Technical Considerations for Beaufort Sea Pipelines
The development of Beaufort Sea fields requires construction methods and equipment for pipeline installation and trenching providing a balance between safety, reliability, and economy....
Overview of Soil and Engineering Geologic Conditions in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas
General soil and engineering geologic conditions that are likely to affect exploratory drilling and development activities in six Alaska OCS lease sale areas are discussed. Important conditions...
Strength-Deformation Properties of Arctic Silt
Hydrocarbon exploration and production activities in the Beaufort Sea require construction of gravity structures capable of withstanding extremely large ice loads at sites where the subsea...
Undrained Cyclic Behaviour of Beaufort Sea Silt
Cyclic loading behaviour of Beaufort Sea silt has been studied under triaxial conditions, with and without static shear stress, to define the resistance to liquefaction or cyclic straining...
Analysis of Liquefaction Potential of Hydraulically Placed Subsea Berms
The use of hydraulically placed sand for the construction of artificial islands for hydrocarbon exploration in the Beaufort Sea has necessitated detailed geotechnical evaluations of their...
Arctic Oil Spills in Relationship to Sea Ice Motion
Sea ice on a scale of a few kilometers must be treated as a granular material rather than a continuum. The floes are in nearly constant motion relative to a fixed frame and each other....
An HF CODAR Doppler Transponder System
Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company completed two major phases in the development of a high frequency (HF) CODAR Doppler transponder system for measuring sea ice motion. The system...
Constitutive Equations for Ice as a Damaging Material
Constitutive equations for ice subjected to uniaxial compression are developed based on applications of the theory of continuous damage mechanics. A physical model of ice deformation response...
Sea Ice Indentation Accounting for Strain-Rate Variation
Two levels of ice loading are typically considered in the design of drilling and production platforms for the Arctic. Global ice pressures govern the overall structural geometry and dimensions...
Spalling and Buckling of Ice Sheets
The effect of local eccentricity in the vertical direction on the magnitude of compressive strength of wide ice sheets is studied theoretically. Two new failure modes are identified: indentation...
Deep Water Bering Sea Development Concepts
A brief description of the major environmental factors that a structure used to produce oil and gas in the deep water Bering Sea would have to cope with is presented. In particular, the...
Geotechnical Characteristics of Seafloor Sediments: Norton Sound, Alaska
During the past few years the USGS has been conducting studies in the northern Bering Sea aimed at identifying geologic and environmental conditions that may be hazardous to offshore resource...
Bering Sea Crude Oil Transportation Systems
A study to evaluate and compare the technology and costs associated with crude oil transportation alternatives in the Bering Sea has been conducted. Existing and proposed offshore loading...
Single Point Moorings for the Bering Sea
Multi or single-legged buoy systems such as conventional CALMs or SALMs would not survive the winter season in the Bering Sea because the forces generated in the anchoring chains by pack-ice...
North Sea Technology Transfer to the Bering Sea
Concrete platforms in the North Sea are reviewed, including technological considerations and economic factors involved in their selection and application. The applicability of this technology...
Deep-Water Platform Solutions for the Navarin Basin
The environmental conditions prevailing in the Navarin Basin may impose limitations on the type and shape of production, storage and loading structures. The magnitude of the wind and wave...
Improving Arctic Seafloor Soil Stability
Soft, low strength soil layers at or beneath the Beaufort seafloor mean that soil strengthening may be necessary to ensure the stability of oil exploration and production structures under...
Seabed Strengthening in the Arctic by Deep Mixing
Improvement of soft soil sites in the Beaufort Sea would increase the versatility and usefulness of bottom-founded gravity structures for both mobile drilling units and permanent production...
Arctic Drilling and Production Platform Concept
An 80-well Arctic drilling and production platform for water depths to 100 feet in the Beaufort Sea transition ice zone is presented. It includes a novel inner caisson to help resist large...
A Beaufort Sea Deepwater Production Structure
There will be a need for large crude oil production platforms in Beaufort Sea water depths between 20 and 50 m and at locations with soft seabed soils and far from readily exploitable...
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