Profit Increase With New Subsea Boosting Products

Abstract

The oil and gas industry is continuously developing new technologies in answer to increasingly challenging demands. In the current market situation, where the oil price is dramatically reduced, these demands are strongly driven by finding the most cost efficient field development solutions. These solutions often call for stretching the requirements on subsea technologies. One solution that has been applied for years, with good track record, is the use of subsea boosting. Pressure on more efficient subsea boosting solutions has led to a number of development initiatives in the industry. Aker Solutions has, together with a few main oil companies, developed a new multiphase pump technology which is soon ready for the market. This will expand the operation envelope for subsea boosting and create better opportunities for more effective offshore field development. A parallel, and equally important, development activity has been the development of a new large duty, 6 MW, subsea motor. This paper will focus on the new 6 MW multiphase pump and motor developed and tested by Aker Solutions and its JIP partners. The step-wise applied development program will be reported, describing the main activities in the qualification of the new technology. Newly obtained results from the pump and motor qualification programs will be presented. Finally, an example will be presented on how this new boosting machine can be utilized to generate increased economic value for a subsea project. The new pump and motor opens up for improved field economics with a greater ability than ever before to maximize profit by increasing the oil recovery and reduce the total production time by, in some cases, several years. This has demonstrated to provide considerably improved net present value since the oil production peaks out years earlier.