Our business approach

Global Well Response and

the Dalian Developer
Meeting the environmental challenges of deepwater oil exploration
About Global Well Response

The Macondo oil spill in mid-2010 highlighted the

risks of deepwater oil exploration and production
as well as the oil & gas industry’s inability to swiftly
and adequately respond to an oil spill incident of
such magnitude with the right set of tools and
systems. Post Macondo, much effort has been spent
by regulators and the oil & gas industry to ensure
that the risk of another incident happening is
reduced as well as ensuring that the industry is better
prepared and equipped to handle a potential
incident.

Several well containment systems are being designed

and built. The challenge is a global one and requires
industry-wide cooperation. In response to this
challenge, Technip has teamed up with Global Well
Response Ltd, a company affiliated with the owner
of the Dalian Developer drillship. The objective is
to develop a vessel that combines both drilling and
oil spill containment capabilities, using the Dalian
Developer as the platform. Technip has performed
the conceptual design of a topside production
system capable of Extended Well Testing (EWT) of
heavy crudes as well as acting as an oil capture
system that can be integrated with Dalian Developer’s
drilling and oil storage capabilities.

When completed, the Dalian Developer will be the

world’s largest drillship. Her unique payload, deck
space and cargo storage capacity (1 million barrels),
enables her to perform additional functions that
are far beyond the capability of other conventional
drillships. In addition to demanding drilling duties,
the Dalian Developer is able to act as a stand-alone
spill response vessel, capable of handling an oil spill
significantly larger than Macondo. One of the
challenges during Macondo was the mobilisation
and then coordination of several vessels when
operating in close proximity. The Dalian Developer
drillship is able to rapidly mobilise and then perform
all these functions in a single fast-transit vessel.
The Dalian Developer
A unique drillship and oil spill response solution

The Dalian Developer is more than double the size of a

conventional drillship, at nearly 300 metres long and 50
metres wide. She has cargo tanks capable of storing up to
1,000,000 barrels of oil. She also has the deck space and
deck load capacity to install an oil production plant for
the processing of up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day. She
is a fully operational ultra-deepwater drillship with
combined capabilities to act as an emergency response
capture vessel in case of an uncontrolled well spill situation.
The Dalian Developer’s oil containment equipment is
primarily designed as an Extended Well Test (EWT) or early
production system that has been debottlenecked to cater
for the oil containment scenario. This also means that the
As a fully functioning drillship, the incremental cost associated with the oil containment
Dalian Developer can be successfully system can provide cost effective economic utilisation to
deployed and fully utilised in normal an operator through Extended Well Testing and/or early
production in addition to its drilling services utilisation.
drilling mode in virtually any
deepwater drilling region worldwide.

The Dalian Developer

will be compatible with
existing subsea capture
and containment systems
and could potentially
install the same.

The Dalian Developer’s production system is therefore

designed for the following two primary operating cases:
Extended Well Test (EWT) and early production
30,000 barrels/day oil, 30% water cut
Heavy oil capable <20 API (17.2 API used as design case)
All export specifications compliant (i.e. meets RVP = 12 psi, BS&W = 0.5% vol and salt content =10 ptb)

Oil containment
100,000 barrels/day total fluids
100,000 barrels/day oil or 70,000 barrels/day oil + 30,000 barrels/day water (35 API used as design case)
200 mmscfd gas flaring
All safety specifications compliant (i.e. meets RVP specifications but may not meet BS&W or salt)
 Advantages provided
The philosophy adopted in
providing the oil
by the Dalian Developer
containment equipment is
to first acknowledge that it
may never be used and is A unique concept: the Dalian Developer is the only mobile drilling unit in the
potentially a sunk cost. world large enough to capture, process and store oil spills in excess of
Macondo’s flow rate.
Safe, simple and reliable: this single asset solution means reduced interface
complexity (operations / logistics / communications / procedures / flow
splitting issues) compared with the multi-asset system used for Macondo.
Only tried and tested systems and technologies are used on the Dalian
Developer. On board storage of bulk methanol and dispersant chemical
simplifies logistics and avoids the need for subsea storage and injection
packages.
Rapid response time: limited time needed to disengage from active drilling
and transit distance to spill site. The unit has a 12 knot transit speed.
Suitable as emergency operations hub or command centre: thanks to her size
The key challenge in designing an and excess capacities (storage / accommodation / power).
optimal spill capture vessel is finding High weather resistance: the Dalian Developer’s hull size, motion
a way to ensure it is an effective characteristics and full DP3 system enable her to operate safely even under
capture tool in emergency mode harsh weather conditions in virtually all major drilling basins worldwide.
whilst also ensuring good economic Double moonpool design: combined with size and stability makes her ideal
utilisation during normal operating for subsea intervention activities.
mode. The Dalian Developer is Superior economics: as a fully functioning drillship with Early Well Testing /
considered an economically superior Early Production System capabilities, her earnings capabilities in normal mode
solution which may facilitate should ensure an attractive return on total investment.
widespread adoption and The unit is under construction: it can therefore be ready for deployment
deployment of multiple units across much sooner than a newbuild unit.
the world’s main offshore drilling
basins. It represents a very cost-
effective way for oil companies to
mitigate the risk of future oil spills.

Unique versatility

Ultra-deepwater, 6th generation, DP3 drillship Extended Well Testing with more reliable reservoir data / history
Oil spill emergency response & containment Early production achieving early cash flow
Capture, process and store well flow Simultaneously drilling & production:
Drilling relief wells Drilling appraisal wells while testing
Emergency subsea intervention Drilling development wells while producing
Mother-ship / command-centre Intervention & Subsea installation works
Warehouse logistics offshore hub Drilling while carrying out well intervention
Lower dependence on supply chain Dual gradient drilling
Serve multiple vessels in remote offshore areas Underbalanced drilling
Dalian Developer - Main characteristics

Design features:
Double hull structure built to DNV ICE class C.
Identical bow and stern sections for +/- 90˚ heading change.
Motion characteristics equivalent to or better than 6th generation semi in head seas.
2 moonpools (one for drilling, second for subsea work and production).
Equipment / system modularized and elevated above tank top – less integration.
Accommodation upgradable to 240 men.
Large available deck space (5000 m²) for production systems, subsea equipment and spill containment equipment. (EWT, EPS, etc.).
Large storage capacity – 1m bbls - for production, chemical dispersants, etc.

General particulars:
Basic design: INOCEAN Displacement: 240,750 mt
Detailed design: COSCO Water depth: 3,050 m
Class: DNV – DP3 Drilling depth: 10,670 m
LOA: 291.25 m Transit speed: 12 knots
Breadth: 50.00 m Accommodation: 180 men
Depth: 27.00 m Crude oil storage: 1,000,000 bbls
Drilling Draft: 13.00 m Variable deck load: 32,000 mt
 CONTACTS

Global Well Response Global Well Response Ltd

77 Robinson Road #30-02
Singapore 068896
Global demand map Jonny KLEPSVIK
Phone: +65 9647 5662
E-mail: [email protected]

Each deepwater basin in the world

Technip
will require a contingency plan for oil 89 avenue de la Grande Armée
75773 Paris Cedex 16
spill response. The Dalian Developer France
Brian ROBERTS
offers an economically viable solution Phone: +33 (0) 1 47 78 25 37
Email: [email protected]
which will lead to the deployment of
multiple units across the world’s main
offshore deepwater basins. www.technip.com
www.globalwellresponse.com

Primary Secondary

March 2012