Drilling and completion challenges in the deepwater South China Sea – a case study of the Lufeng 22-1 oilfield

Abstract

The thesis start form the introduction of the background and basic information of the deepwater operations both in the world and in South China Sea, make all the readers have a comprehensive and clear understand on the deepwater oil and gas area, especially in South China Sea; and then fully identify the challenges and problems which the deepwater operation in South China Sea faced, from Three aspects which are environment conditions, facilities, and technologies. Chapter 2 will introduce the detailed environment factors, which include typhoon, current, temperature, water depth, shallow water flow, shallow gas, and hydrate formation. In the end of chapter 2 the author will emphasize the special marine nature and geological environment conditions. Chapter 3 will introduce the challenges from the facilities, and primarily introduce the facility selection criteria. Chapter 4 will introduce the technology challenges of offshore deepwater oil and gas development, the author also divide the introduction into two parts, first part is the common technology challenges worldwide, the second part is the special technology challenges in the South China Sea. The solutions and advices of some of the challenges and problems will list out, and the further study areas also will point out. At last, a case study of the successful development of the first deepwater oilfield in South China Sea, the development of the Lufeng 22-1 oilfield, will be discussed particularly, and some inspirations and experiences will be summarized in the discussions and conclusions as the suggestion for the deepwater operation in South China Sea.