04/03/2010
Stingray Leads Way in Integrated Seismic PRM, article in Rigzone
Stingray Geophysical has adopted an innovative approach to providing integrated Seismic Permanent Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) services to oil companies. In addition to maintaining a core team of experts with an extensive range of skills, Stingray is able to draw upon its network of trusted partners worldwide to assemble purpose-built teams with the key competences required to meet the specific challenges of each project and deliver complete customer solutions.
Stingray's flexible business model was successfully applied to the execution of two recent Seismic PRM Feasibility studies.
In one case, on the Clair field, there is a complex seabed environment, with unique geophysical and field infrastructure constraints to the installation of permanent seabed systems. Stingray and its partners were tasked with identifying how high data quality might be obtained in such challenging conditions within optimal timescales and using low risk installation methods. In addition, to reduce the need for power and space offshore, the study considered means of controlling and monitoring subsea equipment without installing the recording equipment on the platform.
In the other study, on the Schiehallion field, surface seismic data acquisition is constrained by the presence of an FPSO, shuttle tankers, drilling rigs and construction vessels. This, coupled with the highly congested seabed around the various drill centers and the need to cater for future field expansion, creates a complex environment when considering the feasibility of installing a permanent array. By considering the risks involved in and around the current infrastructure, the study examined the practicability of utilizing FosarDeep concepts to introduce a PRM system beneath the FPSO and in obstructed wellhead areas.
To address the distinct challenges presented by each of the fields and their unique study requirements, the Stingray project management group leveraged the expertise, resources and facilities of its project partners to provide optimized client solutions. The team comprised:
- Acergy -- a seabed-to-surface engineering and construction contractor to the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. Providing integrated services, Acergy plans, designs and delivers complex projects in harsh and challenging environments. "We have welcomed the opportunity of working on this challenging task and believe that Stingray's approach to integrating equipment supply and installation has the potential to deliver real value to the industry in overcoming the barriers to successful implementation of cost-effective LoFS projects."
- Atlas Elektronik UK Limited -- Stingray's long-term manufacturing partner -- utilized their specialist applications expertise to define the subsurface hardware required for delivering an integrated system using the selected installation method. A partner in the FosarDeep development program, Atlas provides the capability to build scalable fiber-optic sensing systems that provide high resolution, low noise, highly repeatable seismic data for optimizing reservoir management for enhanced oil recovery.
Other project team responsibilities included the optimization of field layouts by VerdErg Connectors Limited, provision of a map-based interface for data integration by GeoSolveIT Limited, together with an evaluation of the feasibility of remote system monitoring through long tie-backs by the OptoElectronics Research Centre at Southampton University.
