OTC 5886

Field Experience and Design Evolution of the Diverless Lay-Away

Flowline Subsea Tree
by D.M. Underwood, FMC Corp., and M. da Costa, CBV Industria Mecanica SA

Copyright 1989, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was presented at the 21st Annual OTC in Houston, Texas, May 1-4, 1989.

This paper was selected for presentation by the OTC Program Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper,
as presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Offshore Technology Conference or its officers. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The
abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented.

presents the rrodifications that resulted and the

design insight gained during this evaluation
Extensive field experience and design insight have process.
been gained in the manufacture and installation in
Brazilian waters of six (6) diverless lay-away CCM'OOENr REVIEW lIND mDIFICATICN
flowline type subsea trees. This knowledge has led
to the evaluation and overall inprovernent of evexy Each conp:>nent of the diverless lay-away flowline
phase of the tree design. These iItprovem:m.ts, ained type subsea tree was reviewed as part of the
at sinplifying manufacture, field installation and evaluation process. In many cases, no changes ~e
subsequent tree manipulation, have been :incorporated made to cx:nponents. The following details the
into a secorxi generation diverless lay-away flowline changes that occw:red as a result of this study.
tree system. Lay-Away Flowline Connector System
IN'l'OODUC1'ICN Introduced in 1986, the lay-away flowline connector
system permits the flowline connection with the tree
Developed in 1985, and initially installed in to be made in one of bro ways.
January, 1987, the 4" x 2" 5,000 PSI diverless
lay-away flowline type subsea tree utilizes the In Option 1, the Universal Guide Base or UGB is
flexibility of the flowline to make the connection first run and locked to the subsea wellhead (see
between the flowlines and the subsea tree at the Figure 3). '!he UGB establishes a tubing head,
surface, prior to installation of the tree on the thereby providing positive space out and nfM,
wellhead. '!his feature eliminates subsea flowline unused seal surfaces for the tubing hanger and
connections and permits the pressure testing of tree. Then the tree, with the flowline hub and
these connections in the rooon pool. Further, the flowline bundle, is run using the lay-away flowline
tree (see Figure 1) was designed to be canpletely process. This method ccmpletely eliminates the
diverless during installation, production and necessity of making a subsea flowline connection.
workover IOOdes. A total of six (6) of these trees q;,erationally, this has proven an effective means of
have been installed to date (see Table 1). eliminating subsea leaks at the flowline interface.

Early in 1988, a second order was received, this
time for four (4) of the diverless lay-away flowline
type trees. '1b i.rtProve tree function and simplify
manufacture, it was decided to evaluate each feature
of the tree design. A study was subsequently
conducted and the second generation diverless
lay-away flowline tree system (see Figure 2) was
developed. In February, 1989, the first of these
second generation trees was installed, in Brazilian
waters, at depths aH;)roaching 500 meters (1,640
feet) of sea water.
'!his paper, based on extensive field experience,
References and illustrations at end of paper.
51
In ~tion 2, the OOB is run with the flowline hub
am flowline bmdle (see Figure 4). The tree is
then run. This option will require one additicoal
subsea connection, in this case a vertical
connection similar to the tree connector, connecting
the flowlines and the tree. Although never used
with the initial six (6) trees, this option was
retained because of the operational flexibility it
offers in scheduliIxJ the lay vessel. It may be of
future advantage to lay the flowlines independent of
the .tree to permit the lay vessel to continue
operations elsewhere.
During installation, it was noted that the fixed
flowlines extending fran the tree at a 200 angle
2 FIErD EXPERIENCE AND DESIGN EVOLUl'ICN OF THE DIVERLESS IAY-AWKY :E'UmLINE SUBSFA TREE
placed constraints on the miniIm.m dinYensions of the
vessel noon pool. 'lb alleviate this problem and to
elilninate the bendin;r load inposed on the flowline
hub structure during installation, a swivel was
incorporated into the flowline cormection. This
swivel pennits the flowline to hang vertically while
in the noon pool. Further, it ..as decided that an
elastareric seal was unacceptable at this critical
interface and that a netal seal ..as nore desirable.
Therefore, the netal sealing lay-away flowline
swivel (see Figure 5) ..as developed for use in the
second generation trees.
The netal sealing swivel is designed to function in
two positions. In the IOClOn pool, the swivel arms of
both the 4" and 2" flowlines are manually locked
into the vertical position fur pressure testing of
the flowline cormections. '!he netal seal is then
energized.
Flowline cormection pressure tests are then
conducted. TOO swivel nechanism is then unlocked
and left free to swivel while the tree descends.
Once the tree ha.s been lowered through the noon
pool, the flexible flowline can, at any tille, be
lifted to c~use the flowline to achieve the second
position, 20 fran mrizontal. At this point, the
flowline swivel will autanatically lock into place.
UGB and Tree Comectors
Hydraulic cormectors are used to rm:)tely lock. the
UGB (the UGB is the guide base that establishes a
tubing head and a structural support for the
flowline cormection system) to the drillinJ wellhead
and to lock the tree to the tubing head on the UGB.
The initial six (6) trees featured both hydraulic
and manual secondary release mechanisms in
conjunction with these armular piston connectors.
The secoOOary hydraulic release IlEChani.sm was made
up of a structural plate, bolted to the manual
release rods, that could be activated by independent
hydraulic pistons. The manual release nechanism
involved pullinJ up on these sane release rods.
While neither of these secondal:y systans has yet
been utilized, it was deerred necessary fran a
reliability standpoint to retain these options.
For the second generation trees, the independent
pistons and activation plate were replaced by a
secondaty armular piston integral to the connector.
This piston, which remains stationcuy during primary
cormector function, is accessed through a separate
control function. This irmovation penn.itted the
reduction of both stack-up height and weight fran
the tree.
Corrosion cap
The first generation diverless lay-away flowline
tree design required four basic tools to run (see
Table 2). '!hose were 1) the tmiversal guide base
running tool typically run on drill pipe for option
one, 2) the tubinJ hanger running tool, 3) the tree
installation tool used to run the tree and the tree
cap with the cx:npletion riser, and 4) the corrosion
cap running tool run on drill pipe.
During the evaluation process, it was noted that
this number could be reduced. Thus, the corrosion
cap has been designed for the second generation of
trees and can now be run on the same tool (the tree
installation tool) that runs the tree and tree cap.
TOO tree installation tool has adapters to run on
52
arc 5886
drill pipe or carpletion riser.
Re-Entry Guide Posts
Both tree designs provide re-entry guide posts as a
neans of guidin;r the tree installation tool over the
tree during w::>rkover operations. Typically" for the
first generation of trees, this ..as accarpl1shed by
re-establishin;r two og;lOsi.n;r guide lines to the
drillinJ systan guide posts and using the tm re-
entry posts solely for alignm:mt. During field
operations, it was noted that difficulties were
often encountered re-establishing guide lines to
these drillinJ system guide posts. Primarily this
difficulty was due to the crO'lded conditions
encountered by the PDil at the base of the tree while
trying to access these post tops. Shearing the
guide cables flush to the drilling guide post, a
difficult operation, was nonnally required.
In an effort to eliminate this difficulty, this
system has been modified. The second generation
tree design incorporates two identical re-entry
guide posts that feature drillinJ system top
profiles pennitti.n;r the use of guide post oversmt
cormectors to re-establish the guide lines directly
to the upper tree frame. capable of being renotely
attached and released by an FDIT, these connectors
will eliminate the necessity of shearing the guide
cable prior to mJ:kover.
SIZE AND WEIGH!' SAVINGS
Another aspect of the design that received intense
focus was the overall size and weight of the tree.
several carponents were evaluated for reduction in
size and weight, resulting in a weight reduction of
approximately 4 tons. Major reductions involved the
following conponents: valve block, adapter spool,
and tree frame.
Valve Block
Like the first generation lay-away flowline tree
valve blocks, the second generation valve block
incorporates 4" lower master, uwer master and ~
as well as 2" master and swab. Both tree verSJ.Ons
have separate 2" and 4" winJ valves and a 2"
crossover valve. All valves features sprinJ return
hydraulic actuators. Furthenrore, both tree designs
include tm separate 1" .12,000 PSI gate val-yes ,for
SCSSV access and product~on bore pressure IOOn~torJ.ng.
TOO SCSSV isolation valve is fail-open and the
pressure transducer valve is fail-close. The use of
this slightly larger, sturdier gate valve, rather
than a quarter turn ball valve, is justified based
on the increased reliability it affords.
The evaluation effort did, however, offer the
opporttmity to enploy inproved valve and actuator
designs, resulting in a sma.ller block valve. A
newly inplemanted netal to netal sealinJ gate valve
was introduced in both the production and annulus
runs. This new design, while considered nore
reliable than it's forerunner, eliminated the need
for a "balanced stem" closure on the backside of the
valve block. '!his enabled the block itself to
shrink in size as conponents could now be spaced
IOOre closely. lIdditionally, all valves (with the
exception of tm 2" valves) could now be pointed in
the same direction, away fran the flowline connector.
This nore evenly distributed tree weight and
lessened the requirement for counterweight necessary
arc5886 UNDEm:lOD AND DA COSTA
to achieve tre= balance. The imp1eIrentation of both
the new gate valve and a conpact actuator played a
role in further size reductions.
Adapter Spool
As part of the first generation lay-away flowline
tree system, an adapter spool provided the
adaptation between the top of the tree connector and
the ICMar flange of the block valve. This spool was
necessaxy to provide an attachIrent location for the
I" 12,000 PSI gate valve that isolated the scssv
function. The spool also contained the 4"
production and 2" annulus tree seal stabs that mate
to the tubing hanger. With the introduction of the
new compact gate valves, spacing neM pennitted this
isolation valve to be JOOunted directly to the valve
block. Further, space was available to accamodate
the seal stabs. 'Ihus, the adapter spool was
eliminated, creating a savings in \'\eight and height.
Tree Frane
Based on an absence of problems in the field and the
new reduced size conponents, it was deemed
awropriate to decrease the size of the tree
structure itself, in particular the upper tree
frame. Previously, the 1.cM3r and upper tree frames
~e structurally joined togeth3r. Now, the upper
tree frame is structurally attached only to the tree
manifold directly above the block valve.
ADDITICNS 'ID IMPIDVE FUNcrICN
In addition to inproving the functions of existing
carponents, some features ~e added to the second
generation diverless lay-away fleMline tree to
inprove the function of the tree in the field. The
JOOst :i.Irq;lortant addition of this nature was the PJ:N
back-up panel.
ROl Panel
To increase tree reliability a manifold of valves
was added between th3 control unbilical and the tree
manifold. 'Ihese b.u position/three way manual ball
valves, with tee han:Ues for FOil c:peration, provide
F!JV control of the following functions: 1) SCSSV
isolation valve, 2) l~r and upper production
masters simultaneously, 3) pressure transducer
isolation valve, 4) production wing, 5) annulus
master, 6) annulus wing, 7) crossover, and 8) a
spare. The manifold also features a "rot stab"
which gives the F!JV hydraulic access to these
functicns. Finally, FOil docking ports \'\ere situated
below the rov panel to provide a convenient rrethod
of stationing th3 RrN in front of the panel.
Docking ports consisted of ordinary 4" x 2" pipe
reducers welded into th3 tree structure.
CCNCWSICNS
Based on this study praopted by the experience of
delivering and installing six (6) first generation
lay-away flowline subsea trees, it was concluded
that the following roodifications ~e necesSaJ:y to
improve the fabrication and function of the tree.
Existing eatponents
Flowline Cormection System
1. It was necessary to add a matal sealing swivel
to the flowline cormector to permit the
flexible flowlines to hang in the vertical
3
position in the m:xm pool. This feature
eliminates minimum lOOOn p:x>l size constraints.
UGB/Tree Connectors
2. It was decided to utilize an internal annular
secondary release piston in both the tree
cormector and the universal guide base
connector. This eliminated th3 cost, stack-up
height and weight of the large external
secondary release hydraulic jacks and release
plate fran the tree design.
Running am Retrieval Tools
3. It was deem3d desirable to reduce the number of
tools required to run the eatq?lete system.
nus was accarplished by redesigning the tree
corrosion cap to run with the same tool that
runs the tree and tree cap.
Tree Re-Entry System
4. It was deem3d necessazy to simplify tree re-
entry by providing easier attachn'ent of guide
lines. This operation was simplified by
providing the re-entry posts on top of the tree
with drilling post top profiles permitting the
use of a standard oversoot tool.
Reduction of Size and weight
1. Reducing the size and \'\eight of the valve block
has simplified both manufacturing and tree
handling. This was accarplished by introducing
new eatpact gate valves and actuators.
2. The redesign effort of the block valve resulted
also in the elimination of an adapter spool.
This further reduced the overall size of the
tree.
3. With a shorter stack-up and based on an absence
of field problems, the tree structure was
extensively simplified.
Addition to the Design
An RrN override panel was added to the tree design
to simplify th3 subsea manipulation and to increase
reliability.
NCNMENCIATtJRE
RDV' - Renote Operated Vehicle
SCSSV - surface Controlled SUbsurface Safety Valve
ACKNCMLEOOEMENTS
The authors wish to thank Mario Paulino and the
subsea service staff at ON Industria ~canica for
their valuable assistance during both the design of
the second generation lay-away tree and the
preparation of this report. Further, the authors
wish to express their gratitude to Petrobras!DEI?RO
for their important contributions to the developreIl.t
of both first and second generation lay-away
flowline trees.
1. Hopo.ns, B.C., Williams, M.R. and Skeels, H.B.:
"Diverless Lay-Away Flowline Connector system,"
paper OTC 5316 presented at the 1986 l8th
Annual OTC, fbuston, May 5-8, 1986
53
 TABLE 1
CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF THE INSTALLATION OF LAY-AWAY
FLOWLINE TREES IN OFFSHORE BRAZILIAN WATERS

WELL
RIG FIELD DEPTH DATE
3-RJS-294
..
SS-30 MARIMBA 411 m (1348 ft) 10 J~UARY 1987
3-RJS-293D SS-30 MARIMBA
410 m (1345 ft) 8 NARCH 1987
1-RJS-297 5s-20 ALBACORA 293 m (961 ft)
25 JULY 1987
3-RJS-334 SS-31 ALBACORA 329 m (1079 ft) 11 SEPTEMBER 1987
4-RJs-328 SS-31 ALBACORA 419 m (1375 ft) .s

II
13 NOVEMSER 1987
3-RJS-329A SS-20 ALBACO~ 287 m (942 ft) 84
12 DECEMBER 1987
.l#
*7-AB-6D-RJS SS-16 ALBACORA 437 m (1434 ft)
FEBRUARY 1989 .

* INITIAL SECOND GENERATION TREE xl

NO sCHEDULE AVAI: ABLE FOR T.HREE REMAINING SECOND m

GENERATION TREES u

.t4

TABLE 2
,.

TYPIcAL RIG TIMFS REQUIRED FOR VARIOUS

..
LAY-AWAY FLOWLINE TREE OPERATIONS
.,

.8
HoURS
.,
OPERATION MINIMuM MAXIMIJM AVERAGE
. .1 Uumau.
RON UGB ON DRILL PIPE 11.0 WIDE MSf
14.5 12.4 .,
pASS FLOWLINE HUB TO 7.0
RIG AND INSTALL IN 17.5 10.0 .4

DUMMY UGB .,

MOVE TREE To MooNpooL .,

1.0 5.0 2.6
,
LAND TREE CAP AND TEST
5.0 10.8
IN MOONPOOL 8.0 .,

OMUJMO
REMOVE TREE CAP AND ,
calm Buc
3.0 9.0
DUMMY UGB 4.3
.,

LAND TREE INSTALLATION

5.0 11.5 .,

TOOL AND TEST 8.5

.4

RUN TREE Oli COMPLETION

RISER
11.0 21.5 16.6 1,
suBSEA TREE TESTING 2.0 5.0 4.1 FIRST GENERATION
LAY AWAYT8EE
MTRIEVE TREE
3.0 6.5
INSTALLATION TOOL 4.4

RUM TREE CAP ON

COMPLETION RISER
6.5 12.5 8.8 FIGURE 1

RETRIEVE TREE
INSTALLATION TOOL 5.0 9.0 7.2

Rm CORROSION CAP
3.0 10.5 5.9
RETRIEVE CORROSION CAP
2.0 5.0
RUNNING TOOL 3.4

NOTE : THE ABOVE ITEMS ARE APPROXIMATE AND DO NOT INCLUDE RIG
DOWN TIME ASSOCIATED WITH O?HER EQUIPMENT (E.G. :
LEARs , ROV MALFUNCTIONS, ETC. ) . RISER

54
I
i!

55
 I

i
J I

N VER TICAL
I
OUTLET
..
,

LAY - AWAY FLOWLINE HUB WITH METAL SEALING

SWIVEL
FIGURE s

56