Impact of hydrocarbon production on seabed geohazards

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

The project evaluates the impact of hydrocarbon production-induced seabed deformation on the risk of triggering geohazards and thereby increasing the risk to installations offshore. The new model and the finite element calculations will be based on the integration of subsurface knowledge from shallow site investigations (geotechnical) and from deeper investigations (geophysics and geomechanicqal modelling of reservoir). Earlier, only the impact from natural hazards (e.g. earthquakes, current, diapirs) were studied. In the present research, the impact of "man-made" hazards (in this case, production-induced seabed deformation) will be modelled. As seen from the Ekofisk subsidence, the "man-made" deformation due to the deep subsurfaces (i.e. reservoir compaction) caused shallow subsurface geohazards (i.e. landslides, damage on seabed installation, etc). The reserach will result in a geohazards risk map at a location where for example fissures have been encountered, and the allowable operational pressures in oil and gas reservoirs.