Deepwater and harsh environment regions pose enormous challenges to floating production and riser systems. Innovative concepts will soon open the door to today’s inaccessible reserves.

Dr. John Murray, director of technology development at FloaTEC LLC, a J. Ray McDermott/Keppel FELS joint venture, has been designing offshore structures for more than 25 years. Murray was the charter Newfoundlander to complete the ocean engineering PhD program at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), where he completed his doctorate in 1985.

Dr. John Murray, director of technology development at FloaTEC LLC, a J. Ray McDermott/Keppel FELS joint venture, has been designing offshore structures for more than 25 years.

In the late 1980s, Murray commissioned the wave-modeling test basin operated by the National Research Council of Canada in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and developed a means of creating directional wave generation in basin conditions for more authentic mimicking of ocean wave activity. These efforts were followed by work quantifying deck loads in the early 1990s related to platform subsidence on the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian North Sea.

Murray also model tested the Hibernia gravity-base system (GBS), installed in the Jean d’Arc basin offshore Newfoundland and brought onstream in 1997. Hibernia was the first production system installed off the east coast of Canada. Murray carried out physical model testing of the GBS, quantifying hydrodynamic loads and investigating the interaction of waves on the deck support structure.

He moved to Houston in 1997 to join Spars International as a product development manager, where he worked on deepwater spar technology. Through a series of acquisitions, Murray joined Technip, where he worked as a principal engineer and was named to the company’s prestigious “College of Experts.”

Murray secured a patent for a version of the extendable draft platform, a self-installing deepwater drilling and production facility, and a patent associated with a disconnectable arctic spar capable of ice resistance and moving off station in the event of iceberg threat. He has patented a disconnectable riser system and has a patent pending for a straking system for offshore production platforms.

Murray has experience as a lecturer, logging several years as an adjunct professor at MUN in the 1980s and more recently at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. He has published more than 100 articles and technical papers in trade journals and conferences and has served on the advisory boards for international arctic engineering and deepwater technology seminars and symposia. Murray was awarded the Best Technical Presentation for a talk on arctic technology at the Deep Offshore Technology International Conference in Stavanger, Norway, in 2007 and has the honor of earning the Innovative Thinkers Award in the World Oil Awards presented in 2009.

His current R&D work targets the arctic and deepwater regions. The goal of today’s innovative engineering, according to Murray, is to move production into frontier areas.

“Exploitation of the world’s deepwater resources is challenged by the limitations of present-day technologies,” Murray said. “Today’s biggest challenges are in deepwater areas, high-pressure/high-temperature wells, and the Arctic, where we need to extend our knowledge of open-water production systems. Innovation is the key to success, and I’m looking forward to playing a major role in moving the industry into previously inaccessible areas that will allow the world to meet its growing demand for energy.”

YY Chow, president of Keppel Offshore & Marine USA Inc., believes Murray will be influential in moving the company into new areas. “Keppel FELS has a solid history and strong reputation in constructing offshore production systems. John’s skill in setting up the systems and tools for technology development at FloaTEC has been instrumental in securing major contract acquisitions and positions us to pursue a greater scope of work in the coming decade.”

J. Ray McDermott Sr. Vice President of Operations Dave Roquemore sees Murray as a cornerstone for growth. “John has the talent and creativity to bring new ideas to fruition. His innovative concepts coupled with the ability of J. Ray and Keppel together to move those concepts into the market create a winning combination.”