Page 52: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2019)

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SUBSEA UTC

Subsea and beyond, but not without a few global challenges

Ahead of this year’s Underwater Technology Conference (UTC) in Bergen,

Elaine Maslin spoke with key members of the program committee to hear their thoughts on the state of the nation.

BY ELAINE MASLIN rom its humble beginnings in the offshore oil and gas was head of subsea at what was then Statoil between 2007-2010. industry, just 50 years ago, Norway has become a “Then, subsea was replacing platforms,” he says. “There was, in front-runner in subsea technology development. general, a high activity with continuous technology development

F While through its early years, it leaned on expertise and innovation.” But then, up to 2014, costs grew out of propor- from Houston, it now supplies technology to the world. Yet, tion, and when the oil price crash came in early 2015, the tables there are major changes coming within the industry driven by were turned. Equinor started to look at alternatives to subsea, global trends. In the short term, there’s been a welcome increase such as the “wellhead on a stick,” which we now see borne out in activity following four long years in a downturn character- in the Vest