ABUAD Journal of Engineering Research and Development (AJERD) Volume 1, Issue 1, 115-123 www.ajerd.abuad.edu.ng/ 115 Adopting Kurtosis for Condition Monitoring of Subsea Production System Ndubuisi Uchechukwu OKEREKE 1,* , Yahaya Danjuma BABA 1 , Adebayo OGUNYEMI 1 , John Olusoji OWOLABI 1 , Mayowa Adeoye LALA 1 1 Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, Afe Babalola University, Km. 8.5 Afe Babalola way, Ado-Ekiti okerekenu@abuad.edu.ng/yahya2k@gmail.com/owolabijohn@abuad.edu.ng/lalamayowaadeoye@yahoo.com * Corresponding Author: okerekenu@abuad.edu.ng Date of First Submission: 28/09/2017 Date Accepted: 24/10/2017 Abstract: Subsea systems and components overtime are susceptible to failures and degradation which if not detected early could cause immense damage to the subsea architecture and result in significant revenue loss in oil and gas production. Within a typical subsea production system (such as the subsea control module), the probability of system failure is distributed in a way that allows condition monitoring techniques/algorithms to detect early malfunction before total failure occurs. This study focused on the application of Kurtosis algorithm to ascertain the probability of failure of a subsea pump device. The Kurtosis algorithm was applied to data acquired for a typical subsea pump as sourced from [1]. The vibration data gathered was used to assess the level of degradation of the subsea pump. The subsea multiphase pump considered in the case-study operates at a pressure rating of up to 15,000psi and a differential pressure of about 2,500psi. Data was obtained based on vibration signals on the subsea pump and Kurtosis algorithm was used to evaluate the performance of the subsea pump. Results of this study indicated 94.3% availability of the subsea pump, highlighting that the subsea pump was functioning optimally. This study also identified that industry was geared towards deploying cloud based condition monitoring, thereby making it easy to remotely monitor offshore asset from land based control stations. This study recommended integrating Kurtosis algorithm into some of the future cloud based condition monitoring approaches, considering the robustness of the algorithm. This paper also highlighted the relevance of condition monitoring on other subsea components. Keywords: Algorithm, Back pressure, Condition monitoring, Multiphase, Kurtosis 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background/Problem Definition In order to improve offshore oil and gas asset life and improve production from offshore oil and gas asset, there is the urgent need to improve on maintenance strategies deployed in offshore oil and gas industry. This paper focused on assessing condition monitoring strategies deployed in managing offshore oil and gas assets. Making reference to Figure 1 below, global offshore oil and gas production is projected to supercede 50 MMboe/d beyond 2020 with asset services projected to contribute over 40% of the expenditure [2]. In order to optimize the expenditure for offshore oil and gas production, there is the need ensure deployment of suitable condition monitoring strategy. In this study, Kurtosis algorithm was deployed in carrying out condition monitoring of subsea pump. Subsea pumps require regular maintenance resulting from general degradation based on the operating conditions of the pump. Such maintenance is carried out at intervals in order to minimize operational breakdown. Basically, a planned maintenance minimises production losses for the company unlike unplanned shut down. Figure 1:Maintenance, Modification and Operations Market [2] Typically, an efficient maintenance regime includes a warning system that indicates the need for a planned intervention at a specific time. For instance, in the operation of compressor pumps, some key parameters are monitored by observing the data associated with such parameters, thereby enabling the prediction of the time for maintenance. This paper focussed on carrying out a contemporary review on condition monitoring techniques and deploying kurtosis in the condition monitoring of the shaft of a sample subsea pump case-study. Subsequent sections of this paper involved the definition of the concept of condition monitoring, the benefits of condition monitoring, an updated review on condition monitoring techniques and a case-study on assessment of subsea pump degradation. 1.2 Definition of Condition Monitoring This refers to the continued monitoring of the performance of a machine by means of embedded sensors while it is in operation. This mechanism allows information to be obtained externally about the internal order of a machine while still in