An expert panel in a session dedicated to DeepStar at OTC 2013 in Houston featured a stellar lineup. Representatives from Chevron, BP, Petrobras, Total, ConocoPhillips, and FMC each gave some great insights into how DeepStar itself is progressing and what their companies are doing to tackle the deepwater challenge.

But what also emerged was a clear need for more effort and investment in further collaboration and standardization if the industry is to achieve its aims of both accessing new reserves and maximizing production from its existing assets.

Occo Roelofsen, director of the global oil and gas practice at McKinsey & Co., also was on the panel and highlighted the industry’s success in extending its water depth capability on average by 100 m (328 ft) every year for the past 10 years. “We predict that over the coming 10 years the industry will also see its deepwater liquids production grow by 7%,” he said.

The benefits of collaboration, he felt, were clear. If the Gulf of Mexico was operated by just one company as a single asset it would dramatically speed up the process of bringing fields onstream, developing standardized technical solutions, and maximizing the value of its assets. This theoretical operator would have around US $50 billion of projects in action today, but it would have the potential to upgrade those into assets with a net present value of up to $110 billion simply through better optimization.

It is a theoretical example, but Roelofsen’s point was that further industry collaboration could go a long way toward achieving some of those potential gains.

Steve Thurston, Chevron’s vice president of deepwater exploration and projects, highlighted his company’s work in dual-gradient drilling technology as a clear example of how DeepStar’s technical work can pay off. The technology essentially eliminates water depth constraints for deepwater wells by replacing the mud in the riser with seawater-density fluids. It went from an initial research project in 1996 to full deployment by 2013 – marking a remarkably rapid rise from idea to implementation in a highly conservative industry.

Work like this is what DeepStar is all about. Having existed for more than 20 years, it has successfully identified and executed hundreds of such projects, invested more than $100 million in them, and produced 325 technical reports so far.

The latest phase (XI) of its program is on deepwater developments in water depths of up to 3,048 m (10,000 ft). It was good to hear Greg Kusinski, Chevron’s Deep-Star director, outline goals aimed at developing enabling technologies for economic production in depths of up to 3,658 m (12,000 ft).

DeepStar is a needs-driven organization, already discussing what to tackle in Phase XII before getting down to work by January 2014. Kusinski said in particular that DeepStar would be encouraging “bigger impact projects conducted in a more collaborative manner, particularly with larger contributors.” Increased collaboration on projects that can have even greater impact will be vital as the oil and gas industry moves on. Based on the water depth increases that Roelofsen mentioned, the industry will need the results before the end of this decade.

Offshore