By Dave Tucker
Chief Operating Officer
VetcoGray

Getting oil and gas from subsea wells to surface platforms has traditionally meant a lot of waste water, sand and debris gets pumped back too. This puts tremendous strain on all the equipment involved, particularly pumps and risers. So why not separate the elements before they reach the platform.

That thought is one that engineers have been pondering for at least the last 20 years. But it’s only now becoming reality, thanks in large part to the technologies GE developed for Troll and Ormen Lange. Troll, originally intended as a pilot project, has been in full commercial operation since 1999.

We are now building even further on these successful applications, taking many of the core technologies that currently reside on the surface platform and redesigning them to function in the extreme, harsh conditions at the sea floor. The payoff for our customers will be dramatically improved efficiency and therefore more productive and cost-effective operations.

Key elements of subsea processing

Separation, pumping, compression and power technologies are all equally crucial to the successful advancement of subsea processing capabilities – and this combination is really where the various strengths of GE Oil & Gas and VetcoGray shine through.
We have an exceptional range of technologies for power generation, and our strong heritage in rotating equipment is certainly a distinctive advantage with which all our customers are very familiar.

Pumping and power generation are two other core strengths of GE’s Oil & Gas business, and our subsea applications are in line to benefit from the depth of expertise and technology we offer.

We are also working extensively on transforming the control systems that drive and power subsea equipment – creating a brand new generation of control systems.

Our separation story is well documented: after seven years, the Troll subsea separation module remains the only one in commercial operation in the world. GE’s vision in this area played a large part in our 2006 acquisition of VetcoGray, so we are obviously investing significant resources to make subsea processing an industry-wide reality.

Partnership

I can’t stress enough how important a role our customers play in pushing technology boundaries. For instance, as part of our annual planning and development program, we recently conducted a joint Technology Session with Statoil and are planning another soon with Shell. We use these sessions to identify, not only their most important short-term operating requirements, but also their long-term strategic directions – to then determine where and what technology we can add to the equation. We utilize Joint Teams of specialists from various disciplines within GE as well as engineers and technical experts from our customers’ organizations.