38 



A similar spherical habitat has been tested as part of a proto- 

 type seabed oil production system designed by Lockheed Offshore 

 Petroleum Systems (Fig. 3). The manned capsule (Fig. 4) is designed 

 for a one- atmosphere environment at depths of 1,200 feet, and the 

 whole system can be extended to 2,000 feet. The system includes well- 

 head cellars, pipeline assembly, manifold center on the sea floor, and 

 gathering lines that carry the petroleum either to subsea storage or 

 directly to surface separators. 



FiGtTBE 3. — Conceptual design of an underwater petroleum production system. The 

 system involves construction and emplacement on the ocean floor of man-rated 

 pressure hulls containing normal oilfield components. Components are serviced 

 hy manned capsule (see Fig. 4). Adapted from material supplied by Lockheed 

 Petroleum Services, Ltd., British Golumiia, Canada. 



Separators are systems that separate the gas from the oil to facili- 

 tate pumping the oil to storage facilities ashore or to mooring tankers. 

 The most recent application of a subsea production system was under- 

 taken by the Dubai Petroleum Company in the Arabian Gulf (Fig. 

 5).®^ In 1969 the storage-tank, Khazzan Dubai No. 1, was placed on the 

 sea floor 58 miles from shore, and in 1970 the first self-setting oil/gas 



«3 The need for this subsea production system arose following the discovery in June 1966 

 of the Fateh Field about 60 miles off the shore of Dubai. To develop this "field, the com- 

 pany would have had to lay pipeline all the way to shore for storage then lay more pipe- 

 lines back from shore storage facilities to reach water 10 miles offshore deep enough to 

 accommodate tankers for loading. The whole production system was exhibited at the 

 Oceanology International 1969 exh'b't. Th" storage tank T-as emnlaced in August of that 

 year. It was built at a cost of about $7 million by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company. 

 In April 1969, British Petroleum Company Ltd. fpersonal communication] was planning to 

 test a limited subsea production scheme involving an oil and gas separation unit on the 

 seabed elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf. This separator was emplaced in August 1970 on well 

 No. 32, with all processing equipment resting on the sea floor. The separator started proc- 

 essing crude oil initially at 5,000 barrels per day, separating oil and gas, measuring them, 

 and discharging t'e oil into a pinpline to shore. This development illustr-^tes fnrthP'r the 

 speed with which petroleum technology is advancing from the conceptual stage to the 

 operational stage. 



