Page 47: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2012)

www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 47with much less downtime and at much lower cost than either changing or re-designing the original control sys- tem. Gordon Birnie, engineering manager with Aker Solutions' Subsea Lifecycle Services group in Bergen, believes that production downtime could be eliminated completely for very simple installations. More complex jobs could required anywhere from a few hours of down- time, to one or two days, depending on complexity andthe need for testing after installation. This makes it attractive to operators who want to enhance their sensor systems with minimal disruption to production. Birnie said that the PodEx is beginning to attract atten- tion from several North Sea operators. Three PodEx mod- ules have been ordered and completed installation testing for Statoil´s Njord field on January 15 2012. The topside part of the PodEx system is planned to be installed off- shore in March 2012 and the first subsea unit is planned to be installed and commissioned in April 2012 Framo EngineeringBergen-based Framo Engineering has developed a cut- ting-edge subsea wet gas boosting system, which Statoil is considering for the Gullfaks field. The Framo Multiphase Compressor is a counter-rotat- ing subsea compressor capable of boosting gas containing both water and condensate ? a significant improvement on conventional wet gas compression systems which rely on upstream processing and a liquid pump, in combina- tion with a dry gas compressor. By contrast, Framo's Wet Gas Compressor is designed specifically for the pressure boosting of an unprocessed well stream. By eliminating the need for upstream compression, the compressor has the potential to save operators money and overcome the challenges of declining production or difficult-to-access gas resources. The Wet Gas Compressor builds on Framo's well-estab- lished expertise in developing subsea pump systems. Its Framo Engineering´s Wet Gas Compressor unit hanging from a crane prior to installation in the test loop tank.