GNPC gears up forGhana O&G sector

Determining themaritime boundaries

Angola’s cleanalternative to flaring

Technology drivingAfrica’s LNG

Changing the face ofreal-time remotepressure management

Africa’s subsea markethots up

Meeting the deepwaterchallenge

Vsats - how muchshould one pay?

AfricaAfricaCovering Oil, Gas and Hydrocarbon Processing

Volume 7 Issue Two 2012

www.oilreviewafrica.com

Europe m10, Ghana CD18000, Kenya Ksh200, Nigeria N330, South Africa R25, UK £7, USA $12

Joe Udofia, MD-CEO of VandrezzerEnergy Services Limited, Nigeria See page 6.

Angola...oldchallenges

remain

■ Geology - p36 ■ Gas - p38 ■ Exploration - p46 ■ Technology - p56

Oil Review

Africa

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Oil Review Africa Issue Two 2012

TTHE LATEST WORLD Deepwater MarketReport from analysts Douglas Westwoodforecasts a 90 per cent growth indeepwater expenditure between 2012

and 2016 as compared to the previous five-yearperiod, with a total of US$232bn predicted to bespent subsea. In addition, Emerson expects thenumber of new Christmas Trees coming on streameach year to increase from about 280 in 2011 toaround 720 by 2016.

As part of the so-called deepwater ‘goldentriangle’ alongside North and South America, Africais likely to secure a significant portion of this spendwith the same Douglas Westwood report estimatingthat 72 per cent of forecast deepwater spend willbe in Africa and the Americas.

Another report from Quest Offshore Resources(Subsea Acceleration: Fathoming NewTechnologies) forecasts 3,200 new subsea treeorders between 2011 and 2015 with 60 per cent ofthese being in offshore Brazil and Africa. Along withBrazil and Australia, West Africa remains a keymarket for Emerson and we are currently pursuing80 subsea projects over the next two years.

So in what specific areas is this growth insubsea installations being seen?

The increasing demand for subsea trees andassociated hardware, such as control modules,manifolds and umbilicals, is helping drive the needfor many broader solutions – solutions that canprovide operators with more information andgreater control over their subsea operations.

This covers everything from reliable reservoirand well monitoring in order that production keepsflowing, through to the avoidance of costly shut-downs resulting from sand, hydrates or an increasedamount of water in the flow lines.

Continued growth of multiphase metersTake the issue of measuring flow rates in the wellstreams and the role of multiphase and wet gasmeters subsea.

Today, there is a definite need for multiphaseflow meters to be installed from field start-up toefficiently manage the reservoir throughout itsproduction life, ensure optimal recovery andmaximise output. As of 2010, according to GioiaFalcone of Texas A&M University and Bob Harrisonfrom Soluzioni Idrocarburi Srl, there were 3,314multiphase and wet gas meters installed worldwide– a number that is likely to double over the nextten years.

Current Emerson multiphase installations inAfrica include the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM)

concession offshore Egypt, where 49 Roxar Wetgasmeters have been installed to help the operatorBurullus monitor water production profiles in real-time; the deepwater Akpo field, offshore Nigeriawhere Roxar subsea Multiphase meters have beendeployed; and the Kizomba B development, offshoreAngola, where Roxar subsea Multiphase meters andsubsea sensors have been installed for the operator,Exxon. Through the continuous measurement of theamount of oil, condensate, gas and water at thewellheads on the sea bed, Exxon will be able todetermine the optimal production capacity of eachwell (thereby avoiding the risk of overproducing thewell), increase flow assurance from the fields andoptimise the production process.

In the WDDM example in Egypt, over just a fourmonth period, the Wetgas meters were utilised toavoid several water breakthroughs, identify zonesfor water production, and optimise gas productionwithin acceptable and controlled water rates. Byproviding early warnings of the water produced, themeters have helped Burullus and its partners saveseveral wells from water breakthrough leading to asustainable production strategy moving forward.

For all the benefits of multiphase meters,however, the last few years have seen a raft of newsubsea challenges that they have to face. This

includes a wider range of process conditions withmore liquid and water present in the flow as well asdeeper wells with higher process pressures andtemperatures; and the growing remoteness of manysubsea fields where costs for subsea interventionsand periodic fluid sampling (PVT) are high.

In addition, there has also been an increase inthe number of subsea tie-backs withEICDataStream, the global projects database of theUK trade association, the Energy Industries Councilnoting that there are 27 current and future subseatie-back projects in Africa. Examples of fields wheresubsea tie-backs are in place include the Diega &Carmen oil fields in Equatorial Guinea; the Foxtrot,Mahi & Manta gas fields off the Côte D’Ivoire; theErha North and Erha South fields, offshore Nigeria;and the Kizomba development offshore Angolawhere Emerson’s Roxar meters are in place.

The risks of longer horizontal productionpipelines and tie-backs is that it takes more time todetect a water breakthrough in the well, increasingthe need for real-time monitoring to preventobstacles to flow assurance, such as hydrates andwater encroachment.

It is therefore vital that today’s subsea multiphaseand wet gas meters come with an extended operatingrange, added resilience, and generate ever moreaccurate and sensitive measurements of flow ratesand water production profiles.

Emerson’s latest subsea wet gas meter, forexample, is being designed to include newmicrowave electronics to provide even more stableand accurate measurements. The meter will be

Emerson's subsea network answers many of operators’ questions relating to subsea operations.

The last few years have seena raft of new subsea

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Driven by the need to develop fields in deeper waters, more challenging locations and inreservoirs of increasing geological complexity, the subsea installation market is expectedto grow at a significant pace over the next few years, with deepwater developments likelyto be a major element of many of the world’s IOC and NOC portfolios.*

The African subsea market continues

to hot up

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particularly applicable for new gas finds, such as offthe East African coast where Anadarko and ENI, forexample, are engaging in significant explorationactivities offshore Mozambique.

With the new meter, transmission andresonance measurement significantly extend theoperating range. The meter also includes a salinitymeasurement system which can inform thereservoir engineer where formation water isentering the flow as well as also helping theprocess engineer when adjusting injection rates ofscale and corrosion inhibitors.

Other developments in Emerson’s multiphasemetering capabilities include a new downhole flowsensor system which will, for the first time,generate multiphase flow measurements fromdownhole in the well and deep in the reservoir,leading to increased operator understanding ofreservoir flow and zonal contributions from wells;and to be launched in early 2013, a subsea versionof Emerson’s third generation multiphase meter.

The new meter version will be two thirds ofthe size and half the weight of the currentsubsea version without any technologycompromises. Such compactness is crucial, withmany subsea manifolds offshore Africa alreadycrowded with instrumentation.

Downhole reservoir monitoring & hydrate managementDownhole reservoir monitoring and hydratemanagement are also crucial to African subseaoperations today.

To this end, Emerson’s Roxar intelligentmeasurement devices and sensors are highly robustand are utilised not only to monitor temperature,

pressure and water cut, but also gas fraction, sandrate and flow velocity.

Deployed in production, injection, orobservation wells, the Roxar Permanent DownholeMonitoring System (PDMS), for example,continuously transmits accurate pressure,temperature and flow rate data from the reservoir inreal time to local or remote well control facilities.Some of its gauges have been in operation fordecades, requiring minimal maintenance.

In addition, Emerson has recently launched anew solution that can generate information fromthe B annulus within the casing of an oil well –previously a ‘no go’ area. The new tool is expectedto have a significant impact on both production andoffshore safety, provide early warnings of highpressures, protecting casing integrity, andpreventing pressure build-up and, in the worst casescenarios, shallow gas blow outs.

Hydrate build-up, where crystals formed in highpressure and low temperature gas flows can blockpipelines and interfere with production, are also aparticular risk in deepwater fields today.

The situation can be made even worse,however, if the wrong amount of hydrateinhibitors, such as MEG (Monoethylene Glycol), isinjected. We have seen cases, for example, whereup to 20 per cent of the pipeline capacity isoccupied with MEG, due to overdosing.

In response to this need to establish greatercontrol over the measuring and injection of hydrateinhibitors, Emerson has developed a compact androbust subsea retrievable injection valve solution,which provides operators with precise control overchemical dosage rates.

The injection valve can also be integratedwith other measurement solutions, such as thesubsea wet gas meter, to increase subseaproduction performance. In this case, the wet gasmeter measures the early onset of formation-water production and then the subsea chemicalinjection valve ensures that the necessarypreventative is action.

Transparency & integrationIt is this integration of instrumentation which iscentral to the increased need for transparency andbetter handling of information in Africa’s subseafield operations.

This is being enhanced through a specialisedWindows-based field monitoring system whichenables E&P operators to observe their fields fromremote facilities.

Known as Roxar Fieldwatch, the systemincorporates a wide range of Emerson’s reservoirmonitoring instrumentation within one singlecontrol system framework, covering everythingfrom sand monitors and erosion probes through todownhole pressure and temperature gauges; andthe tracking of well test jobs.

The latest version also comes with newerosion-combatting capabilities which enableoperators to install virtual erosion sensors withintheir production system – particularly to monitorbends, T-bends and reducers in areas where it’sdifficult to deploy physical sensors. While not asaccurate as real sensors, the virtual erosionmodels can calculate important productioninformation by inputting flow information,pressure and temperature data.

Maximising asset returnsSuccess in maximising asset returns in subseaoperations today depends largely on operators’ability to characterise and understand reservoirsand generate accurate production information toguide decision-making.

How are my wells performing? Are there anyconditions that affect my assets and the productionflow? How do I keep my assets working for the fulllife of the field with the same efficiency?

Many of these questions are now beinganswered. ■

* By Steve Jennings & Ingar Tyssen, EmersonProcess Management..

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The new Roxar downhole flow sensor system generates multiphase flow measurements from downhole in the well and deep in the reservoir.

Downhole reservoirmonitoring and hydratemanagement are also

crucial to African subsea operations today.

The Roxar subsea Multiphase meters have beendeployed on fields, such as the Akpo field offshoreNigeria and Kizomba B development offshore Angola.

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