Unconventional resources

Production in zones located far offshore requires the development of subsea separation units for gas, oil and water. The GOwSP fluid separation platform located at the IFP Energies nouvelles Lyon site, jointly developed with Total, is a key component in understanding the mechanisms at play.
It also makes it possible to test separation equipment for third parties in representative conditions or to analyze the behavior of a gas, oil and water mixture in a separator.

Subsea production in zones located far offshore also requires the transportation of effluents over several hundreds of kilometers. Irrespective of the quality of pipeline insulation, it is essential to control the formation and transport of hydrates under these conditions.
In this area, IFP Energies nouvelles operates two JIPs: Hysiflo for the transportation of hydrates in a predominantly oily phase, and AHToL, for their transportation in a predominantly gas phase fluid. IFP Energies nouvelles is also conducting research into the restarting of paraffin crude flows in oil pipelines as part of the ColdStart JIP. In addition, in order to simultaneously transport all the liquid and gaseous effluents, IFP Energies nouvelles has contributed to the development of multiphase pump system (Poseidon). Developments are currently being conduted on software capable of calculating the performance of these pumps.

To bring deep offshore fields into production (in over 2,500 meters of water), it is essential to reduce the weight of risers. Ongoing research makes it possible to consider a weight reduction of up to a factor of 2. In addition, a decrease in the immobilization time of marine drilling installations would also lead to a significant reduction in costs. To address this dual challenge, IFP Energies nouvelles is studying a new version of the Clip-Riser®, a bayonet connector system designed for drill risers.

IFP Energies nouvelles is also developing technologies to facilitate the treatment of very sour gases. These technologies include the Sprex® process, developed in partnership with Prosernat and Total. The process separates CO₂ and H₂S from the natural gas and these can then be stored in an underground reservoir, thereby helping to combat climate change, or in the case of CO₂, be exported for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery operations.

Finally, unconventional gases could also play an important role in replacing reserves. In particular, these include tight gas, coal gas and shale gas. The latter, produced from argillaceous rocks, are already extracted in the USA. But, on a European level, their potential has yet to be evaluated. IFP Energies nouvelles is participating in the European Gash consortium, led by GFZ and also including TNO and the University of Newcastle. It is responsible for the basin modeling aspects of the project.

+ Industrial development > Exploration - production