With the successful operation of the first All-Electric Production Control System this technology continues to proven its advantages. With a system availability of well above 99.9 % (status Dec, 2010), initial development targets have been significantly exceeded. While this pilot system further continues to gain field experience, the development of the 2nd generation DC All-Electric Subsea Production Control System already is in its final stages.
A mature development initiative planting the design on the successful and field proven CameronDC™ System has been initiated. Key target was a further simplification of the system architecture and an implementation of a state of the art fiber optics communication while maintaining commercial feasibility. As a result the advantages of the DC All-Electric technology such as environmental friendliness, improved reliability & availability and real time feedback are combined with the advantage of a high speed communication using fiber optic in one Production Control System concept. Naturally, relevant standards including API 17N have been considered as part of this development initiative.
The 2nd generation DC All-Electric Subsea Production Control System represents state of the art technology in several aspects. High voltage transmission enables significant step-out distances. The available high bandwidth enables a transfer of large data amounts even for complex field architectures. Functionalities to control subsea actuators have been expanded. The already applied performance assessment approach enabling incipient failure detection has been maintained.
Discussing the operational feedback as well the development targets this paper will introduce the concept of the 2nd generation DC All-Electric Subsea Production Control System and address its inherent advantages. The qualification strategy will be outlined. It also will describe the experience gained during the development.
