The article "Application of robotics in offshore oil and gas industry- A review Part ii" by Shukla and Karki (2015), states that with the growing demand for energy and oil, it is important to implement advanced systems to extract oil safely and efficiently.
The
extracting system is a complicated technology for an offshore oil rig plant.
This system consists of mainly three parts, the pump, the blowout preventer
(BOP) and the pipe rams. With the advancement of technology, pumps can now
extract oil 25% faster compared to older oil rigs, this can be seen from data
posted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED),
which states that crude oil production more than doubled over the past decade
(Grijpink et al., 2020). With pumping at such a high rate of velocity, safety
features have also been improved to prevent blowouts. A blowout is an
uncontrolled release of oil from a well that can cause the system to fail or
explode, a notable case is the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico where a
blowout caused massive damage to 11 lives lost and 87 days of continued oil
flow into the sea (Pallardy, 2023). The safety features include a blowout
preventer (BOP) and pipe arms. The BOP maintains and locks the pressure in,
including sheer rams and a choke system in cases of emergency. A sheer ram cuts
through the pipeline and seals the well, while the choke system slowly controls
the oil flow rate to control the pressure (Shafiee et al., 2020).
Given the information on the oil rig extracting
system (pump, BOP, pipe rams) mentioned, it clearly shows that with the
advancement of technology, oil rig extracting systems are safer and more
efficient than ever before to meet the demands for energy and oil.
To
ensure the efficiency of oil production, China created a plan to increase the
extrusion of crude oil without support from companies and countries outside
China. According to Zheng et al. (2022), most of China’s crude oil is imported
from other countries. Thus, to be more independent and to meet the demands of
crude oil production, China has established 5 new Research and Development Centres
specialising in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). China uses a ‘4th generation
separated-layer water injection technology’ to achieve a better yield. The
process uses water injection, which helps by pushing oil into production wells,
giving additional energy to the reservoir by aiding its displacement. This
technology helped maintain pressure in mature oil fields by filling the cavity
via water injection. With the addition of real-time monitoring and controlling,
extrusion of oil wells is more efficient. From the statistics given, the
natural decline of oil production was reduced by 0.7 percentage points, saving
about 326 million RMB (62 million SGD). This is a huge achievement for the
research and development sector of the oil industry.
The
improvements in safety in the extraction process have come a long way ever
since the Deepwater Horizon accident. This unfortunate incident gave insight to
engineers and industry personnel about the safety problems in the offshore oil
rig industry and finding ways to mitigate those issues. Firstly, poor safety
culture, leading up to the Deepwater Horizon accident, audits found that the
extraction rig had major maintenance issues, mainly that the BOP was 5 years
overdue for re-certification and recommend seizing operations till they were
fixed. However, 5 days after the audit, it was back into service without fixing
the issues raised. This ultimately caused the accident, killing 11 people and
damaging the marine life in the Gulf of Mexico for several decades to come.
Secondly, the failure of contingencies, investigations showed that although
there were proper steps in place, the problems started to snowball when the
contingencies did not work, causing the worst scenario to happen. To address
these problems, from a management standpoint, stricter safety guidelines have
been reinforced, including thorough checks, fair audits, regular maintenance
and adopting higher standards for training. From a technological standpoint,
BOPs were redesigned to further improve reliability and safety. An example
would be a company called Transocean which improved on the BOP, they created
the Kinetic Blowout Stopper (KBOS). The KBOS took 3 years to develop finding
the most effective way to prevent blowouts, its main advantage is speed, using
pyrotechnics, it takes milliseconds to sheer the affected pipe and seal the
well (Rassenfoss, 2020). With the advancement of technology, offshore oil rigs
have improved monitoring and control systems that provide real-time data to
operators, this allows operators to detect any anomalies, allowing the team to
react with an appropriate response.
In
conclusion, there is sufficient evidence showing the improvements in efficiency
and safety with the advancement of technology. For efficiency, China has shown
great innovations and ideas to produce crude oil independently. With the focus
on research and development, China is finding ways to cut costs and constantly
improve itself. Extraction of oil has also become safer with proper safety
protocol. The safety improvements can also be seen in the equipment being used,
with the help of technology, safety features, monitoring and real-time data
were added to assist the operators, minimizing the risk for accidents.
Ultimately this proves that the industry is heading towards the right direction
and by innovating and improving systems, oil can be extruded safely and
responsibly.
References
Grijpink,
F., Katsap, N., Verre, F., & Ward, R. (2020, November 6). How
tapping connectivity in oil and gas can fuel higher performance. McKinsey
& Company.
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/oil-and-gas/our-insights/how-tapping-connectivity-in-oil-and-gas-can-fuel-higher-performance
Shukla, A., & Karki, H.
(2016, January 1). Application of robotics in offshore oil and gas
industry— A review Part II. Robotics and Autonomous Systems.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2015.09.013
Shafiee, M., Elusakin, T., &
Enjema, E. M. (2020, July 1). Subsea blowout preventer (BOP): Design,
reliability, testing, deployment, and operation and maintenance challenges.
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2020.104170
Skogdalen, J. E., Utne, I. B.,
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Pallardy, R. (2023, December
29). Deepwater Horizon oil spill | Summary, Effects, Cause, Clean Up,
& Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill
Roberts, R., Flin, R., &
Cleland, J. (2015, November 1). “Everything was fine”*: An analysis of
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Rassenfoss, S. (2020, June
30). Macondo Changed BOPs, but There Is a Limit. JPT.
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