The Offshore World in 2040 –
Gazing into the Crystal Ball 

26 January 2010 London Evening Meeting

Chairman Dr Bob Allwood, Chief Executive, SUT

Report

Flyer

Presentations

The Offshore World in 2040 – Gazing into the Crystal Ball

Alex Hunt, Engineering Technology Manager, and Colin Smith, Operations Technology Coordinator, BG Group

In February 1996, an SUT meeting looked at the possible architectures of offshore oil and gas developments in 2020. At the time, a 1500m water depth was seen as the likely limit. One scenario outlined was "a cluster well arrangement with re-injected produced water, a subsea power distribution system, subsea separation and a chemical batch store". Many parts of this are actually installed and are operating today, although the water depth has been extended to close to 3000m.

As we have entered a new decade, it seemed appropriate to update this and look at possible visions for offshore fields in 2040. One significant change since 1996 is the growth in integrated asset teams, so at this meeting, a look at the changing worlds of reservoir imaging and well technologies was taken, as well as a look at production facilities.

Many operators run technology development programmes based on assessments of technology needs and gaps. One way to identify some of these is by looking at possible visions of the future and then developing road maps for how these could be acheived.

The presentations looked at all aspects of field development, from exploration through to operation and from the reservoir to the marketplace. Some of the technologies are likely to be standard practice by 2040, whilst others will more probably be under development or emerging, Examples include robot drilling, nano-machines, AUVs and remote unmanned operations.