UNDER

THE
SEA
Dr. Andrew Jaffrey, Cameron, USA, explains
how a new technology gives drillers advanced
information about the real time condition of
their subsea drilling operation which can be
used to help minimise downtime.

T
oday’s drilling environment is harsher and more
demanding than ever before, with operations in deeper
waters and at greater pressures. To perform in these
environments, drillers require technologies that help make their
operations safer, more efficient and more reliable in order to
reduce costly downtime.

Reprinted from Oilfield Technology -

www.oilfieldtechnology.com
 such technologies are considered good engineering
practice. As such, applying a similar approach to the
subsea drilling industry can have significant benefits
including reduced costs, increased reliability, and
improved safety. Predicting when items might be in
need of repair or replacement can save considerable
time and money, especially in an environment where
downtime is very expensive. Given the remote and
hostile nature of the subsea drilling environment, it is
essential that the equipment deployed in deepwater
drilling operations is as smart as possible to enable
better management. Cameron’s Cognition Stack™
Instrumentation Infrastructure package and other
condition monitoring technologies start to address that
requirement.
Monitoring the condition of a subsea blowout
preventer (BOP) to more intelligently perform
maintenance and respond to emergencies is of great
importance to Cameron’s drilling customers.
One example of where a condition monitoring
solution can have a significant impact on BOP
operations is Cognition’s ability to monitor the
solenoids that are critical to the operation of the
subsea control system. Currently, because of the lack
of visibility on solenoid performance, it is normal for
some solenoids to be replaced each time the BOP is
recovered from subsea. In some cases, an operator
might replace 20% of the solenoids. The only measure
that is usually available to determine which solenoids
need changing is how long each has been in service,
not the performance of each solenoid. This time‑based
maintenance practice may result in a scenario where
shortly after the stack has been redeployed, solenoids
that were not replaced (but should have been) fail. If
Figure 1. Condition monitoring software such as the Cognition Knowledge the combination of failures was severe, the BOP would
Base provides drillers with easy-to-interpret information about the have to be recovered for unscheduled maintenance,
condition and performance of their subsea drilling equipment and resulting in costly downtime. Monitoring the
operation, which can allow for predictive maintenance that helps reduce performance characteristics of solenoids by their
downtime. unique signatures and comparing them with known
tolerances makes it possible to identify the units that
are not operating as they should. This information can
What is condition monitoring? signal to the operator which units should be considered for
Condition monitoring has been applied in a number of fields replacement during the next scheduled maintenance period
for many years, particularly those involving rotating machinery and demonstrates the benefits of predictive maintenance based
such as pumps, turbines and jet engines. By measuring upon condition monitoring.
equipment performance and then comparing to baseline data, Condition monitoring data provides drillers with better
it is possible to identify undesirable trends and inefficiencies. information to base decisions on. For example, Cognition
For example, if a component or sub-system is operating measures the position of the piston inside each subsea stack
outside its specification or working harder than it should, these accumulator. This information can be used to calculate the
trends can alert the operator to current or potential problems. volume of control fluid available in each accumulator, which
Consequently, steps can be taken to prepare for appropriate then leads to the ability to identify leaks in the pipework
investigation, repair, or replacement in a proactive, rather than associated with the accumulator and even whether the leak is
reactive, manner. An everyday example in which condition on the fluid side or gas side of the piston. The sensor used to
monitoring is becoming ubiquitous is the ‘service due in determine the piston’s position also measures the temperature
[x number of] miles’ notification from in-car computers. These and pressure of the fluid. These pieces of information help
indicators might not only consider the number of miles driven in multiple instances: 1) by identifying if particular bottles
but also the way in which the vehicle has been driven, since this are low on fluid or pressure and therefore need investigation
influences the maintenance schedule. and maintenance, 2) by supporting ‘what-if’ scenarios for
It is clear from the proliferation of condition monitoring and the operator in determining whether sufficient control fluid
predictive maintenance technologies in other industries that is available to execute particular functions such as closing

Reprinted from Oilfield Technology -

www.oilfieldtechnology.com
a ram, and 3) on return to the surface, the accumulator bank this infrastructure to be added to both existing equipment
can be interrogated to ensure that all accumulators have been through retrofit, as well as to new-build stacks. A key design goal
discharged and that none of the pistons have stuck, which is a was for the system to be separate from the BOP control system
potentially dangerous condition if not accounted for. to maintain the integrity and security of critical safety functions.
As a passive system, it delivers additional insight to help reduce
Keeping an eye on the BOP downtime.
Cognition offers a new way to monitor subsea BOP stack An important component of condition monitoring technology
functions from the surface while the stack is deployed subsea. is the ability to conform to customer needs while having enough
The package provides a network of new sensors, resilient redundancy in case of emergencies. For instance, the system
communication paths to transmit sensor data to the surface and was designed to be modular so customers can choose how to
the analytics, alerts and alarms to turn the data into insights configure the package to match their risk profile and specific
about the condition of the subsea BOP that empower operators information requirements. There are options available for
to manage their assets more cost-effectively. redundancy of equipment and ROV connection for emergency
The condition monitoring technology is composed of five incident management. This modularity has been combined with
main elements. scalability so that even starting from a basic installation, it is a
1. An array of sensors captures data from the subsea BOP. very straightforward process to scale the subsea sensor network
Typical measurements include ram operator position, control to accommodate more sensors, network access points, equipment
fluid condition, stack accumulator bottle fluid volume, redundancy, etc.
solenoid performance and connector unlatch pressure. Decisions to act on information and recommendations from
Customers may add whatever sensors they wish (from any
condition monitoring solutions are still at the discrection of
manufacturer), as the package has been designed to accept
the individuals utilising these solutions in drilling operations.
any industry-standard sensor output.
The monitoring systems cannot require action to be taken, but
2. A subsea network of sensor interface boxes (SIB) aggregates
provide justification for those decisions and actions.
data from more than 80 sensors to capture subsea stack
operation data. The package has four SIBs and each stores
data from the system, providing redundancy. Industry impact
3. Wireless stingers provide inductive data and power transfer For some parties, the benefits of condition monitoring systems
between the lower stack and the lower marine riser package are increased knowledge that can lead to reduced downtime
(LMRP). Removing metal-to-metal contacts can result in a therefore reducing costs; to others, the benefits are more related
more reliable long-term operation than traditional wet‑mate to increased operational reliability and safety that comes
connections and greatly simplifies alignment requirements. from the ability to manage equipment in a more informed and
4. The package provides four redundant ways to transmit proactive manner.
data from the subsea BOP to the surface, increasing data The drilling industry is in the early stages of adopting
availability in an emergency. The data retrieval paths are: condition monitoring and predictive maintenance. As a result,
1) data-over-power via the main umbilicals (which minimises the volume of data needed to maximise the accuracy of
adoption costs in retrofit installations); 2) acoustic; 3) ROV
predictive analyses is not yet well-established. As more rigs
connections (both wet-mate and inductive); or 4) via the
are equipped with information capture solutions and more
system’s black box recorders. The subsea black boxes record
data are gathered to expand the core database, the predictive
and store at least three weeks of time-stamped data from
all sensors plus the BOP control system. In the event of algorithms will be continually improved with the greater
an incident, the black boxes can be recovered by ROV for opportunity to mine the data for non-conformance indicators.
forensic data analysis and provide a comprehensive view of Upgrading analytical software such as the Cognition Knowledge
subsea system behaviour prior to an incident. Base will ensure that clients benefit from the most up‑to‑date
5. On the topside, the ‘Cognition Knowledge Base’ application refinements in predictive processing.
provides advanced analytics, alerts, alarms and reports Further benefits are seen from using the central repository
that synthesise both real time and historic BOP data into of Cognition data and the results from the analytical processing
useful information. These data, along with information from of the information. Linking this to other business systems
other drilling equipment on the rig, can be gathered and such as procurement can help bring greater efficiencies
presented to the appropriate offshore or onshore personnel.
to entire operations. For example, if condition monitoring
The information gathered is fed to a master database, which and procurement systems are linked, then when the system
is replicated onshore. The data can be made available in a determines that parts will need to be replaced in the next
variety of ways, including as a feed to the operator or contractor, maintenance period, those parts can be pre-ordered so they
and can then be processed with analytics either by the customer are available at the start of that period. In the first instance, the
or service provider. authority to place such orders will reside with the appropriate
Cognition was conceived to provide a means of supporting drilling personnel, with the option to allow integrated systems
the installation of sensors across the whole BOP and to allow to automatically take care of future orders.

Providing global coverage of the exploration, drilling and production sectors.

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