Abstract
In recent years, exploration and development targets on offshore oil and gas fields have been smaller in size and deeper in water depth.
Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC) has been conducting Joint Industry Project (JIP) titled “Offshore Marginal Oil Field Development Technology” together with many Japanese private companies for the past ten years. There are 18 sub-themes in the JIP, 11 of which are related to software developments including several optimization programs for floating production systems and other 7 sub-themes are focused on new hardware developments of subsea production facilities, mooring and riser systems.
In the first phase of the JIP (1985-1989), JNOC and 11 Japanese oil exploration and production companies developed the selection and evaluation program called “NEPTUNE” for offshore marginal oil field development systems up to 300m water depth. This program has 5 platform concepts (jacket, semi-submersible, jack-up, tanker and barge) and works on the IBM mainframe computer.
In the second phase of the JIP (1990-1994), JNOC and 11 Japanese oil E & P companies have been jointly developing the new program called “NEW NEPTUNE.” This new program can handle oil and gas fields up to 500m water depth and as many as 9 platform concepts including tension-leg platform, compliant tower and concrete gravity platform. The new program is more user-friendly than the old one and can be operated on workstations.
