Underwater manifold marks North Sea first

Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981 · Offshore; (United States)

OSTI ID:6323876

Steven, R R

In the 12 years since commercial oil was first discovered in the area, the North Sea has been the stimulus for technologic development unrivalled in the history of the petroleum industry. However, technology still has a long way to go before the North Sea can be mastered, insuring that there will be no let-up as long as there is oil to be found. Evidence for this will be provided later this year when Shell UK exploration and production, on behalf of Shell and Esso, installs an Underwater Manifold Center (UMC) in 490 ft of water as part of the $650-million development of the Central Cormorant field, northeast of Shetland. While the East Shetland Basin can no longer be described as frontier territory in terms of environment and water depth, Shell/Esso's UMC is certainly in the frontier class. The manfold center is characterized as a revolution in underwater techniques and an extremely important landmark, not only in North Sea history but in world oil production. The UMC will have future applications in 3 distinct situations. It will be suitable for economically developing satellite fields out of reach of a centrally installed platform. It also will foster exploitation of marginal oil deposits in combination with a floating platform and possible surface storage. However, perhaps the most exciting possibility raised by the UMC is its application in deep-water production.

• OSTI ID: 6323876
• Journal Information: Offshore; (United States), Journal Name: Offshore; (United States) Vol. 42:1; ISSN OFSHA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ATLANTIC OCEAN
DRILLING
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPLOITATION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
LEVELS
NORTH SEA
OFFSHORE DRILLING
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
OIL WELLS
PETROLEUM
PRODUCTION
RECOVERY
SEAS
SPECIFICATIONS
SURFACE WATERS
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
TESTING
UNDERWATER
UNDERWATER OPERATIONS
WELLS