Page 68: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2019)

TECH FILE Subsea Connection

Subsea Connect with BHGE ew lightweight, modular subsea technologies The Aptara technologies are modular, structured, compact could reduce not just lead times for equipment de- and designed to be more responsive to changing conditions livery but lower the total cost of ownership for the across the life of ? eld, cutting total cost of ownership by up to

Nfull life of the ? eld. 50 percent. For ex-ample, at the outset of a ? eld’s productive

Baker Hughes, a GE company, revealed its thinking on sub- life, a high-integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS) tree sea developments during a launch event in Houston in Novem- cap may be required, but eventually the ? eld will need a stan- ber. The Subsea Connect system is centered around Project dard production tree cap, then a boosting tree cap, Saunders

Connect, reservoir to topside technology solutions, ? exible said. That equipment may be there for the entire life of the partnerships and commercial models and digital enablement, well, even though it is not needed during the entire productive and BHGE believes the combination of these four pillars can life of the well, he added.

reduce the economic development cost of subsea projects by With the modular Aptara subsea system, Saunders said, ? rst an average of 30 percent. a HIPPS tree cap can be placed on the wellhead, and it can be

Neil Saunders, president & CEO of BHGE’s Oil? eld Equip- removed and replaced with the production tree cap, then the ment business, said that price reduction could make a margin- boosting tree cap as the well’s production stream changes. The al asset attractive for development and improve the economics Aptara subsea system can contribute up to 50 per-cent cost of one that already meets breakeven requirements. saving over the total cost of ownership, he said.

Historically, said Graham Gillies, BHGE vice president for The Aptara system ? ts under the reservoir to topsides tech- subsea, the subsea portion of a ? eld can claim 30 percent to 50 nology solutions pillar, which draws on BHGE’s fullstream percent of the project development costs. capability to offer reservoir management, ? eld development,

The downturn of the industry forced rounds of cost-cutting well construction, topside optimization and subsea engineer- measures, with many subsea vendors bringing prices for tech- ing. With Project Connect, BHGE helps customers target nology and equipment down by about 30 percent and thereby speci? c project outcomes and increase speed to ? nancial in- driving down the breakeven price for projects. vestment decision. The third component – using ? exible part- “But that 30 percent is not enough. We needed to do more,” nerships and commercial models – is designed to leverage re-

Saunders said. lationships with partners to improve project economics.

As a result, BHGE looked at different ways to further lower Digital enablement is aimed at driving uptime and enhanc- costs. The answer, Saunders said, lay in removing costs at an ing productivity. BHGE’s engageSubsea asset lifecycle man- opex level over the life of the ? eld, rather than purely during agement solution, for example, could drive up to a 20 percent the capex portion of a project. The result was Subsea Connect, reduction in maintenance costs, and up to a 5 percent reduc- which he said the company believes will make a “long-lasting, tion in downtime through predictive analytics.

sustainable change and driving value from concept to com- “We’re already delivering against Subsea Connect,” Saun- missioning and over the full life of ? eld.” ders said, noting the company has invested signi? cantly in

A major component of that is the newly revealed Aptara structuring its subsea production systems portfolio to en-

TOTEX-lite subsea system, which includes the lightweight sure shorter lead times and quicker responses. “We have also compact tree, modular compact manifold, composite ? exible signed an agreement with a major operator to provide the Ap- risers, SFX wellhead solution, modular compact pump and tara lightweight compact tree for deployment next year.” subsea connection systems. By Jennifer Pallanich, OEDigital.com

Image: Baker Hughes

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