*** VI
*** ***
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
|
***
CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS NEW RESERVES
The Daily Telegraph
T
CORBIS
THERES SO MUCH SCI FI-LIKE ACTIVITY GOING ON BENEATH THE OCEAN FLOOR, IT TAKES DARING AND A SPECIAL KIND OF SKILL TO WORK THERE. JO CLARKE UNRAVELS THE MYSTERIES OF DEEP SEA EXPLORATION
``
he major oilfields in the North Sea are nearly drained of reserves. However, numerous smaller pockets of oil and gas remain, and it is estimated that these could yield anything from five to 10 million barrels of oil. It makes sound commercial sense, then, to seek this valuable, hidden resource. The UK is at the forefront of subsea technology and engineering, and the subsea sector, which works to extract hydrocarbons from crude oil in undersea reservoirs, grew by more than 30 per cent last year. "North Sea production is going to be active for another 20 to 25 years," says David Pridden, chief executive of Subsea UK. "Its a real challenge to recover the oil and gas reserves down there, in what can be a very hostile environment. It represents a real test of our engineering ingenuity and expertise." The subsea sector already contributes over £4 billion to our economy and provides both direct and indirect employment for around 40,000 people. Hence, the UK is leading the way in developing the technology and innovative engineering needed to extract hydrocarbons from these subsea wells. First, though, they have to find them. The seafloor varies in depth from 100 to 1,500ft in UK waters and as there is zero visibility at these levels the reserves are located by sending seismic signals down through the rock, which bounce back in a variety of patterns to reveal the different densities and rock formations beneath. Analysis of these will then indicate the likely presence of a viable subsea oilfield. Next comes extraction. In the past, traditional oil platforms sat on the seabed and crude oil was pumped to shore along miles of pipelines. Today, oil found in deeper waters needs to be recovered using cutting-edge methods. Floating production systems are now used, eliminating the need for huge, expensive platforms and long pipelines along the seabed. These floating vessels take the oil and gas produced from subsea wells -- which can reach depths of around 12,000 ft below the seabed -- process it and store it until it can be offloaded onto tankers. These subsea oilfields are almost two miles deep (9,842ft) and conditions are as hostile as those found in space. Much
SPOTLIGHT ON...
SUBSEA
of the work, therefore, is carried out by remotely operated vehicles, using similar technology to that used to explore the moon and Mars. But divers are still needed to carry out crucial maintenance work (at depths of up to 650ft), and the boom in subsea wells has started a recruitment drive. In the past 18 months alone, the worlds leading commercial diver and remotely operated vehicle training centre, the Underwater Centre in Fort William, has trained 500 divers and 250 pilot technicians to control remotely operated vehicles. "Deep sea divers are essentially construction workers who happen to work under the water," says Steve Ham, general manager at the Centre. "They, build, repair and inspect a whole range of underwater structures, and there are so many new projects being started that demand is outstripping supply." Diving at this level is a particularly challenging job and workers can be offshore for up to
``
Oilfields are almost two miles deep and conditions can be as hostile as those found in space. The exploration vehicles are similar to those used to explore the moon and Mars
three months on a long trip. Meanwhile, mixed gas divers, who breathe a mixture of helium and oxygen when working very deep underwater, must live in a pressurised chamber for the remainder of their shift when they come up to the surface. On the plus side, a North Sea diver can earn up to £500 a day. However, the industry is aiming for all subsea operations to be carried out by machines in the future, and companies such as Brinker Technology in Aberdeen are spearheading developments that look set to revolutionise the international subsea industry. Brinkers unique Platelet technology, for instance, is used to find and seal leaks in oil pipelines remotely, and is based on the human bodys own healing mechanism. In the same way that blood carries platelets to a cut in the skin where they clump together to close the wound, so Platelet technology also responds by sealing the leak in the pipeline. At last months Offshore Northern Sea Conference in Stavanger, Brinker also launched Plasma, another sealant product similar to Platelet, but with a slightly different application, in that it is injected directly into faulty valves to seal them. Another Brinker advance, Telepath, will save companies millions of pounds by accurately locating leaks in subsea umbilicals -- a bundle of narrow bore pipes and electrical power cables -- through a combination of analysis and software technology. "Previously, locating and sealing a leak would entail hours of work using remotely operated vehicles and diver support vessels to inspect the entire length of the pipeline," says Brinker sales engineer, Klaire Evans. "With Telepath, we send engineers offshore to measure flow, and by feeding the results into our database we can compare it with flow data when the umbilical was laid. From that, we can calculate the location of a leak to within 0.6 miles on a 62-mile pipeline." It is precisely these sorts of advances that are guaranteeing the UK a pivotal role in the growing subsea sector. And the beauty of the technology developed for use in the North Sea is that it can be applied across the globe. As Pridden says: "In Australasia, Brazil, West Africa and in the Gulf of Mexico, the future is in deep water oil and gas, and the UKs subsea technology will be the technology of choice."
JOBS ONLINE: jobs.telegraph.co.uk/ careers-insider
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DEEP SEA DIVER
Saturation diving supervisor, Iain Robertson, who works at the Underwater Centre at Fort William, lives and works on board a diving support vessel for 23 days at a time. "I wake up when the alarm sounds in the pressurised chamber where I sleep with two other divers. There are three teams, each working eight-hour shifts over a 24-hour period, so I may be on the day or a night shift. We descend to depths of up to 656ft and to enable us to cope we breathe heliox, a mixture of helium and oxygen rather than air. Even when we come up to the surface we stay at our diving pressure, inside our chamber. I take a shower in the chamber bathroom, after which breakfast is delivered through a series of special pressurised locks. Then we enter the diving bell, which brings us down to the level were working at. One man stays inside and acts as the rescue diver who provides help if the others get into difficulties. Its only 4C in the North Sea so heated water is pumped round my diving suit to keep me warm. Depending on the job, I might be doing construction work, which could involve putting down new pipelines, or inspection work testing the soundness of structures and taking photographs. After my shift I return to the diving bell, which ascends to the vessel, and I get back into the chamber, shower, eat and relax. Its tiring work, so we all go to bed early and get 10 to 12 hours sleep. After our diving stint is over, the chamber is gradually decompressed over a period of days, after which we can return to the outside world."
@
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH CAREERS IN Power trip: TRANSPORTING OIL FROM PLATFORM TO FORECOURT Page 5 What lies beneath: THE FUTURISTIC WORLD OF SUBSEA DIVERS Page 6 Stranger than fiction: HOW SCIENTISTS CREATED AN OIL-PRODUCING BUG Page 7 MILES DONOVAN AT PEEPSHOW oil gas THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 200
*** II *** *** THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS SUSTAINABILITY The Daily Telegraph CUTOUT ANDKEEP WORLD THE RACE TO MAKE FOSSIL FUELS A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY OPTION IS RESULTING IN SOME OF THE INDUSTRYS SMARTEST IDEAS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COM
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 *** *** | III The Daily Telegraph GRADUATES CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS TANTS THE CONSUL Priya Sodhi, 25 Consultant accountant, Deloitte Consultancy is another great career option for those looking to enter the oil and gas industry, with a var
*** IV *** *** THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | ***
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 *** *** | V The Daily Telegraph OUTLOOK CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS MILES DONOVAN AT PEEPSHOW FANTASTIC DAY 10: The storage distribution depot Over 150,000 people and several thousand contract workers are directly or indirectly employed by Br
*** VI *** *** THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS NEW RESERVES The Daily Telegraph T CORBIS THERES SO MUCH SCI FI-LIKE ACTIVITY GOING ON BENEATH THE OCEAN FLOOR, IT TAKES DARING AND A SPECIAL KIND OF SKILL TO WORK THERE. JO CLARKE UNRAVELS THE MYSTE
*** *** THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 *** *** | VII The Daily Telegraph INNOVATION CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS THE EDGE OF REASON THE DRIVE TO MAKE FOSSIL FUELS CLEANER AND GREENER IS RESULTING IN SOME AMAZING TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES THROUGHOUT THE INDUSTRY, SAYS ESME MCAVOY. WE TA
*** VIII *** *** THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2008 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH | *** CAREERS IN OIL AND GAS PEOPLE The Daily Telegraph industry means workers can probably afford a good break too. So far this year, Jennifer Watson, a lab technician for InterTech on the Beryl Bravo platform, says she has tra
