ORIGINALS RETURN TO NAME -:r. ~1~ ADDRESS __________ NOTE - IF MISDIRECTED, PLEASE RETURN TO... REPRO/ GRAPHICS DIVISION, ROOM 8-101 AG 1715-75 _ ARCTIC&DEEPSEATECHNOLOGY Andrew Str il chuk The Arctic. Our true north strong and free. It' s a r omantic place of undisturbed beauty where the pioneerin g spiri t runs fr ee -- where ta l es of adventure can still come true. There is another vision of t he Arctic seen by men like Charles Camsell, Dr. William van Steenburgh and John Sproule. Their vision was a northland of vast mineral resources waiting to be discovered and developed. Esso Resources has shared this vision of the North, from the drilling of the discovery well at NormanWells in 1920 right up to the more recent offshore exploration in the Beaufort Sea starting in 1973. - 2 - Initially, waters. exploration in the Beaufort Sea was limited to shallow Esso Resources undertook extensive research into ice and its interaction with structures that has allowed our drilling capability extend to water depths of 20 metres and beyond (Illustration This has been our tradition to 1). of innovation through research and it plays a basic role in Essa Resources' search for new petroleum reserves in the North. The fundamental aspect of oil and gas exploration is to drill a hole thousands of metres below the surface in search of hydrocarbon-bearing zones. Although this may seem deceptively simple, it presents considerable challenge in difficult how do you drill of water? in thick, moving ice? environments. Consider this: Or how do you drill in 300 metres These challenging questions demanded answers before operations could proceed. In shallow, ice-free waters, offshore drilling conventionally uses jack-up platforms that consist of a working deck supported on legs extending to the ocean floor, legs 1',0Uldbe too fragile ice. crucial But in ice-covered water, these platform to withstand the forces imposed by the crushing Wehad to find solutions to these problems. design criteria, withstand the ice forces. resistance First, the structure Wehad to meet two had to be strong enough to Secondly, it had to have sufficient to remain on location. sliding - 3 - The first conceptual design for a structure to operate in ice-covered waters was a dredged island -- a concept still However, we didn't expect that islands would be practical used today. in deep water. They were not mobile and they required enormous amounts of dredged fill. So the search continued for a cheaper, re-usable, mobile concept to overcome these limitations. The monopod\'«IS one solution to this design problem. is a single-legged ice. steel structure The monopod that presents a small diameter to the But even though this small surface helps keep ice loads down, the loads exerted by the ice were still the moving ice (Illustration 2). by bending it than by crushing it, large since the monopodhad to crush Since it takes less force to break ice a conical section was incorporated into the monopod-- and this was the evolution of the monocone, a refinement of the monopod (Illustration 3). So again, a series of design questions had to be ans\\ered. What are the ice forces on the monocone? Is there an optimum cone angle and what is it? What are the worst ice regimes? What is the frequency of occurrence of the l'K)rst ice conditions? the structure require? What soil characteristics does Should there be an ice-melt system to facilitate ice sliding up the cone and breaking? - 4 - The first experimental and analytical work to develop answers to some of these questions was done under contract and at Laval University. synthetic at Arctec Canada Limited, These small-scale experiments in both saline and ice were valuable for obtaining preliminary data. scale tests But larger- that simulated conditions as close to full scale as econanical ly possible were needed. As a result, Esso Resources designed and built a special ice test basin in Calgary in the winter of 1973-74. This facility every year since has been used not only to develop design data on conical structures, but also on gravel islands and caisson-retained gravel islands. The ice test basin allows ice sheets, as well as other modelled ice features, be tov.ed at controlled one-eighth seal e. rates against structures Horizontal and vertical computer-based data collection system. to of approximately forces are al so measured by a Experiments in this unique test basin have helped Esso pioneer the design of monoconestructures (Illustration 4). Even though it was initially exploration practical waters. drilling alternatives envisioned primarily as a mobile platform, the monoconeconcept is one of the for hydrocarbon production from ice-covered Arctic With mobility a desired criterion, show that the monoconewas not only practical experiments were al so done to to withstand ice forces but that it could indeed be towed and set down at the desired location. Model experiments at the National Research Council in Ottawa showed the best setdown method was differential ballasting (Illustration 5). - 5 - There are other challenges. Wehave exploration prospects off the East Coast where water depths are greater than 300 metres. situation, Instead, you simply cannot use bottom-founded drilling it becomes necessary to conduct drilling dynamically positioned floating vessels. with the drill vessel, for the drilling guides the drill must withstand the lateral the riser drilling effects 6). components which connects the well bore string, and provides a flow path integrity of the riser is not required, forces of waves, currents, it and vessel motion It must also withstand the operating tension pl aced on by the vessel to counteract the weight of the riser and the fluids it contains. The design of the riser must consider the of fatigue as well as overstress waves, currents, is forecast drilling operations from fluid. Although high-pressure (Illustration platforms. One of the critical in such an operation is the marine riser, In this because the loads resulting from and vessel motions are cyclical. If a very severe storm in which the vessel could have difficulty holding position, w:>uldstop, the ~11 would be secured, and the riser would be pulled aboard until the storm had passed. However, when drilling in very deep water, it may be impractical or impossible to pull and stow all of the riser each time a severe storm is imminent. (I In 1 ht ti 1111 · pi'q\H'1' tht•. dev 1 ping dtsi1n · th,r 111.1~1'll',t' td disconn t pl ltf \..Ould b supported r tl'itv'd v rti ally b storm was over. th r' th I·, H1••i11101,... ,111 l11l1•1·1111•dl,il1•, l111!ly,11il. r,11 b\11.1 't 11 tht' 111,-.111 t 11101· ,111d 11111tlt·I the event of platform ,1111,1111111, h•,11 1 ,111,,,,,,1 I I f11r1 Vl'',',!•I, In I f 1111,tlH1Vt1 I lit• d I ·,c 1ir1t1N; I, t h,, l' 1,1, 1· '.t't' nti tlH' Vt",St'I. 1111 • •o1•1 ·l.lon l>Plow would lw luoyant. pl..1lfon11 (Illt H.l.rttl.lt?n /). Ortcf' Lhc 1~1,ld tw 11cl11v,d usi nu Ltlndurd nn ction techniques. Of course, a drilling riser for very deep wate r s inusL be inuch stronger than those in commonuse today. detailed analysis construction of riser Thus, Essa Resources conducted a dynamics to develop the specifications of a high-strength riser. This strong riser our back-up unit for our East Coast drilling It was the explorer of action and the exploring If that's of this lyrical is now used as operations. Stefansson who said, "The explorer is the poet is the poetry of deeds." so, then we at Essa Resources are fortunate to be a part moment in the development of the Arctic frontier. foresaw the problems of today and solved them yesterday. solving for the problems of the future. We Today, we are Illustration 1 ESSO RESOURCESLEASES BEAUFORT SEA e lNUVIK AKLAVIK• 11lu t r at 100 2 CRUSHING .1 RIB Illustration 7 ORPHAN BLOCK DRILLING RISER SYSTEM - --- __ ........... ..... -~ RISER TENSIONERS ......... _ ' ~J - l,__~ 1·· -·o--,.h ---cr~ ~ -5 _.,,,,. ...... , ---- TELESCOPIC JOINT FLOOD VALVE I 1 1 br ~ q I I NEUTRALLY BUOYANT RISER •I I I I I I STRUCTURAL CASING ,' I I I / NONBUOYANT RISER I I / I INSTRUME NTED RISER JOINT\ - .,,,,.- I "' '' DISCONNECT PLATFORM - - --- I / I SEAFLOOR CHOKE & FOOD VALVE / ~/ I/ ~ -- LOWER RISER PACKAGE & HYDRAULIC CONNECTOR BLOW OUT PREVENTER STACK WELLHEAD & HYDRAULIC CONNECTOR ...... --- - - DISCUSSION ON ARCTIC AND DEEPSEATECHNOLOGY WHAT IS THEECONOMIC LIMITFOR BUILDING ANARTIFICIAL ISLAN D IN THEBEAUF ORT SEA? The economic lim it righ t now is 20 m water depth. THEINDICATIONS ARETHAT THENEW DISCOVERIES OFFNEWFOU NDLAND ARESTILLFAR FROv1 ECO NOMI C, WOULD A HIGHER PRICEFOROIL OFFSET ALLOF THECAPITAL INVESTMENT? I guess it's a question of whether you're talking about the price tha t exists t oday or your perception of what prices might be five or 10 years from now when i t 's in ful 1 production. Areas like the Beaufort and the east coast offshore are beginning to show favorable economics by the time that they can be put into production, but certainly not at today's domestic price for light crude oils. HOW BIG IS YOUR GROUP? The sect i on totals something like 17 persons. Of these, about nine or 10 are pr ofess i onals and of those, three are working in Arctic research. - 2 - ARETHEREANYOTHER THINGSTHATTHEY'REWORKING ONBESIDESTHEPLATFORM THAT YOU'VEBEENTALKING ABOUT? One person works on the ice test facility at Calgary. During the winter, we will be running a program on the forces associated with the generation of rubble fields around the isl ands. rubble fields around the artificial Wewill also conduct a field study of the island in the Beaufort Sea as well. There's another person researching soil conditions and we're studying surfac e currents and monitoring ice conditions. HOW DOYOUFINDA FLOATING PIPE UNDER THESURFACE OF THEOCEAN AFTERA STORM? Beacons are placed on the sea floor in the vicinity uses these to position itself over the hole accurately. cameras to find the actual wellhead. its position of the well and the vessel Weuse television Once that is done, the vessel maintains until we make the reconnection. DODEEP-SEADRILLING RIGSHAVEENOUGH MANEUVERABILITY TO AVOIDICEBERGS? In a situation first where an iceberg is approaching the vessel, an attempt is made of all to tow it out of a collision path. If the iceberg is too large to tow, we would have to disconnect from the well, move off location and re-establish a connection after it has passed. - 3 - IS THERISERFLEXIBLE ENOUGH THATYOUCOULD MOVE SEVERAL HUNDRED METRES TOONE SIDERATHER THAN DISCONNECT? No. While we're connected to the wellhead, the riser angle has to be kept within something like five or six degrees at all times. LOOKING INTOTHESUN John Bichard At an increasing rate for the past two hundred years, we have been consumi ng the sun's energy that has been stored i n the for m of fossil fuels. These non-renewable fossil expensive to find and recover. fuels are now becoming more Moreover, their supply is not in f ini t e. As our population continues to grow and demand more energy, these non-renewable resources will become seriously start depleted. W e will have to to learn to live more on our natural daily income of energy and much less on stored energy from the past. Hence, renewables -- such as direct solar energy, biomass, wind, and tides -- are important options in energy for the future. They also present minimal environmental problems. We assume that with higher future costs of non-renewable energy, consumers will start to use solar energy more. Therefore, by the end of this century, renewable resources should become a significant source. energy - 2 - Generally, the current economics for applications are not competitive with fossil innovations fuels today. of renewables Cost reductions from in design and in material can improve the economics, but it will need technical breakthroughs or substantial make renewable applications economically practical government subsidies to in the near future. Imperial, as an energy company, has accepted this challenge and opportunity to help Canada use more renewable energy. Our total this year is $1.4 million -- probably one of the largest financed renewable energy research efforts budget inde pendently in Canada. Currently we are following developments in all renewable energy areas. Imperial is interested application: insulating First, in three aspects of solar energy conservation, through the use of high-quality products like those currently being marketed by Building Products of Canada Limited, a subsidiary of Imperial Oil. probably the most cost-effective buildings. Insulation is method of conserving energy in existing - 3 - Second, we are interested in passive building designs that capture heat in winter and reject heat in summer. Passive design principles are essentially the same as those used in making efficient solar collectors. Third, since 1978 we have been looking into active systems that can use solar energy for preheating hot water and for supplemental space heating to meet both commercial and residential Active solar-systems research constitutes energy needs in Canada. about 60 percent of our total budget which includes both in-house research and demonstration projects. It is this research into active systems that I would like to discuss in detail. Our overall objective here is to obtain hands-on experience of the technology. In practical research terms, our goal is to define the optimum combinations of solar collectors Canada. and heat storage systems for - 4 - Canadian weather conditions these systems. are therefore critical We receive lower average radiation, atmospheric environmental services on a horizontal southern United States (Illustration 1). in designing as measured by surface, than the This is due to the more oblique angle of the sun in the northern Canadian latitudes. it is possible to maximize the amount of radiation energy collected by tilting the solar collector Cloud cover presents additional cloud cover results percent diffuse However, obtained and the to track the sun. problems. In Sarnia, frequent in an average of about 50 percent direct annual radiations. and 50 In the southern United States, the comparable figures are perhaps 80 percent direct and 20 percent diffuse radiations. Flat-plate radiation are a better only direct interest, radiation. especially collectors that capture both direct fit for Canada than concentrators, Flat-plate collectors collectors which collect are therefore our prime the designs that minimize heat loss. Further, we recognized early in our original existing and diffuse assessment of solar technology that systems using flat-plate liquid and water storage were the most developed for application water heating and also offered some scope for near-term, competitive product development. to - 5 - Initially, effort our approach has been to concentrate on the shorter-term, collector lower-r isk, systems that use liqu id as a and water for storage, to gain exper ience of actual operation . In order to achieve this research objective, a number of facilities to evaluate both collectors An outdoor research facility collectors Imperial has set up and complete systems. is used to test liquid prototype and to compare them with commercially available (Illustration reference our research 2). This liquid-collector efficiency facility data needed to certify comparison of any two collectors products produces either collectors or simultaneous in a fixed or sun-tracking mode. The temperature control and pumping capabilities in this facility are such that we can obtain a wide range of fluid flow rates and extremes in fluid temperature where the largest experienced by others. both controlling Sophisticated scatter in data is and precise methods are used for and measuring key parameters of collector performance. - 6 - We also have a four-collector building project on a lo cker / wash-up in the Sarnia refinery that supplies more than 50 perc ent of the hot water needs of the workers in this area. of operations, facility Recently, aft er a year we converted this d~nonstration project into a research to expand our testing is to look at collector capabilities. Our current interest performance as a function of tilt here angle and demand for hot water. Another facility is a project that preheats water to wash trucks in Imperial 's marketing terminal in Toronto. Forty solar collectors are arranged in eight arrays representing five Canadian manufacturers to meet 50 to 60 percent of the demand for heated water. durability is a critical cycle of 20 years. Collector factor as the economics are based on a life Durability is one of the performance criteria monitored at this facility. We are currently planning a fifth 16 collectors in Calgary. facility that will operate with on the roof of the new 33-storey Esso Resources building It will be an array of four different and vacuum-tube collectors enhance energy collection. in vertical types of flat-plate configuration with reflectors to - 7 - • These facilities will let us assess performance under specific Canadian environmental conditions. They will all ow us to look not only at the key parameters of the collector designs but also at some key parameters of systems design. It is this type of extensive technical to be able to design appropriate data that is needed for us solar heating systems for Canada with any degree of confidence and guarantee performance over the economic service life of the system. In our assessment of solar technology, we found that aircollector technology is not as well developed as liquid-collector technology. Air collectors, space heating applications, however, are a better fit for supple mental since most houses in Canada use forced-air heating. We are therefore conditions setting up an indoor simulator of environ mental to screen novel ideas for design and for material substitutions -- pl astics, (Illustration 3). for example - - using air mini-collectors The goal of this experimental research, supported by computer modelling, is to develop effective for the Canadian climate. which is air collectors - 8 - There is enough solar energy radiant on a Ct.1r1,1dit1n bu1ldinCJ t o meet all heating needs on a year-round basis if we llad storing d excess summer energy for winter use (IllustraLion Hence, efficient application doesn't Conventionally, storing sensible in Canada since match demand. water is used in hot-water heat ing systems for heat on a short-term basis. Rocks are generally used with air, and stratification desirable 4) . heat storage is a key development in making the of solar systems economically practical availability 111et1ns of in that the air returning to the collectors temperature and this maximizes the collector's is will be at a lower efficiency (Illustration 5). An alternative in chemicals. method we are actively Chemicals that undergo a phase change involving high heats of transition, for example, could be used. these chemicals at a constant transition over sensible studying is to store heat heat storage. the operating temperature. Heat is stored in temperature -- a big advantage Therefore, the chemical selected determines But many of the simple systems that would be economically competitive with water do not work too well. - 9 - We are actively simultaneously separation additives overcome the problems of supercooling, of the system, and crystal would facilitate Our results searching for suitable size control. physical Such additives repeated cycling to store and extract are promising. that will heat smoothly. However, we have not yet attained system that would be encapsulated and used either the ideal in passive building designs or active storage. We are also evaluating simple chemical exchanges for commercial applications, efficiency such as an immiscible oil-salt hydrate system that has an of over 90 percent for short-term storage of both low and high temperature heat (Illustration 6). Other chemical systems, such as chemical heat pumps and chemical reactions, are being scoped for higher temperature heat storage. As for annual heat storage, application temperatures we are currently exploring the of absorbents that have the advantage of storage at ambient without heat loss. - 10 - Practical success in applying solar energy depends on mating past knowledge and basic principles with new materials and innovative ideas. Although we are newcomersto solar-energy technology, we at Imperial Research believe we have the resources and approach to address the problems that need to be solved to make solar energy applications economically practical for technical solar energy. in Canada. As researchers we are looking hard breakthroughs that will accelerate the development of 11lustration 1 Illustration 2 '"RESEARCH" ASHRAE TEST FACILITY 2 TRACKING COLLECTORS WEATHER STATIOH ROOF PENTHOUSE FLOW ------------------- ---------------------------------------------FLUID RECYCLE .. DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING HEAT EXCHANGE THIRD FLOOR 11lustration 3 AIR COLLECTOR l RADIATION l GLAZINGSOR COVERS I OUT (HOT) IN (COLD) I INSULATION MATRIX ABSORBER 11lustration 4 ANNUAL CANADIAN HEAT STORAGE #- ~ w 0 a: w 0. 75 Li.i !c !c w a: :z: 50 ~ i= z i ::E ::E ::, 25 xC ::E 0 APRIL JULY OCTOBER JANUARY l1 lust rat1on S STR A TIFICATION HIGH EFFICIENCY LOWER TEMPERATURE COLLECTOR ROCK Illustration STORAGE 6 HEAT STORAGE EXCHANGER USE TRA NS FER F LUI D 0 00 0 0 0 0 HEAT COLLECTOR 0 HEAT 0 0 O STORAGE EXCHANGER I l'dll'' I l ll KI Nl , lllN ON l NIt l 1111', 1l N \ 11N\, lll 11t lllH r, bu 11 11 ,I 1 r 1ll r: in tall1ti LL , F , our testing llL'L'i ,111n1 ,111110L Lor. half th callee l'. 0 CA ~DIANCOLLECTORS CCJv1PARE WITHAMERICAN MAKES? we find that collectors fall into three categories: lightweight collectors. (2) general intermediate are in this area; and (3) as the higher performance whereas the intermediate ones are not quite as good. look at this on its contribution cCfilputer simulation. (1) well Someof the cheap lightweight ors can give you the same contribution collectors, cost -- and as you would n costs, you're going the wrong way in going and many of the Canadian collectors c eap, p astic, The problem with the hot waLer healing system is t hat ,ade, we l designed, high performance collectors; col ectors, Jh, reason is that with a h l..irucr ..irca. 11 1 dt1111.; tic -- l ' 111.1111' c11ll<' You have to to performance on a yearly basis, using a And using these simulations, you have to make certain assl.Jll)tions about the use of the hot water. - 2 - WOULD YOURECOMMEND PEOPLI:. INSTALLING SOLAR HEATING FACILITIESFORHOUSING, Pl OL' , HOTWATER, WHATEVER? ARETHEYECONO MIC? N• Not at this time. To be economic on a 20-year life cycle, you really have to halve the current cost, which probably runs between $2500 and $3000 for our domestic hot water systems. THEY'VEBEENUSINGSOLAR HEATING FORTHEIRWATER IN ISRAELFORA VERY LONG TIME. IS IT ECONOMICAL THERE? I think they have far more sun and, therefore, reflector-type is justified. there that has a very good absorber design. weight and is made with plastic. reflectors it It's It's They have a 1 ight in one of the more ideally designed for that sort of environment. WHAT ABOUT THEVACUUM-TUBE TYPECOLLECTOR, THESO-CALLED SECOND-GENERATION COLLECTOR? The vacuum tube falls in the middle between concentrators that make steam for enhanced oil recovery or for some commercial operations and flat-plate collectors, which are probably a better fit for diffuse radiation. Vacuum tubes will give you higher temperatures and that could be an advantage if you wanted to go to total space conditioning. The stagnation temperatures can go - 3 - 11<.1h 1· ri bOO Fund as l ong as you get above l?OOF -- forgive me, I'm not ·,1t d -- y u can use this for cooling and so it can serve several inly in the regeneratio n of absorbents, etc., r this sort of collector could a ly have a role to ~ay. THEC(}1MENTS WEHAVEHEARD SO FARAREWHAT I WOULD CALLCOTTAGE INDUSTRY ENERGY GENERATION . WHAT ABOUT LARGE-SCALE OPERATION? W ell, large-scale concentrators. operations are generally handled by power towers or banks of For instance, Southern California Po~r Companyare looking at tower s for making steam to generate electricity economy of scale. and this appears to have some However, they have a lot of direct radiation, as I have point ed out, whereas if you applied the same kind of technology in certain places in Canada you \\Ouldn't get very far. In terms of concentrators, you're limited to the areas in Canada where you have quite a lot of sunshine days. IF YOUMADE FLAT-PLATE COLLECTORS IN VERYLARGE QUANTITIES WOULDN'T THEIRPRICE cmE DOWN FR(}1THE$2500 TO $3000 YOUMENTIONED? In a t olar can mak improv advantag really 'Ill, \ 1111\ t 1wnt 11( 1'1'1 1•t1( 111 ull h•l t ll 11qh -- ,l llll'i ,pp11i.1 t I I)',{ •• ,11111 p1·nd11r11 u111 t r due~ 1 ne,d a tre1kthr or I h1 1 lll'm 011 1 11111 h>t vuu yp ii 1 111. 1()ti, 11 ot OU bu 111L1 oh1• h o th rs IMPERIALDOINGALL IT RI ARCHIN SOlAR ! 11 hu h· 111 " huo 1o y. RGYI OlP[ l)(iTLY OR 00 YOUHA WITH UNIVERSITH' OR OTIHRC 1PANII 'l CONTRACTS We do most of the \o\Orkours lv s bu in the cas we're putting University on top of th of Es o R sourc s Building, of Galgary on the typ of monitoring h Gal w• arc ry y h wi h h ac1li d1n quirxnent Lo fns all.