An emergency disconnection technology enabling safe and intelligent access to sustainable deepwater subsea oil and gas assets

822d45e2-6861-4687-bb74-d2226ad6490b

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£1,561,670

July 31, 2018

Aug. 31, 2019

Optimised extraction of subsea oil/gas underpins a smooth transition to a largely-renewable energy balance by 2060, with assets increasingly located in complex deepwater/ultra-deepwater, for which operation at 15kpsi system pressures is becoming essential for sustainable extraction efficiency and well integrity.

However, the challenge of accessing these assets in a commercially/risk-acceptable way is unmet, restricting vital subsea-operations over the full-lifecycle to less than 5% of those required. New rigless/riserless methods to intelligently access deep-water assets from subsea-manifolds/trees, using small dynamically-positioned vessels and flexible open-water downlines, can therefore be transformational, but rely on failsafe Emergency-Quick-Disconnection (EQD) technology to prevent damage to the downline, vessel or well-integrity in the event of dynamic-positioning-failure/drift-off. However, this technology does not exist at 15kpsi, rendering these operations in deep/ultra-deepwater too high-risk.

In response, Secc are developing game-changing mechanically pressure-balanced venting architectures, to realise reconnectable weak-links for failsafe EQD. First-generation devices have been 3rd-party-validated for 10kpsi operations, and building on these concepts, Secc now targets the technological step-change required to realise a 15kpsi EQD-connector. R&D focusses on a fundamental redesign/development of the pressure-retaining architecture, seal geometry and actuation, supporting new industry standards.