Total and its project partners have deployed the Sonardyne Fusion 6G technology offshore Angola at the Kaombo oil field. Using the technology’s Wideband 2 digital signal architecture, common tasks such as template installation, touch-down monitoring and spool piece metrologies can be completed regardless of the water depth.
Deciding the quantity, specification and location for each transponder within a seabed array is crucial to the success of any Long BaseLine (LBL) project. As the contractor for the Kaombo SURF (Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines) package, Technip conducted the LBL array planning themselves, a process that involved confirming that there was clear line of sight between neighboring transponders and modelling acoustic network coverage at specific locations. By using the same specialist software as Sonardyne’s Survey Support Group (SSG), Technip’s survey team was able to then share their proposed array design with Sonardyne for verification, thereby further increasing confidence in the plan prior to mobilization
An extensive project planning workshops hosted by Technip and was attended by teams from Total, Technip and Fugro, together with personnel from Sonardyne’s SSG. The sessions were used to review the full scale of the operation and consider the most efficient and cost-effective configuration of the LBL transponder frame network.
The investment in time spent planning acoustic operations onshore was rewarded with a highly successful offshore LBL campaign that was completed in 31 days.
“With future time savings gained from not having to deploy many individual transponder arrays, the cost of installing a field-wide LBL permanent frame network that can be scaled from high accuracy metrology to LBL aided inertial and also LUSBL positioning for DP and drilling, means this investment will more than pay for itself within the first few years of the field development,” said Frederic Auger, chief surveyor at Total E&P.
Image: Transponder frames being readied/ Sonardyne
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