Page 54: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Mar/Apr 2024)

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TECH FEATURE SUBSEA SUPPLY CHAIN

Steering a Resilient

Subsea Supply Chain

Through Foggy Weather

A perfect storm is brewing in the subsea supply chain, early engagement is needed to bring fairer weather writes

Carl Pilmer, Energy Sales Director at JDR Cables.

o date, the manufacture of UK-made subsea ca- imize effciencies to give those projects – be it oil and gas, bles and umbilicals has been a runaway success offshore wind, hydrogen or carbon capture, utilization and story, backed by rapid development in dynamic storage (CCUS) – the best possible chance of going ahead.

Tcable technologies and underpinned by enthusi- It is always a bitter pill to swallow when we hear that a fnal asm for the energy transition. The importance of a strong investment decision has been knocked back because a proj- offshore supply chain is undeniable, ensuring new projects ect’s CapEx or OpEx requirements are too high, knowing achieve fruition in a safe and effcient way, whilst also pro- if we had been brought in earlier, we could have proposed tecting and evolving current offshore infrastructure. more cost-effcient design and engineering options.

However, concerns over the outcome of the government’s When we know project details early and gain timely ac- latest Contracts for Difference round, long lead times to turn cess to fnal investment decision information, solutions can new North Sea oil and gas licenses into production, and the be effciently designed and resources planned, helping to far-reaching impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are maximise investment, as well as accelerating and streamlin- beginning to see the future look decidedly overcast. ing project delivery. For example, we have innovated new

The forecast? Possible storms ahead. cable designs to mitigate fuctuating steel and copper costs

We know that many of these factors are outside of the off- and supply constraints. As a business, we have also invested shore industry’s control. Increasing project costs, heightened in 132kV cable technologies and manufacturing facilities to

East-to-West competition, and M&A deals that have put new meet the future demands of higher-powered energy assets.

energy infrastructure project plans on the backburner, are all percolating together to create a foggy outlook. However, the

Making the Most of Subsea Innovation subsea supply chain is used to turbulence and its resilience In fact, most subsea supply chain companies welcome has weathered many energy industry storms over the decades. the opportunity to provide design and engineering works so that the details for a proposed project can be as accu- rate and innovative as possible. With new technologies and

Early Engagement to Navigate Stormy Seas

One thing that has the potential to bring much fairer incremental improvements being developed in the subsea weather to the industry is early project engagement. The space all the time, developers can beneft from working impact of early engagement is two-fold. First, it brightens collaboratively with the supply chain on their plans. the future for those operating within the subsea supply As an example, at JDR Cables, we have developed a ther- chain and allows it to remain responsive to the needs of de- moplastic hose solution that is suitable for the longest sub- velopers and confdence in the industry’s direction of travel. sea tiebacks when used with industry standard multiplexed

But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we can max- control systems with 25-year design lives. The umbilical 54 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM