Analysis of the Life of Field concept and its fitness to the future subsea asset maintenance on Norwegian Continental Shelf

Abstract

The main scope of this master thesis is to analyse subsea asset maintenance on Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and to evaluate the fitness of the Life of Field (LoF) concept to the future subsea asset maintenance on NCS. Subsea asset maintenance is part of subsea asset operation and maintenance which is a subsequent phase of subsea asset installation. Subsea asset management is a stable segment since oil and gas (O&G) companies always need to continuously maintain their existing subsea assets regardless of the volatility of the activities in offshore production system development. This study is started by describing the role of subsea asset maintenance in O&G field development. The critical enablers which enable subsea asset maintenance to successfully perform the role are also described. Additionally, the offshore operation and the object of subsea asset maintenance are also parts of the description. Existing subsea asset maintenance projects on NCS will then be presented to identify the current practices of subsea asset maintenance on NCS. Afterwards, since subsea asset operation and maintenance is a subsequent phase of subsea asset installation, a number of subsea asset installation projects awarded on NCS in the last 10 years will be presented to predict the upcoming trend of subsea asset maintenance on NCS. The findings regarding the current practices and upcoming trend will help to identify the requirements of the future subsea asset maintenance on NCS. This study will be continued by describing the LoF concept used by Subsea 7 in providing subsea asset maintenance services to O&G companies. Analysis will subsequently be performed to evaluate the LoF’s fitness to the future subsea asset maintenance on NCS.