Page 18: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Mar/Apr 2020)

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SUBSEA Tiebacks

SUBSEA: TIEBACKS:

PROJECTS AND

TECHNOLOGIES

Subsea tiebacks have been the saving grace for the subsea industry.

With fast payback, monetizing low hurdle opportunities in operator’s portfolios, they’ve provided work for the supply chain and return on investment for operators – or 66% of recent ?nal investment decisions,

Elaine Maslin reports.

t’s a trend that’s set to continue even as green?eld proj- ects start to return to the mix. Mhairidh Evans, principal analyst, upstream supply chain at Wood Mackenzie, says subsea tiebacks have dominated through 2014-2018.

I “In the projects sanctioned in that period, only 13 had more than 15 wells associated with them and some of those were tiebacks. Operators pulled in their spending and tiebacks became the development concept of choice, for those pushing on with developments.”

The activity was notable in 2018, which saw a return to growth, after a 20-year global low for new contracts in 2016.

The North Sea is a big part of the growth. In 2018 and 2019, almost 30% of new subsea wells sanctioned were in the UK and Norway. 18 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM