Floating production systems hit stride in North Sea fields
Floating production system (FPS) technology has come of age in the North Sea. That's apparent in plans to use FPSs to tap two of Northwest Europe's largest offshore oil discoveries in the last 10 years. First North Sea oil production with a floater involved a converted semisubmersible drilling rig. Floaters have been in use for small field development projects ever since. Now, industry's rising interest in FPSs reflects two trends: As the North Sea matures, discoveries are likely to be in deeper, more remote locations; and Operators increasingly are under pressure to slash costs. The paper discusses UK trends, Norway's needs, the Norne field, Norne contract, discovery of oil west of the Shetland Islands, Shell-Esso plans, the UK Machar field test, the UK Fife field, and prospects for other potential floater developments.
- OSTI ID:
- 7178950
- Journal Information:
- Oil and Gas Journal; (United States), Vol. 92:21; ISSN 0030-1388
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
42 ENGINEERING
NORTH SEA
OFFSHORE PLATFORMS
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE
FIELD TESTS
NORWAY
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
UNITED KINGDOM
ATLANTIC OCEAN
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EUROPE
SCANDINAVIA
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
TESTING
WESTERN EUROPE
020300* - Petroleum- Drilling & Production
423000 - Engineering- Marine Engineering- (1980-)