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28 st / July 2014 www.sea-technology.com project management, fnal assembly and testing services, ultimately delivering connectors and cables for the Pa- cifc Santa Ana's major DGD components, including (from deepest to shallowest): blowout preventer (BOP), seawater-powered MaxLift pump, solids processing unit (SPU) to feed the MaxLift pump drilling mud containing solids at the maximum pumpable size of 1.5-inch thick- ness, and subsea rotating device (SRD) to separate mud from riser fuid. In total, SEA CON provided more than 360 cable as- semblies, 720 bulkhead connector receptacles and mul- tiple pressure-compensated distribution manifolds (totals including spares), most of which were purpose-devel- oped to meet critical API guidelines. Pacifc Santa Ana is rated for 12,000 feet of water dur- ing normal drilling operations. It is equipped with a DGD riser, a mud lift pump handling system, six mud pumps (three for drilling fuid and three for seawater), extensive fuid management system enhancements, and more than 13 miles of DGD-related cables. The DGD system is rat- ed for 10,000 feet. One of the key efforts was to ensure system-wide commonality of cables, connectors and spares through- out the drill stack interconnects, not just in the MaxLift Pump portion but in the overall system as well. Because SEA CON was a strategic vendor for the MaxLift Pump, it was requested that SEA CON engineers work with their counterparts from the other project participants to order cables and connectors ensur- ing MaxLift Pump, SRD, and SPU interconnection and in- teroperability. It was essential to work with fellow suppliers to ensure system-wide con- nector compatibility, with components ordered by the most effcient and economi- cal "just-in-time" process and staged before installation on the Pacifc Santa Ana. SEA CON also provided deck cables and test boxes needed for on-site predeployment systems integration tests. SEA CON's role as cable and con- nector logistics support vendor resulted in a high degree of reliability and assurance of component compatibility among connectors from various vendors that had to interop- erate smoothly. SEA CON provided fnal connector checks and balances. Through its knowledge of the overall scope of the program, SEA CON could optimize among ordering, production, shipping and installation schedules, taking ad- vantage of economies of scale and ensuring that spares were judiciously procured and staged. Current Status After installation in late 2013, the DGD system was "wet-deployed" aboard the Pacifc Santa Ana in the Gulf of Mexico in February 2014, drilling exploratory holes and un- dergoing trials in preparation for full-production DGD. The tests are ongoing. Pacifc Santa Ana is one of fve purpose- designed, DGD-capable drillships owned by Pacifc Drilling (Houston) that are either working today or under construc- more closely match the pressures presented by nature and effectively eliminates water depth as a consideration in well design. DGD also allows drillers to more quickly detect and appropriately react to downhole pressure changes." In September 2001, the semisubmersible drillrig Ocean New Era, capable of drilling in 1,500-foot depths, drilled a successful DGD test well at 910 feet in the Gulf of Mexico, in the world's frst subsea feld test of a full-scale DGD sys- tem. 2008 Highlights In 2008, a two-year, front-end engineering design (FEED) program was initiated for DGD. Due to the complex re- quirements for this project, SEA CON reached across mul- tiple divisions, collaborating to provide connector design, (Top) SEA CON developed many different API-compliant connectors that allowed the DGD system to utilize the proper connectors for a given application. In this photo, multiple Metal Shell Series connec- tors have a range of shell sizes, all of which have test ports enabling seal verifcation prior to deployment. (Right) SEA CON de- veloped pressure-compensated distributor canisters that enabled each sensor to be individually connected to allow for easier maintenance/replacement. This canister was designed to remain fully operational in the event of internal water fooding. It utilizes a SEA CON MSSK Series API-compliant trunk cable connector and multiple Metal Shell XSEE connectors.