Review and reliability modeling of maturing subsea hydrocarbon boosting systems

This paper details the strategic importance of maturing subsea hydrocarbon boosting systems in the effective exploitation of matured fields. Reliability modeling is done for a long step out, all-subsea boosting station operating multi megawatt variable speed pumps at 1000 m water depth. It is found that, with the present technological maturity, one pump requires three redundancies to have an MTBF of 4.25 years. Analysis also reveals that a similar station shall require a booster compressor with Failure-In-Time not exceeding 10000 for attaining the same MTBF. Results serve as a guideline for subsea boosting system designers in planning technology qualification programs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.