Page 38: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Dec/Jan 2014)

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subsea felds.

The industry will require more eff-

OE spoke with experts from cient and simplifed well access and

Aker Solutions, GE Oil & Gas, and intervention as subsea felds get older.

Subsea

This must be delivered without compro-

FMC Technologies to determine what

The future of mising safety and well integrity. Aker subsea technologies will be key for

Solutions has developed a multi work- the industry in 10 years’ time? over system capable of intervention work on any tree, regardless of manufacturer subsea technology

Here’s how they responded.

or age, to help extend the life of subsea felds.

Aker Solutions

We will over the next 10 years see a broader range of advanced subsea ffshore oil exploration will con- production systems, further integration

O tinue to push boundaries over the of subsea and in-well technologies and next decade. There will be an increased simplifed intervention systems. The emphasis on harsh environments, deeper technologies being developed today will waters and more complex reservoir address the key challenges the subsea structures. This will coincide with a need industry faces now and in the future. to increase oil recovery, reduce operat- ing and capital expenditure and extend Hervé Valla is senior the life of existing felds. This creates a vice president of paradox as we seek to advance technol- research, innovation ogy while also reducing costs. and technology

Aker Solutions has been anticipating strategy within Aker these challenges for some time. We have Solutions subsea chosen to invest signifcantly in creating business. A qualifed advanced subsea production systems – a mechanical engineer suite of tools for maximizing oil recov- from Ecole Nationale Superieur des Arts ery through the life of a feld. These et Metiers in Paris, he joined the oil and tools range from seabed booting systems gas industry in 1990 as a process engineer capable of enhancing existing subsea for topside platforms and moved into the infrastructure to key technologies that subsea sector two years later. will enable complete automated subsea Following international experience

A vision for the future: advanced subsea production systems. Photo from Aker Solutions.

facilities. across Europe and West Africa mainly focus for our subsea production alliance additional 280MMboe from Åsgard’s sat- One such solution is subsea gas com- with Technip, Valla joined Aker Solutions with Baker Hughes. The alliance seeks to ellite reservoirs. Moving forward, we will pression technology. The frst subsea gas subsea controls business in 2007. Later, as combine Aker Solutions’ subsea capabili- develop next generation gas compression compression system is on schedule to project director he was responsible for ties with Baker Hughes’ in-well expertise technologies that will be more compact be fully operational in 2015 at Statoil’s several major tenders in Angola, Nigeria to deliver integrated technologies that and scalable. Åsgard feld. The implementation of this and Congo before moving to his current will signifcantly enhance recovery at Maximizing recovery is also a key technology is estimated to generate an post in January 2012.

reliability, availability and effciency— deliver technical expertise and opera-

GE Oil & Gas and ultimately get more value out of their tional support globally. Better and equipment. quicker decision-making will drive he oil and gas industry is experi- Today, we are seeing machines more reduced downtime and lower operational

T encing tremendous transformation connected, with more data being col- expenses across the enterprise. with the emergence of the “Industrial lected and analyzed. Looking forward, GE is helping customers begin this

Internet”—a place in which the physical the industry will look to create even journey today with a solution called and analytical worlds come together. The more value from this data, with better Unifed Operations, which gives oil and industrial world, where GE has oper- analytics, scaled beyond the asset level gas companies an enterprise visualiza- ated for more than 100 years, is being to encompass the operations of an entire tion and interaction layer for asset and digitized and reshaped by software and enterprise. operations optimization. It delivers big data analytics, opening up new levels The industry will look to Industrial critical information from all equipment, of productivity for oil and gas customers, Internet technology that connects data across various facilities and locations. especially those operating offshore. across the value chain and eliminates With that visualization the software

Software coupled with expertise- data silos. With a connected enterprise, provides actionable insights and allows driven services will play a critical role in data-driven insights relating to opera- users to quickly connect with a network helping oil and gas companies achieve tions and maintenance can be made of experts.

improved outcomes, including improved available faster and to a much broader As more subsea power, processing pro- safety, maximized production, better audience, resulting in the ability to duction and controls-related infrastructure

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