American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2019 - 93

SpecialReport: Offshore & Subsea Technology
applications of unmanned platforms, subsea
chemical storage and injection will offer
significant cost reduction advantages.
Although Figure 5 shows a bottomfounded platform, the concept can be
equally applicable to a floating system
or a deepwater unmanned platform, such
as a small tension leg platform, spar or
semisubmersible system.
Personnel Safety Advantages
With subsea storage and injection, platform production operations personnel do
not handle the production chemicals. The
refill (along with chemical storage and
protection) of the 200-barrel unit is done
by personnel trained in chemical handling
either quayside or with special supply
boats/equipment. Avoiding personnel exposure to chemicals such as xylene or
toluene provides operators with a significant
health, safety and environment advantage.
In harsh environments, subsea chemical
storage and injection can minimize the
frequency of refills in harsh conditions
with associated personnel exposure.
Figure 6 illustrates the installation of
the 200-barrel subsea storage and injection
system with an unmanned platform. The
philosophy of designing one and building

TOM A.
GAY

Tom A. Gay is a senior adviser with
Safe Marine Transfer LLC. He has 40
years of industry experience, including
31 years with ExxonMobil in upstream
roles in research, project engineering,
commercial and facility integrity. Gay
served as BG Group's technical authority for floating production systems and
represented BG in several DeepStar
projects. His experience includes assignments in the United States, Norway, the
United Kingdom and France. Gay holds
a B.S. in mechanical engineering from
Oklahoma State University and an M.S.
and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering
from the University of Texas at Austin.

FIGURE 6
Installation of Subsea Chemical Storage and Injection
Conventional MSV

Unmanned Platform

Installation and Reﬁll
* Installation and retrieval with MSV
* Single down line crane ~100 ton dynamic rating
* Flying lead connection to platform risers for
chemical reﬁll and power/control
* Chemical reﬁll by conventional hose connection
to platform or by replacing the 200 bbl unit

Applicable for
range of
water depths
ROV

200 bbl Subsea Storage and Injection

Mudmat

many is equally applicable to unmanned
platform applications. For larger deepwater and harsh environments, or longerdistance tiebacks using an unmanned
platform, the larger storage and flexibility
offered by the subsea transfer barge may
be appropriate.
The subsea chemical storage and injection technology promises significant cost
savings for both new green-field developments and for upgrading mature brownfield
assets of unmanned or not-normally manned

ART J.
SCHROEDER JR.

Art J. Schroeder Jr. co-founded Safe
Marine Transfer LLC in 2013 and previously worked in upstream operations,
engineering and construction for major
operators. Schroeder also has served on
numerous professional, corporate and
civic boards, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Offshore
Technology Conference's Special Citation and SPE's Management and Information Award. He holds several patents
and a B.S and an M.S. in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of
Technology, and an M.B.A. in finance
and international business from the University of Houston.

platforms. In the brownfield case, avoiding
the space and weight for chemical injection
on a small platform may allow an existing
unmanned platform to continue in operation
with additional production or extended
life-of-field production.
Subsea chemical storage and injection
enables long distance subsea step-outs,
significantly reduces costs on shorter
tiebacks, and offers versatility, cost savings
and may enable platform demanning in
shallow-water applications.
r

JAMES E.
CHITWOOD

James E. Chitwood co-founded Safe
Marine Transfer in 2013. He has 48
years of industry experience in offshore
engineering and research and development, working both domestically and
internationally. His principal project
from 1991 to 2014 was the Chevron-led
DeepStar Project, where he managed
joint industry R&D undertakings. Chitwood has worked for various engineering, manufacturing and production
companies both as an employee and as
a consultant throughout his career. He
holds 14 patents and has an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M
University.
FEBRUARY 2019 93

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2019

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