WIRELINE ISSUE 28 SUMMER 2014

GE’s Broadfold Road and Brent Avenue sites in Aberdeen are primarily responsible for manufacturing subsea production trees and components such as master valve blocks (MVBs), before the equipment is installed across projects in the North Sea and worldwide. © General Electric 2014 – All Rights Reserved

Subsea solutions Subsea technology has a crucial role to play in maximising recovery from the UK Continental Shelf. Wireline catches up with Chevron and GE Oil & Gas to find out more about the challenges and opportunities ahead. “H istorically, technology has repeatedly extended industry’s capabilities “The offshore oil and gas industry has been applying subsea technology since the mid-1970s and the UK is widely regarded

deeper, harsher, more remote environments, Craig believes, “subsea technology will play an even greater role in extending the production life of the UKCS”. In the pipeline This is exemplified by Chevron’s ongoing Alder field project, a technology-led, 28-kilometre subsea tieback to the Britannia platform in the central North Sea. The high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) gas field was discovered in 1975 but it’s only

as occupying a world-leading position in experience and innovation,” explains Craig. “Much of this has been developed by necessity so that currently more than 40 per cent of the UK’s oil and gas comes from subsea developments.” With the average field discovery size decreasing and the industry venturing into

into new frontier areas and enabled developments that were previously uneconomic,” notes Craig May, managing director of Chevron Upstream Europe. This vital role of technology stands true today, not least in the subsea arena, as the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) enters its next, more complex, phase of development.

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