Subsea Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation Project, SIRAM

Recent experience from field developments on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland have highlighted the cost and schedule risk associated with protecting seabed infrastructure from icebergs. The need to develop innovative alternative systems has been identified by industry as a key driver that will allow future projects to proceed. The use of tie-back infrastructure from future wells to existing production facilities is being assessed for the Grand Banks, while offshore Labrador gas development may involve full subsea production and export, thus, eliminating the requirement for surface facilities altogether. These options require an assessment of iceberg keel interaction with subsea facilities, which includes components such as wellheads, production trees and manifolds. The Subsea Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation project (SIRAM) is C-CORE's response to this need. The SIRAM joint industry project is primarily focused on regions such as the East Coast of Canada — where marginal and satellite developments will necessitate the use of multiple well-drilling centers, but will be adaptable to other regions. This project will be performed to develop solutions for the assessment and development of protection requirements of subsea and wellhead facilities from ice keel impact. The work under SIRAM will see C-CORE expand on its recent efforts to develop analysis and design capability to assess the risk of ice features on facilities, and provide appropriate mitigation and protection strategies. The work will be performed in partnership with oil and gas operators, engineering companies, as well as academic and government researchers, to build on the region's existing expertise in ice hazards management.

The total budget for the SIRAM project is $3.126 million. SIRAM is one of two projects under the program "Protection and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Subsea Infrastructure in Ice Environments". That program has a total value of $8.5 million, funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) under the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF), other government sources, and oil and gas industry operators with interests in Arctic and Sub-arctic offshore production. The second component under this program is the Pipeline Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation project (PIRAM). PIRAM will develop engineering models that address pipeline protection challenges from gouging ice features. These projects began in January 2007 and will be completed in December 2008.