Global Oil & Gas: BHGE Introduces Cost-Saving Subsea Technology

Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE) has unveiled Subsea Connect, which combines processes and Aptara™ – a suite of lightweight, modular technologies designed for the full life of field.

Subsea Connect, which the company calls ‘a new approach to subsea development,’ has been in development for about nine months – shortly after oilfield services company Baker Hughes merged with GE Oil and Gas.

BHGE said Subsea Connect can reduce the economic development point of subsea projects by an average of 30 percent and can unlock an additional 16 billion barrels of reserves globally.

It’s made up of four pillars: Project Connect; Reservoir to Topsides Technology Solutions; Flexible Partnerships and Commercial Models; and Digital Enablement.

“We think it’s differentiated, and we know it’s unrivaled in terms of our ability to go from the reservoir all the way to the topside,” BHGE Oilfield Equipment CEO Neil Saunders told members of the media during the launch in Houston Nov. 28.

BHGE believes they can influence 80 percent of the costs associated with offshore projects through its fullstream portfolio.

“Pricing is still difficult for all of us inside the oilfield sector, especially in subsea. But there’s a lot of encouragement in terms of the activity increases we’re seeing,” Saunders said. “We’ll have to work differently, creatively and innovatively to create the opportunity for us to start delivering margin in the way that we were and start to get returns on the investments we’re making.”

Currently, two offshore projects in the North Sea are using the Subsea Connect model, said Graham Gillies, BHGE’s vice president for subsea systems and services. One of the companies is Siccar Point Energy in the Cambo field and the other is Chrysaor.

“The counter to [deepwater cost inflation] is to effectively manage to bring this modular engineered product suite so that we can reduce the other costs around that,” Gillies said. “We can’t sit back and just hope that we can find price through inflation. We’ve got to deliver cost out – a sustainable cost out to make sure the industry remains viable.”source: RIGZONE; by  Valerie Jones Rigzone Staff