Floating Production Platforms and their Applications in the Development of Oil and Gas Fields in the

J. Marine Sci. Appl. (2014) 13: 67-75DOI: 10.007511804-014-1233-2Floating Production Platforms and their Applications in theDevelopment of Oil and Gas Fields in the South China SeaDagang Zhang*, Yongjun Chen', Tianyu Zhang2I. DMAR Engineering, Inc. 15915 Katy Freeway, Suite 440, Houston, Texas 77094, U.S.A2. Bejing DMAR Ocean Tech, Inc., B-505, GEM Techcente, No. 9 Shangdi 3rd Street, Haidian Ditrict, Beijing 10085, ChinaAbstract: This paper studies the current available options forand gas fields. Most future increases will come fromfloating production platforms in developing deepwater oil fieldsfloating production systems. These floating systems rangeand the potential development models of future oil and gasfrom a water depth of several hundreds of meters to severalexploration in the South China Sea. A detailed review of currentthousands of meters. Different types of floating systemsdeepwater platforms worldwide was performed through theexamples of industry projects, and the pros and cons of eachhave to fit into this wide spectrum of water depth.distinguished byplatform are discussed. Four types of platforms are currently usedfor the deepwater development: tension leg plaform, Spar,characteristics such as functions, stability, motions, load orsemi-submersible plaform, and the floating production system volumecapacities，transportability， and reusability.offloading. Among these, the TLP and Spar can be used for dry treeCurrently, there are four major types of floating productionapplications, and have gained popularity in recent years. The drytree pplication enables the extension of the dilling aplication for semi-submersible platform, and FPSO(Geyer et al., 2009;fixed platforms into floating systems, and greatly reduces the costZhang，2006). Each of these floater designs have beenand complexity of the subsea operation. Newly built wet treesemi-submersible production platforms for ultra deepwater are alsoevolving along with the subsea and riser technology to meetgetting their application, mainly due to the much needed payloadnew field development challenges mainly related tofor deepwater making the conversion of the old drillingincreased water depth and reservoir operating pressures andsemisubmersible platforms impossible. These platforms have been temperatures. Design improvements continue as newused in different fields around the world for different environments; developments in offshore technology are incorporated intoeach has its own advantages and disadvantages. There are manythe basic designs. Efficient design of floating structures ischallenges with the sucessful use of these floating platfrms. A lott predicated on functionality and performance - it should beof lessons have been learned and extensive experience accumulatedcapable of supporting all the necessary equipment forthrough the many project applications. Key technologies are beingproduction and related tasks while meeting all performancereviewed for the sucesful use of floating platforms for fieldcriteria. The structure should provide sufficient space anddevelopment, and potential future development needs are beingrobustness to fulfill its intended purpose; also, the floatingdiscussed. Some of the technologies and experience of platformaplicaions can be well used for the development of the South structure should be built at a minimum of cost, which isChina Sea oil and gas field.govermed mainly by the hull steel weight.Keywords: floating platform; deepwater development; oil fieldChina has more than 40 years of near shore developmentdevelopment; deepwater technology; platform hosthistory in the oil and gas fields industry. Several successfulmodels have been established and used in oil and gas fieldArticle ID: 1671-9433(2014)01 0067-09developments. These models include two major categoriesdistinguished by how the oil and gas are processed. The first1 Introductioncategory is concerned with how the fields are developedDeepwater development activities have now becomewith both exploration and production carried out with theworldwide.The industry of oil and gas exploration andfacilities in offshore water; the second category includesproduction worldwide has gone through tremendousfields with production carried out using facilities on land,developments in the last several decades as the benefits ofwhile exploration is performed in offshore water.Entering the twenty first century, oil field developmentrapidly developing and implementing new technologiesoffshore of China is rapidly expanding into deepwater. Thebecome apparent. Floating systems are now becoming theleading tools for expanding the production of offshore oilconventional fixed platform models cannot satisfy thecw室w Floatingsystems, such as, or Spar, willReceived date: 2013-07-29.be needed to beYHC N M H G development.Accepted date: 2013-10-15.Since the early 1990 s,considerable interest has been*Corresponding author Email:dzhang @ dmar-engr.comexpressed for concepts where the wellheads are elevated◎Hartbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 201468Dagang Zhang, et al. Floating Production Plaforms and their Applications in the Development of Oil and Gas Fields in the South China Seaabove sea level by means of a separate structure. In this way, consists of vertical tendons, restraining the heave motion.dry access to the wellheads is provided and well-provenThe foundation is the link between the seafloor and the TLP.technology can be utilized to bring the wellstreams to theThe foundation is secured by steel piles driven into the .surfaceseafloor by use of a hydraulic hammer, but other designs canbe used such as a gravity foundation. The foundations are2 Offshore floating platformsbuilt onshore and installed on site. The hull is a buoyantstructure that supports the deck section of the platform andits drilling and production equipment. A typical hull hasgas industry include four types: FPSO, Semi-submersible,four air-filled columns supported by pontoons. The deck forTLP, and Spar. Each has a significant difference in terms ofthe surface facilities rests on the hull. The buoyancy of thedesign drivers, performance, construction and installation.FPSOs have a relatively shallow draft, but a large water planemoorings or "tension legs" to secure the structure to thearea. They provide a large area for process facilities, and largeseafloor. Tension legs (tendons) are tubulars that secure thestorage volumes. Semi- submersibles/TLP have a smallhull to the foundation; this is the mooring system for thewater-plane area and moderate draft. Spars have a very deepTLP. Tendons are typically steel tubes with dimensions ofdraft and moderate to small water plane area. As illustrated in2-3.5 ft in diameter with up to 1.7 inches of wall thickness,Figure 1, the relative hull responses of the three designs varywith the length depending on water depth. A typical TLPconsiderably. In all cases the objective is to minimize thewould be installed with 8, 12 or 16 tendons. A productionresponse to the environment.riser conveys produced fluids from the well to the TLPsurface production facilities. An example riser system for a2.1 Tension leg platformTLP could be either a single-bore or dual-bore (concentricTension Leg Platforms have been used exclusively as thepipe) arrangement. Figure 2 shows the major components ofproduction and diling platforms(Rainey et al, 2002; Wetcha typical TLP.et al., 2004). TLPs consist of columns and pontoons. Theunique feature of the TLP is its mooring system, whichNatural Periods of MotionWertical r Verical Moored Spread Mooredln are ontolled hullcontroledConigurationTopsideDeckby tendons|Marinesea energy| Hull systemSCR Export orProduction TTR0 TLPSemi，Ship(Bow) Semi、Tieback risersyEWave period(Seconds)5 Scconds20 SecondsFig.1 Heave responses in wavesFig. 2 Tension leg platform componentsThe main function of the TLP is to assure that the vertical drilling loads etc., the tendon pretension is adjusted byforces acting on the platform are in balance. The VCG re-ballasting of the platform. Consequently the hull ishould be close to the platform's geometrical center.compartmented into voids, machinery and ballast spaces.Positive displacement is obtained by locking the platform'sThe TLP has a control system monitoring the ballast anddraft below the fixed and variable payload displacement VCG. Seawater is used for ballast adjustment.draft. This will result in an upward force applied to theThere are three different TLP types according to thetendons, thereby keeping them in constant tension. As aconfiguration - the classic TLP, MOSES TLP and ETLP.consequence the vertical platform motions (heave) areFrom 1984, a total of 24 TLP platforms have been installedalmost eliminated, except for the motions resulting from and put into operation around the world(16 TLPs in GOM, 3tendon elasticity and vertical motions as a result of TLPs in Europe, 4 TLPs in West Africa, 1 TLP in Asia), andenvironmentally introduced lateral platform motions. The three more TLP:中国煤化Ind Papa Terratendons do allow a lateral motion of the platform as a resultwill be installediof wind, waves and current. The tendon tension is set withinHCNMH Gpredefined values, or windows of operation. If the variable 2.2 Semi-submersibleload of the platform exceeds these values by adding risers orA semi-submersible is used in offshore drilling and oilJournal of Marine Science and Application (2014) 13: 67-7559production platforms. They are designed with good stabilityplatform and to provide stability. Spars are anchored to theand seakeeping characteristics. Semi units offer a number ofseabed by way of a spread mooring system with either abenefits, including large payload capacity, limited sensitivity chain-wire-chain or chain-polyester-chain composition.to water depth, quayside integration and the ability toThe basic parts of the Spar include a topsides deck, hardrelocate after field abandonment (Luyties and Na, 2004).tank, midsection, and soft tank (Fig. 3). The topsides deck isA typical Semi design has four columns connected at thetypically a multilevel structure in order to minimize thepontoons withnominally rectangularcantilever requirement.'hard tank provides thecross-section. A semi-submersible obtains its buoyancy from buoyancy to support the topsides deck, hull, ballast andballasted, watertight pontoons located below the ocean vertical tensions (except the risers). The term“Hard Tank"surface and wave action. The operating deck can be located means that its compartments are designed to withstand thehigh above the sea level due to the good stability of thefull hydrostatic pressure. The midsection extends below thedesign, and therefore the operating deck is kept well away hard tank to give the Spar its deep draft. The soft tank at thefrom the waves. Structural columns connect the pontoons bottom of the Spar is designed to provide floatation duringand operating deck. With its hull structure submerged at athe installation stages when the Spar is floating horizontallyand it also provides compartments for the placement of fixedloadings than a normal ship. With a small water-plane area, ballast once the Spar is upended.however, the semi-submersible is sensitive to load changes,and therefore must be carefully trimmed to maintainstabilitTRUSS SPARImportant design variables are column dimensions andspacing, pontoon size and the ratio of pontoon width toEL+50-0EL.+50-CFREEBOARDpontoon height, draft of the hull, etc. In order to satisfy thestability and motion requirements, ranges for the variablesHARDTANKand critical parameters such as the GM value, free boardvalue, heave natural periods, etc. are set as the constraints.Columns are sized to provide adequate water-plane area toMIDSECTIONsupport all anticipated loading conditions, spaced to supporttopside modules, and tuned for a natural period of at least 20SOFTAIK- +元EL-505-5seconds. These columns are supported by two parallelpontoons or a ring pontoon. Pontoons are sized to provideE- 850-0KEELadequate buoyancy to support all weights and vertical loads,and proportioned to maximize heave damping.BASIC ARRANGEMENT AND TERMSAs the oil industry has progressed into deeper water andFig.3 The basic parts of Sparharsherenvironments,purpose-builtproductionsemi-submersible platforms have been designed. The firstpurpose-built semi-submersible producion plaform was for truss Spar, and cell Spar. The classic Spar consists of thethe Balmoral field, in the North Sea near the UK in 1986. Incylindrical hull noted above, with the heavy ballast at thethe year 2007, the deepest Semi FPU - Independence Hub botom of the cyiner.The next rendition of the Spar waswas installed in GOM where the water depth is 2415 m. Upthe truss Spar, which is similar to thebut the cylindrical hull is shortened and a truss isoperation around the world, and a new Semi, Jack/St. Malo,incorporated below it. The truss usually includes horizontalwill be installed in 2014 located in GOM with a water depthplates that help to decrease vertical movement. The trussof 2134 m. There is also a Semi FPU for China's South SeaSpar is advantageous because it weighs less than the originalLH11-1 oil and gas field - Nan Hai Tiao Zhan, which has design, and because it requires less seel, which costs lss.been in operation since 1995.The majority of spars are of this type.Spars are often considered along with TLPs for dry tree2.3 Sparsolutions because they offer small vertical motion. However,A Spar is a type of floating oil platform typically used inSpars are different from both Semis and TLPs in thevery deep waters, and is named for logs used as buoys inmechanism of motion control. One of the distinctions of theshipping that are moored in place verically. Spar productionSpar is that its center of gravity is always lower than theplatforms have been developed as an alternative tocenter of buoyancy which guarantees a positive GM. Thisconventional platforms.makes the Spar' 中国煤化par derives noA Spar platform consists of a large-diameter, singlestability froms not list orvertical cylinder supporting a deck. The cylinder is weightedcapsize evenMYHCNM HGted from itsat the bottom by a chamber filled with a material that ismooring. The deep draft is a favorable attribute for minimalmuch denser than water to lower the center of gravity of theheave motions, its deep draft and large inertia filter wave7(Dagang Zhang, et al. Floating Production Platforms and their Applications in the Development of Oil and Gas Fields in the South China Seafrequency motions in all but the largest of storms. The 2.4 FPSOnatural period of heave and pitch are above the range ofA floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unitwave energy periods. The deep draft， along with the is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industryprotected centerwell, significantly reduces the current and for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil.wave loading on the riser system. The first Spar designed for FPSOs are generally ship shaped floaters with provisions foroil and gas production was the Neptune Spar, located in thestoring and offloading of oil simultaneously (See Fig. 4).Gulf of Mexico and was installed in September 1996 byFPSOs may be designed to weathervane so that they alwaysKerr McGee(nowAnadarko).The world's deepest production face towards the weather, minimizing roll and heaveplaform is Perdido, a truss Spar in the Gulf of Mexico, withmotions. In benign environments such as West Africa anda mean water depth of 2,383 meters. It is operated by RoyalSouth East Asia, the FPSO may be spread moored to faceDutch Shell and was built at a cost of $3 billion. Curently,there are already 18 spars in production worldwide, and 2 designed to semi- weathervane by using a spread mooringmore SPARs will be installed in 2014.with slack aft moorings, giving the vessel the option of somelimited weathervaning (Kaster et al., 1997).Tanker-off loadingbuoyFPSODrilling platformInjectionlinesExisting well- centersFig. 4 FPSO diagramAn FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons provide an economically attractive solution for smaller oilproduced from nearby platforms or subsea templates, to fields which can be exhausted in a few years and do notprocess them, and store oil until it can be offloaded ontoa justify the expense of installing a pipeline. Furthermore,tanker or, less frequently, transported through a pipeline.once the field is depleted, the FPSO can be moved to a newFPSOs are preferred in frontier offshore regions becauselocation. FPSO's have been used to develop offshore fieldsthey are easy to install, and do not require a local pipelinearound the world since the late 1970's. They have been usedinfrastructure to export oil. FPSOs can be a conversion of an predominately in the North Sea, Brazil, Southeastoil tanker or can be a vessel built specially for the Asian/South China Seas, the Mediterranean Sea, Australia,application.and off the West Coast of Africa. The first oil FPSO was the .Oil produced from offshore production platforms can beShell Castellon, built in Spain in 1977. Today, over 200transported to the mainland either by pipeline or by tanker.vessels are deployed worldwide as oil FPSOs.When a tanker is chosen to transport the oil, it is necessaryThe world's largest FPSO is the Kizomba A, it has ato accumulate oil in some form of storage tank such that thestorage capacity of 2.2 million barrels. Built at a cost of overoil tanker is not continuously occupied during oil production, US$800 million by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan,and is only needed once sufficient oil has been produced to Korea， it is operated by Esso Exploration Angolafill the tanker. At this point the transport tanker connects to (ExxonMobil). Located in 1,200 meters (4,000 ft) of waterthe stern of the storage unit and offloads oil.at Deepwater block, 150 statute miles (320 km) offshore inFloating production, storage and offloading vessels arethe Atlantic由w∈在It dsplacesparticularly effective in remote or deep water locations 81,000 tons and ibeam, and 32where seabed pipelines are not cost effective. FPSOs meters high (935YHC N M H GSO operatingeliminate the need to lay expensive long-distance pipelinesin the deepest waters IS the HPSU BW Ploneer, built andfrom the processing facility to an onshore terminal. This can operated by BW Offshore on behalf of Petrobras AmericasJournal of Marine Science and Application (2014) 13: 67-7571INC. The FPSO is moored at a depth of 2,600 m in the US compares the applicability, functionality, flexibility, andGulf of Mexico.installability.Table 1 is a summary of these four types of platforms. ItTable 1 Comparison of primary characteristicsIssueTLPSparFPSOWater DepthMore SensitiveLess sensitiveExcellent - Very low verticalGood - Low vertical motionsMotions limitPlatform Motions| motions, ie. heave, roll and| (pitch to8 - 10 deg). Sensitive to| application to wetapplication to wetpitchlong period waves.treesSingle pieceTransportSingle piece completeSingle piece hullcompleteQuayside deck lift andHull upending and offshore deck| Quayside deck lift Shipyard moduleInstallationintegrationlift and integrationand integration lift and integrationSpread catenary orMooring SystemVertical tendonsTaut or semi-taut spread mooring legsturret mooredSmall and compact, sameLarge, approximately 2X water depth. Impacts field development layout, butMooring Footprintdimensional order as hullallows drilling flexibility.Air cans or long strokeTTR SupportShort stroke tensionersNAN/AtensionersConventional, withinWellbayConfined within moonpoolNIA .columnsStorage CapabilityNoYes, but not typicalYes, typical2.5 Dry tree application v.s. wet treeperformance requirements.Offshore floating production technology has evolvedsince the 1970s to support development of oil and gas 2.6 Platform safetyreservoirs beneath sea floors beyond reach of fixedDue to its nature, safety is always the number one concernplatforms. Among the four popular floating production for offshore facilities. Commercial deep-water operationplatform types, Tension Leg Platforms, along with Spars，involves highly complex and risky procedures. The Macondohave been proven to be capable of supporting both dry treeincidents have shown this again. Companies must coordinateand wet tree productions. The applications of the other twothe operations of sophisticated equipment to construct wellstypes of popular platforms, the FPSO and Semi-submersible,in uncertain geologic formations, often under challenginghave so far been normally limited to wet tree productions.environmental conditions. Despite the impressive capabilitiesIn comparison to the wet tree production system, the dry tree of the technologies, the selection and application ofsystem has the following advantages:technologies for constructing a particular well are subject to●Higher production reliability and lower downtimethe unpredictability of human decision making, as they were●Lower dilling and operating costsin the case of drlling the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.●Less flow assurance risk and potentially higher recoveryThe well blowout and subsequent explosions and fire on theDeepwater Horizon dilling rig on April 20, 2010, led to the●Direct vertical access for well intervention activities●Minimal offshore constructionestimated that nearly 5 million barrels of hydrocarbons wereAbility of extending the fixed platform drilling rig toreleased into the gulf over a period of nearly three monthsfloaters with minimum modifications.after the blowout (McNutt et al.. 2011).Although there are challenges, the ability to support drydesigned as a spread mooring type or weathervane type. Theree production has historically been a main reason forweathervane type of FPSO always faces towards thechoosing this type of production system. For example,weather, minimizing roll and heave motions. For the newamong the 24 installed TLPs, 19 are dry tree systems, anddesign FPSOs, there are trends toward the spread mooringthe maximum number of production risers is 36 for thetype. Due to itsI“ 中国煤化工tered problemKizomba A TLP. The ultimate commercial viability of the for the FPSO is thselected production concept lies in strategic planning whichSemi-SubmersYHCNMHGgemotions.Astrikes a balance between capital expenditures, the size,lot of effort has been put toward the deep draft Semi togcometry, complexity and uncertainty of reservoirs and well reduce the motion of the platforms. There are quite a fewJournal of Marine Science and Application (2014) 13: 67-7573TLP and Spar are the only two types of platforms whichplatforms can function as shallow water exploration andsupport the dry tree operation curently. Though there hasprovide production facilities for processing oil and gas frombeen tremendous effort to make the semi dry tree more user all platforms. The produced oil and gas can be transportedfriendly, the actual use of this type of new concept still has athrough pipelines to the facility onshore. This will greatlyway to go. The TLP, due to its maturity and superior reduce the payload on the TLP and fully utilize ourresponse performance, should be easily adapted to the Southexperience with the fixed platform design. Fig. 5 shows theChina Sea environment and has the most promising future.Okume complex development, and is a good example of thisAs the exploration moves into ultra deepwater, the use ofapproach(Simmon et al., 2005).TLP may be limited. Production semi should play animportant role. In the following content, we are going to4.4 Application of TAD in field developmentdiscuss several potential development concepts and modelswhich show promise for China's future deepwater significantly reduced the payload of the platform anddevelopment.substantially decreased the investment in the floating system.This opens the door for many new deepwater field4.1 Field development with the FPSO, subsea system anddevelopments to use the floating system. One of theshuttle tankerapplications for a floater with the tender assisted drillingThis type of development has been the main approach for system can be for the development of the offshore marginalChina's offshore field development, and will continue to be field. Due to increasesin water depth, the conventional fixedused. With increasing water depths, the use of this model platform model for exploration of these fields becomeswill show certain limitations.uneconomical. It also would be too expensive to use largescale floaters for these marginal fields due to the high initial4.2 Deepwater field development with the TLP host andinvestment. The floating system with tender assisted drillingsubsea systemcan be used in order to economically develop these fields.The TLP structure has some advantages which can really There are many marginal fields offshore of China, especiallycontribute to China's deepwater development. It can support in the shelf areas. The application of this field developmentdrilling rigs, and provide the dry tree operation. This cannodel， combined with the existing field developmentreduce the dependence on dilling ships forexperience in China, will open the door for many marginaldrilling/workover operations, reduce downtime, and reduce field developments.operation costs. There are several variations of theSuccessful execution of tender assisted drilling requiresdevelopment models depending on the location of the fieldattention to various issues throughout the project fromand the characteristics of the reservoir, including:TLP +concept selection to detailed design. These factors includesubsea system + export pipelines for oil and/or gas fields the overall field layout, metocean criteria， operationclose to shorerequirements, and applicable design requirements. FieldTLP + subsea system + FPSO for oil fields far from shorearchitecture of the system is a prime concern of the design.TLP + subsea system + FLNG for gas fields far fromFor a tender assisted drilling system, the tension legshoreplatform and tender vessel will be linked through aThis is a proven technology in the field development and umbilical system, accssing the bridge, and hawsers. Thehas been used in oil fields worldwide. In this system, thetime domain dynamic analysis is typically needed to solveTLP functions as the main structure, providing the hub forhe relative motion of the system under differentdrilling, production, future tie-back, etc. The reach of such environmental conditions.development can be up to 100 km from the platformdepending on the natural resource. .4.5 Multi-phases field developmentLarge field development should take advantage of the4.3 Field development with a combined system of floater advancement of technologies with floating systems and aand fixed platformssubsea system, and use field development techniques thatThe shelf area is the transition from going to deepwater, have improved in recent years. Using multiple platforms asand has unique characteristicsfor oil and gas fieldin integrated system to develop the field has gaineddevelopment. With China's deepwater development, we maypopularity due to its economics, operability, and flexibility.encounter quite a few fields in this category. Using TLP Fig. 6 shows the current on-going project, Browse LNGcombined with fixed platforms can provide a good option using two phases to develop a large gas field. The first phasefor exploring both deepwater and offshore marginal fields.includes two TLPs and production platforms. The secondThis approach can have several advantages.TLP can providephase has one TLPwa host for both drilling and production dry trees. The fixed中国煤化工THCNMHG74Dagang Zhang, et al. Floating Production Platforms and their Applications in the Development of Oil and Gas Fields in the South China SeaONTUr521ovs心SENDECELBAFPSOFig.5 Example with combined systemsevelopmentUPSTREAM CONCEPTRFSU Future--- MEG一---- Power---- Optic FibreCallianProcessimePiePaintFig.6 Example with multiple phasesSuch a system does offer a significant economiccan be built and installed. The newly built TLP can be tiedadvantage for the large field development. For offshore oilback to the existing production system. This not only largelyand gas field development, there is always the risk that areduces the risks to the project, but also improves the cashflow and economic outcomes of the field.multiple phases for development can have a big advantagein reducing the risk of these kinds of scenarios. One of the5 Summaryadvantages is to be able to reduce the initial cost and startthe first oil production early. The field development can beThe South China Sea deepwater field development willplanned in a few phases depending on the production ratecontinue to face technical challenges in various areas asand the further finding of the reserves. First, the TLP andexploration goe:i中国煤化工play a veryFPSO (or pipelines) can be built and installed early, with theimportant role iges and helpFPSO used for storage and offloading. Tender vessels canaccelerate the deYHCNMHGnsthecurrentbe brought in for floater drilling. Once the field has moreavailable floating production platforms, reviewes the keyconfirmation on the reservoir size, the second TLP structuretechnologies encountered, and discusses some potentialJournal of Marine Science and Application (2014) 13: 67-7575development models for the South China Sea. Some newWetch SB, Wybro PG West Seno: Failities Approach, Innovations .technologies are also detailed, such as tender assistedand Benchmarking. Offshore Technology Conference, Houston,drilling, dry tree operations, etc., which are all importantUSA, Paper No.16521Zhang D (2006). An approach using combined TLP with fixedareas in deepwater oil and gas field development.platforms indeveloping China Shelf Oil &Gas Field. TheThe actual development project could use one or more ofProceedings of the Seventh PACOMS of International Offshorethese concepts, or even a combination of different models.and Polar Engineering, Dalian, China, 41-46.For example, the model of a combined multi-phase fieldZhang，D, Wybro P, Kang Y (2013). Deepwater oil and gasdevelopment can use two or more TLPs， with tenderdevelopment in South China Sea. Engineering Sciences, 11(4),assisted drilling, and FPSO/FPU. There are a number of2-9.advantages in using this system, especially for the offshoreZhang, D, Wang C, Zhang T (2013). Tension Leg Platform projectexecution. Engineering Sciences, 11(4), 79-85.cost, but also significantly reduces the risks of fielddevelopment. This will particularly be helpful in developingAuthor biographiesthe marginal fields, such as the shelf areas. Some technicalDagang Zhang received his Bachelor's degree inStructural Engineering from Tongji University intypes of deepwater projects, and can have a major impact onCaliforniatBerkelev Dr Zhanosneciaizdin Oilthe design and operations. Anyone making the selectionand gas field development, floating platformdecisions about the field development model has to take intodesign, and offshore project management. He hasaccount the field location. For a field far away from thedesigned 28 large offshore platforms and led morethan 30 development projects. He also was theshore, FPSO has to be used since the output pipeline willfounder of two engineering companies: SeaEngineering, and DMAR Engineering. Dr. Zhangnot be feasible; and for near shore areas, the pipelinepublished more than 30 papers and books in recentnetwork will be a consideration. For a shelf area， acombination of floater and fixed platforms may be a betterpessioalLGeneeforhothstatesofCalforntaand Texas, and is a member of the Professionalchoice for field development.Management Institute and SNAME.CNOOC is conducting the TLP concept study for its firstfloating platform application with the development of theYongjun Chen received his Bachelor's degree inLiuhua new field, and the design work is on-going at theNaval Architecture from Huazhong University ofScience and Technology in China, and his Master'soffice of DMAR Engineering, a Houston based company.degree from Webb Institute, New York. Mr. ChenThis application will potentially mark the start of a new eracurrently works at DMAR Engineering Inc. as theNaval Archtecture Department Manager. Prior tofor deepwater exploration of the resource-rich South Chinajoining DMAR in 2011. He had worked at theSea，and make China the next technology center inAmerncan Bureau of Sshpping tor 2 years, lechnipdeepwater field development.snecializes in the design offloating productionsystems (TLP, Spar, Semi, and FPSO), mooringReferencessystems, and riser systems. Currently He serves asthe Secretary of the Ocean Technology CommitteeChen W (2013). Going deeper: China's offshore oil and gafor ISOPE (Intermational Society of Offshore andPolar Engineers).industry. The Nineteenth International Offshore and PolarEngineering Conference, Osaka, Japan, 2009.Tianyu Zhang received both his Bachelor' degreeGeyer JF,Perryman SR, Irani MB (2009). Floating systemand Master's degree from Harbin Engineeringintegrity managoperated GOM deepwaterUniversity. Mr. Zhang currently works at theproduction facilities. Offshore Technology Conference,DMAR Beijing office as a Senior Naval Architect.Houston, USA, Paper No.20137.He has published 5 papers and participated in .Kaster F, Barros M, Rossi R, Masetti I, Falkenberg E, Karlsen S.several international conferences.Waclawek I (1997). DICAS -A new mooring concept forFPSO's. Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, USA,Paper No.8439.Luyties WH (2004). Na Kika - Novel Development in record waterdepth. Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, USA, PaperNo. 16698.Rainey R (2002). Brutus project overview: challenges and results.Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, USA, Paper No.3990.Simmon J (2005). The Okume Complex Project. Presentation onSociety of Naval Architect and Marine Engineers, 25.中国煤化工MHCNMHG