GE Oil & Gas has launched a subsea boosting joint industry project, among other new initiatives, at its annual meeting in Florence today.
The subsea boosting JIP aims to develop a new and simplified subsea boosting system that has the potential to reduce lifecycle costs by up to 30% and improve operational flexibility for operators.
The initial phase of the JIP includes Statoil, Total and two other operators. The new system is named the modular contra-rotating pump (MCP) and draws on technology from the GE Aviation business.
The MCP provides the potential to unlock and enable access to more oil in both new and mature wells in a simpler way by reducing the topside and subsea footprint by up to 50% and eliminating equipment such as the barrier fluid system needed in conventional subsea boosting systems.
The other initiatives, developed through customer partnerships, include a new wellhead system and an increase in its turbine testing facilities.
“Collaboration and technology have always underpinned our commitment to quality and delivery, and they continue to do so,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, GE Oil & Gas President and CEO.
Working closely with operators throughout the development and testing process, GE Oil & Gas has introduced its SFX wellhead system, a standardized, full-system solution providing up to 16 times fatigue resistance improvement over the company’s existing systems, for ultra-reliability in fatigue-critical zones. The wellhead is designed to meet priority operator challenges around the need to improve efficiencies, eliminate non-productive time and reduce costs.
Responding to industry needs to optimize products and maximize endurance on severe service applications, GE Oil & Gas is introducing a range extension of its proven LNG Cryogenic Antisurge Valve product line, developed and manufactured at the Bari plant in Italy.
These large size valves have been tested to guarantee seat tightness, now extended to class V with temperature down to -196 °C. By reducing the recirculated flow rate when the valve is closed, GE Oil & Gas is setting new standards for this type of valve.
In response to rapidly growing industry interest in GE Oil & Gas’s world-leading testing capabilities, the company is expanding its Massa testing site, with a focus on supporting testing of the aeroderivative LM2500 gas turbine and becoming the global center of excellence for the testing of the LM2500 gas turbines for oil and gas applications. The Massa testing facility is already the largest such facility in the world and has seen a 300% increase in test cell workload in 2015 - expanding from testing 12 engines per year to 35 engines per year. This is expected to grow by another 50% in 2016.