Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Britain’s Oil & Gas Technology Centre is supporting four subsea projects designed to help unlock 3.4 Bboe in marginal fields in UK waters.
Carlo Procaccini, Head of Technology at the Oil & Gas Authority said:
“Small pools represent a significant opportunity to maximize economic recovery…
“Technology deployment is key to redefining our sector by reducing the costs of development wells, designing optimizedsubsea infrastructure, or developing efficient standalone concepts to capitalize on the potential of small pools.”
The four projects are as follows:
- Flexlife, Proserv, Infinity, DeepOcean, and Axis are developing a standardized tieback bundle, with integrated pipeline and umbilical, and a subsea manifold that can be redeployed for different field developments. A standardized bundle could in theory simplify the design and manufacture of small pool field developments, bringing them online quicker and thereby cutting costs.
- Glasgow Caledonian University, Edinburgh University, and other companies will work on a smart modular power network to transform how electrical power is delivered subsea. The aims are increased reliability, reduced maintenance needs, and flexibility in terms of installation, operation and re-use.
- Marine Direct Consultants aims to certify its RapidPipe system to provide a re-usable mechanical connection system for rigid flowlines. The system, which can recover and re-use flowlines, should help lower manufacturing costs and cut installation times.
- Robert Gordon University and Alliance Manchester Business School will identify the barriers to adopting a ‘plug and play’ approach to field developments, examining industrial culture and organizational behavior in order to boost collaboration within the oil and gas industry.
At the end of next month, the Centre plans to launch its next Small Pools Call for Ideas, focused on smart communications subsea.
It will be looking for innovations to transform subsea developments, moving away from hydraulics to an all-electric approach, and for solutions to improve subsea connectivity by developing a ‘subsea internet of things,’ including sensors, software and wireless communications.
04/24/2018
