$14m Up For Grabs in RPSEA R&D Program

Press Release October 25, 2012

RPSEA Releases Ultra-Deepwater Program RFP to fund research & development projects to secure energy for America.

The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) announces the release of the remaining 2011 Ultra-Deepwater Program request for proposals (RFP) to award $14 million in oil and natural gas research and development projects offshore.

This RFP will include the following four Technical Areas of Interest:

5401 - Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Riser for Dry Tree Drilling of High Pressure Wells (S&ES). The objective of this technical area of interest is to develop a carbon-fiber reinforced riser for dry tree Gulf of Mexico drilling, by expanding on the results from RPSEA Project 07121-1401. It involves designing several full scale riser samples, deploying and testing them in a deepwater environment, and retrieving them for additional testing, all as part of a field tested - field ready qualification process.
5402 - Integrity Management of Risers to Support Deepwater Drilling and Production Operations (S&ES). The objective of this technical area of interest is to develop a reliable, cost-effective system for real-time, riser integrity management that enables end users to remotely monitor the health and performance of deepwater riser systems and improve the long-term integrity management and reliability of deepwater riser systems.
5404 - Vortex Induced Vibration Study for Deep Draft Column Stabilized Floaters (S&ES). The objective of this technical area of interest is to conduct a study and model test to determine the sensitivity of the vortex induced motion (VIM) response to the geometric parameters of deep draft semisubmersibles, as a follow-up to the RPSEA Project 07121-1402b.
5801 - Hi-Res Environmental Data for Enhanced UDW Operations Safety (S&ES). The objective of this technical area of interest is to accurately measure bottom currents, currents during a joint hurricane-eddy, and surface currents, real-time, and develop reliable and repeatable models to enable more reliable and safer design of pipelines, flexible flow lines, and floating vessels, and to improve forecasting of currents (and potentially releases) in large loss of well control situations.