SHELL has firmed up on its order for a new type of low-profile subsea production tree developed by GE Oil & Gas’s drilling and production division in Aberdeen.
Together with earlier front-end engineering design (FEED) work undertaken on behalf of Shell UK and Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), this order has been placed under GE’s existing regional frame agreement with Shell.
GE says the SVXT will be delivered to Shell in Q4 this year and installed in the Southern North Sea during Q1 2011.
Jan Duinhoven, SWEEP project manager for Shell NAM, said in a statement: “Reliable, more compact and cost-effective solutions are required in the mature Southern North Sea to be able to profitably develop the remaining gas accumulations.”
This is why Shell NAM commissioned GE to design this type of tree, which made its debut at Offshore Europe 2009 in Aberdeen. The SVXT merges horizontal and vertical tree technology and is intended for harsh shallow-water fields, predominantly in the North Sea but also for global export.
According to GE, the streamlined SVXT design reduces tree weight by more than 20%, significantly decreases height and delivers essential functionality in a pre-engineered, pre-configured “modular” approach.
Low-cost installation of the new SVXT is achieved through a design that enables deployment using standard offshore jack-up drilling rigs without the need for major modifications. GE has been gradually overhauling its VetcoGray facility in Aberdeen to both streamline and increase throughput of this new tree, plus existing models.