the source
mentioned above.)
This is in total for the procurement: 261.000 pounds. These numbers are from 1998 and this is why
an increase has to be taken account for using current systems in 2014. A 30% increase is chosen. This
results in roughly 340.000 pounds, which is around 530.000 USD.
Fabrication & assembly
To make the structure with all the components on a yard, especially man-hours are needed.
Depending on difficulties such as weldings and specialised components, the rate of these hours will
be more expensive. Every yard has their own typical building procedures, so to budget costings is
quite hard. Using the source for a 55 ton manifold of 210.000 pounds this will be for a 160 ton
roughly: 610.000 pounds. This is with inflation and conversion: 1.250.000 USD.

24

Integration & testing

Once the manifold is installed it needs to be integrated in the field systems and tested before actual
production.
1. Control system assembly on manifold
1200 hours for 39 pounds/hr = 46.800 pounds
2. Manifold FAT testing
2000 hours for 39 pounds/hr = 78.000 pounds
3. Procedure, quality control
These costs are around 30.000 pounds
4. Packing & transportation
This will be 100.000 pounds
In total this is 255.000 pounds, converted: 400.000 USD.
Offshore Installation
For the installation of a manifold system a crane is needed which is capable of lifting at least 160
tons. The day rate of crane barge is around 10.000 USD. Besides that a supply vessel is probably
needed to support it. Days are needed for mobilisation/demobilisation, sail to field, the actual
installation process and weather down time.
Total
So all the mentioned costings above combined are around the 2.200.000 USD. This is for one
manifold system. Some notes have to made to this. Because creating such a big field a lot of
advantages can be achieved by making all the parts locally, using some ships for longer periods. This
can cause of course a completely different total cost. So all the information given in this chapter are
purely indicative.
Some extra information is given in the two figures below, regarding OPEX costings for a subsea field.

25

Figure 19 OPEX for subsea systems of a tie-back case

Figure 20 OPEX Chemical injections needed

References
www.endofcrudeoil.com
Yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com
www.total.com
http://www.offshore-mag.com/content/dam/offshore/print-articles/volume-74/11/1114HeavyLiftPoster102414-Ads.pdf from Offshore Magazine
http://www.ffu.no/uploads/kompendier/akersolutions_tie-in_systems_development.pdf from
AkerSolutions

26