Page 16: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2020)

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FEATURE SUBSEA TIEBACKS

TYING BACK TO

THE FUTURE

By Svein Strømberg,

Executive Director for Subsea

Tie-backs at Baker Hughes ower costs, improved productivity and increased yield. These have always been the goals of the global energy industry. However, after the exceptionally dif- fcult business conditions of the past fve years and

L current market volatility, this mantra has become more mean- ingful than ever. It is now the driver of signifcant advances in technology, design methodologies and integrated implemen- tation processes.

The past few years have re-shaped the energy industry and locked in a new way of doing things. For example, the indus- try has made solid progress when it comes to reducing the average costs of subsea projects. Indeed, offshore tie-backs to existing hosts can now be considered competitive with certain onshore basins, such as some shale production.

Investment emphasis has also moved away from high- profle standalone developments, which have the potential for big rewards but come with a higher risk of cost overruns and delayed returns. Instead, the focus is now on more tacti- cal exploitation of existing discoveries, converting contingent resources to reserves. Priorities are now shorter cycle: adding cost-effective capacity to existing pumping processes, for ex- ample, or maximizing extraction at lower lifting cost.

The significance of small differences

In these circumstances, increasing margins is not just a question of increasing capacity. Instead, it’s about creating a signifcant impact from small differences across the entire 16 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM