Siemens said yesterday the business it has just acquired from international oilfield service company Expro, of Aberdeen, meant it now had all it needed to complete a new subsea power grid.
The German industrial-machinery manufacturer has acquired Expro’s connectors and measurements (C&M) business in a near-£400million deal.
Siemens said it had postponed its plans, by a year, to unveil the first subsea power grid to tap growing demand by oil and gas producers for power at depths of more than 9,500 feet.
The C&M business will provide the final technology for the project, which was originally expected to deliver a proto-type grid later this year.
A spokeswoman for Siemens yesterday said development of the proto-type was “a little bit delayed”.
The grid is designed to provide the power needed to transport oil and gas from wellheads to processing facilities.
Siemens anticipates the subsea market will double by 2020 from £14.5billion last year and the subsea power grid market, estimated at £500million in 2009, will be around £1.67billion by 2020.
Expro announced the sale of its C&M business earlier this week. The unit, which had revenue of about £75million in 2011, employs about 450 people at Ulverston in northern England, Norway, America, Brazil and Malaysia.