PRESENTATION FOR PROGRAM AMALAN KEJURUTERAAN GEOMATIK

PELAJAR SARJANA MUDA KEJURUTERAAN AWAM - UTHM

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE FIELD

GEOMATICS FOR CIVIL ENGINEER

PRESENTED BY:
M SYAZWAN KAMIL BIN ABDULLAH
STAFF ENGINEER (GEOTECHNICAL), PETROLIAM NASIONAL BERHAD (PETRONAS)

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 PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. Who Am I & What I Do
2. Objective
3. Offshore Oil & Gas Development Chain
4. Geohazard & Seabed Features Hazard
5. Geophysical Survey
6. Offshore Soil Investigation
7. The Field Geomatics
8. Incident Due to Underestimation of The Field
Geomatics
9. Conclusion
 WHO AM I & WHAT I DO…

▪ Staff Engineer (Geotechnical) in PETRONAS

▪ 16 Years of experience - 7 Years Offshore/ 9 Years Onshore
▪ Area of Expertise i.e., Geohazard Risk Management /Assessment,
Offshore Geohazard Site Investigation – Soil Investigation &
Geophysical Survey, Onshore Construction Work

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 OBJECTIVE

To demonstrate the importance of understanding of the field

geomatics based on my relevant experience mainly in offshore
geohazard site investigation campaign

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OFFSHORE OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT CHAIN
Performing Geohazard Site Investigation Campaign During Exploration & Development Phase
in Green or Brown Field

Geophysical survey Geotechnical Soil Hydrocarbon Drilling via Hydrocarbon Production via
via Conventional Investigation via Soil Boring Jack-Up Rig or Submersible Manned or Unmanned
Geophysical Survey or AUV Vessel Rig Platform

• Minimize the risk of harm to personnel and equipment, and to protect the natural environment.
• Identify all possible constraints and hazards including man-made, natural and geological features which may affect the
operational or environmental integrity of a proposed drilling operation
• Allow appropriate operational practices to be put in place to mitigate any risks identified.
• Provide sufficient data to fully assess potential top-hole drilling hazards at these locations
 POTENTIAL GEOHAZARD & SEABED FEATURES
HAZARD THAT IMPACT TO OFFSHORE FACILITIES
Loss of Million $$$

• Insufficient leg • Presence of Existing

length Piled Platform
• Presence of
Existing Pipeline
• Presence of
• Punch-through Footprint/ Crater
• Sliding
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• Buried channels
• Shallow gas
• Scour • Coral
 GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
Detailed geophysical surveys of the seabed & sub-seabed help in the RISK ASSESSMENT and
cost-effective design of marine structures installations

Single and/or multi-beam echo
sounder - establishing seabed
bathymetry and topography.
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Side scan Sonar - Establishing seafloor
morphology and reflectivity and
Identify seabed features
Sub-bottom Profiling Investigating sub-
seabed geological profile (shallow)
High-resolution Seismic Refraction -
seismic reflection instrument designed for
investigating the sub-seabed geological
profile (deeper)
NEW TECHNOLOGY OF GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY
Via autonomous underwater vehicle, AUV
• Hydrographic Survey
▪ The technology able to produce high
• Pipeline Inspection
resolution data in shorter of time • S&R

▪ Resulting huge cost saving to the

• Marine Geohazards Survey
industry.
• Pre-Engineering and Pre-Lay Survey
▪ AUV is a self propelled, unmanned
underwater vehicle that is remotely
controlled or pre-programmed.
▪ Type of operations:
i. Supervised
ii. Semi-autonomous
iii. Autonomous

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 OFFSHORE SOIL INVESTIGATION
The geotechnical investigation program is designed to acquire reliable information on the
stratigraphy, geological characteristics, and properties of different soils and rocks on site.

Geotechnical data acquisition comprises
a combination of techniques:
Coring and sampling methods via seabed and drilling mode for soil
identification, description, and subsequent offshore laboratory testing
where geotechnical engineering parameters are determined.
In-situ testing for soil stratigraphy and determination of geotechnical
engineering parameters e.g. CPTU, shear vane

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 ANCHOR PATTERN & DEPLOYMENT

• Identify safe place for anchor Corals

deployment Pipeline

• Find suitable vessel heading based on Pockmark

weather condition i.e., wind, swell,

current
• Using hydrographic data acquisition,
navigation and processing software
package e.g., Qinsy, STARFIX Platform

• Using (TMS/BMS) when deployment

assist by AHT vessel Abbreviation:
TMS/BMS - tug/barge management system
AHT – anchor handling tug
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 OFFSHORES GEOTECHNICAL DRILLING SPREAD

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 WHAT IS ACCURACY & PRECISION

• Accuracy is closeness of the measurements to a

specific value
• Precision is the closeness of the measurements to
each other

To achieved both accuracy & precision during geohazard site investigation campaign,
positioning and water depth measurement is the main crucial geomatics activity to be
part of scope of work…
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Geomatics is discipline concerned with the collection, distribution, storage, analysis, processing,
presentation of geographic data or geographic information - wikipedia
 COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEM (CRS)
WHAT IS DATUM?
E.G. TIMBALAI 1948, KERTAU 1968, GDM2000,
WGS 1984
WHAT IS PROJECTION?
e.g. Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Borneo
Rectified Skewed Orthomorphic (BRSO)
WHAT IS GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATE?
Latitude, Longitude
WHAT IS A PROJECTED COORDINATE?
Easting, Northing (m or ft)
Geographic Coordinate Projected Coordinate

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 POSITIONING SYSTEM
• The equipment mobilize and deploy on
the vessel, calibrate (gyro) and verify
(DGPS) at jetty/ wharf
• Positioning using the GNSS via DGPS
system e.g., Veripos ultra
• All coordinates were located based on
the coordinate reference system (CRS)
• The positioning of the proposed location
achieve using real time DGPS with a
minimum of four satellites giving a
three-dimensional fix.
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GNSS - global navigation satellite system
CRS – coordinate reference system
DGPS – Differential Global positioning system
 WATER DEPTH MEASUREMENT

• To ensure drill string count prior to taking the

seabed sample/ geophysical survey
• Calibrate at jetty using the bar check method
• The readings were then corrected with tide
prediction to yield the mean sea level (MSL).
• The tide prediction was based nearest offshore
facilities e.g., Platform.
• Once the vessel is anchored on location, initial
water depth measurement was taken using the ship’s
calibrated echo sounder e.g., Odom echotrac
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 INCIDENT DUE TO
UNDERESTIMATION OF THE FIELD
GEOMATICS
1. Performed offshore site investigation at not intended
location due to wrong coordinate
2. Jack-up spudcan damage due to seabed debris
3. Jack-up leg broken and tilted towards life platform due to
entering existing footprint
4. Jack-up hit shallow gas resultant blowout event due to
misinterpretation of geophysical data
5. Pipeline riser unable to connect due to miss alignment
between pipeline and platform
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6. Anchor dragged and snaped the pipeline on seabed
 CONCLUSION

• Understanding of the field geomatics fundamentals is a must for offshore civil

engineers
• Survey accuracy and precision is main element to be achieved in offshore industry
• Underestimation of positioning and water depth measurement for site
investigation and other offshore activities will lead to catastrophic incident
resultant loss of million dollars

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