07 September 2013, News Wires – Statoil has forged a technology pact with ABB to develop solutions for subsea power transmission for electrification of fields off Norway and in other parts of the world.
The jointly funded programme, led by Statoil with participation by other oil companies, will entail investments of around $100 million over a five-year period to develop technologies to supply electrical power for subsea pumps and gas compressors.
It follows a subsea electrification study carried out by Statoil and ABB, with the Norwegian state-owned company looking to supply new field developments off Norway with electricity supplies from land rather than using more pollutive gas-fired turbines on platforms.
The goal of the technology effort is to come up with more cost-efficient and reliable solutions using a single cable to power subsea equipment over long distances, rather than multiple cables for each component.
Statoil’s senior vice president for research, development and innovation Karl Johnny Hersvik said this could lead to cost savings of around $500 million on a power distribution system feeding eight subsea installations 200 kilometres from shore.
The technology is considered a key element to supply power for Statoil’s so-called “subsea factory”, with the goal of putting an entire processing system on the seafloor by 2020.
Potential areas of application include the Arctic, where electrical transmission must be carried out over long distances to develop remote fields, as well as deep-water regions such as the Gulf of Mexico.
– Upstream
