FMC Technologies has signed an agreement that establishes a joint industry project with four oil companies – Anadarko, BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell – for the purpose of jointly developing a new generation of deepwater subsea production equipment and systems.
They will be designed and standardised to meet the challenges of producing oil and gas from deepwater reservoirs with pressures of up to 20,000psi and temperatures of over 175C (350F) at the mudline.
By working this way, FMC believes that it will indeed be possible to jointly develop subsea equipment and systems that will meet the technical challenges of high pressures and temperatures, and will serve to improve overall deepwater development through the standardisation of materials, processes, and interfaces, as well as the enhancement of reliability and operability.
FMC is among the leading authorities on subsea hardware development and manufacture. Much of that work has been carried out in Norway because of that country’s strong commitment to supporting development of offshore technologies.
The company is also a key part of Statoil’s drive to create an integrated subsea production system that, in effect, does away with the traditional platform.
Statoil calls its project the Subsea Factory and hopes to have a fully functioning example by 2020.
FMC designs, manufactures and services technologically sophisticated systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions, and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry.
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