DNV GL, Petrobras, Shell, Statoil and Woodside have kickstarted a joint industry project (JIP) to make subsea processing systems more efficient.
Subsea development projects have been under substantial pressure due to cost inflation and the low oil price, prompting a need to simplify the industry’s approach. The JIP is to drive standardisation, beginning with subsea pumping, to ensure benefits throughout the subsea supply chain.
Harnessing Technology
Subsea processing is a relatively young and undeveloped field of technology, requiring operators to tailor-make solutions to meet field-specific requirements. If that technology could be better understood and harnessed, there is considerable potential for it to deliver increased value at reduced costs.
Experience in the field has already grown significantly in recent years with subsea pumping developments from the JIP members (Petrobras, Shell, Statoil and Woodside) and other major operators.
Standardisation of Subsea Pumping
The JIP "Subsea Processing – Standardisation of Subsea Pumping" seeks to deepen industry knowledge and encourage progress in this area by examining the potential for standardisation in subsea processing, beginning with subsea pumping.
Standardisation still allows for flexibility to create custom facilities at a system level through standard functional descriptions and specifications. However, it also increases predictability in the value chain, thus lowering transaction costs and improving the speed of implementation, while still allowing freedom to innovate and to employ new technology.
Additional Collaborators Sought
DNV GL is currently calling for collaborators within the oil and gas supply industry to input into the JIP, to suggest additional areas which they believe could benefit from standardisation and to input into the creation of this important new industry standard.
The JIP will initially focus on subsea pumping in two phases:
- firstly, to establish a focus for the study by developing a functional description for subsea pumping and specific targets for possible standardisation; and,
- secondly, to share industry knowledge and create best practice guidance through the creation of a recommended practice for industry-wide use.
