The Jubilee field is located 60km offshore between the Deepwater Tano and West Cape Three Points blocks in Ghana, West Africa. Recoverable reserves of the field are estimated to be more than 600 million barrels and an upside potential of 1.8 billion barrels. It is located at a water depth of 1,250m.
JDR was contracted by FMC to supply a complete workover control package comprising the IWOC umbilical, reeler, LARS (Landing and Retrieval System), inclusive of wire line winch, 90 degree level wind and heave compensator and all ancillary turning sheaves and clamps. This particular project represents JDR’s successful venture into the design and manufacture of rapid deployment well control umbilical packages, engineered for cost-efficient riserless, rigless applications.
Combining a depth of integrated IWOCS and Reeler engineering and manufacturing capabilities in the US and UK, JDR has revised material selection and design to deliver an outstanding package for the Jubilee project comprising Workover Control System umbilical and complete Landing and Recovery System (LARS). The system, currently being used successfully in the field, represents a key milestone in JDR’s continued development as a market leader in custom-engineered cable and umbilical products.
Recognising the need to reduce costs across the industry, the Jubilee project team devised a self-supporting deepwater umbilical that delivers economic savings by removing the need for specialised vessels. In addition, the physical arrangement of the system is such that the footprint is minimal, further allowing for greater flexibility and efficiencies in deck planning.
Workover Control System Umbilical
The umbilical components have been optimised for position in the laid-up construction to minimise winch size and deck footprint. A steel reinforcement strength wire, mechanically terminated to the UTA is the load bearing member for the self-supporting deepwater umbilical. The umbilical is clamped to this wire line using JDR’s custom-designed components for safe and rapid deployment. JDR undertook extensive research and analysis to determine the optimum clamp offset to reduce vibration and twisting during landing and recovery.
Workover Control System (IWOCS) Reeler
JDR designed and custom-engineered the Jubilee Reeler to store, deploy and retrieve the self-supporting, riserless IWOCS umbilical. The turnkey package was assembled in-house, fully tested to simulate deployment stresses and delivered with an integrated installation support and life of product field service programme.
LARS (Landing and Recovery System)
JDR designed and custom-engineered the Jubilee LARS to enable the landing and recovery of the package from depths of 2000m / 6750ft. The system utilises the 1in extra strength wire line to bear the control package wet weight loads of up to 10,000lb at the maximum operating depth. Allowances were also made for additional 7,500lbs of bare drum pull to accommodate entrained mud on the subsea package.
Ancillary Equipment
To complete the spread, JDR designed and custom-engineered all of the ancillary equipment components, including a specially designed ‘small footprint’ hydraulic power unit to provide functional power for the recovery system. All terminations, clamps and turning sheaves; and a spare spooling reel were also provided as part of the complete single source solution.