Having launched its Fluor Offshore Solutions arm in 2008, Fluor has been busy situating itself to win subsea work when the offshore oil & gas market starts its uptick. The firm most recently announced an alliance with China's Offshore Oil Engineering, a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, to pursue large offshore projects in the Asia-Pacific region.
With this announcement, the two companies entered a formal alliance that reinforces a decade-long relationship the two companies have had, which includes most recently collaborative work on ConocoPhillips' Peng Lai phase two wellhead platforms in Bohai Bay (OE December 2008).
The alliance appeals to Fluor as COOEC has a number of offshore assets plus three fabrication yards for offshore work with a capacity of 400,000t a year and is planning on adding a deepwater yard, according to C Skip Alvarado, vice president and general manager for Fluor Offshore Solutions. 'They've got significant floatover capacity.' COOEC gains global reach through the alliance based on Fluor's many offices around the world, he added.
Alvarado sees the move as bolstering the company's engineering activities. In the past, the company had 'never leveraged ourselves to doing projects on more than an ad hoc, opportunistic basis,' he said. Now, by leveraging offshore capability around the world with the COOEC alliance – they are already on two bid lists together – and a consortium with Global Industries, 'we're confident we'll get our share of the work' as the market upticks, Alvarado said.
The consortium with Global Industries gives Fluor access to transport and installation. 'It's having huge results in terms of qualifying for EPIC work,' he said. 'Our relationship with Global has developed quite well.'
The engineering firm is focusing its efforts on subsea and deepwater technology, he added. 'We see subsea as the one that really has a stretch.'
Two technologies Fluor is keen on are a pipe-in-pipe subsea transfer method for LNG and a deepwater hybrid riser. According to Alvarado, the patented PIP LNG subsea transfer technology has been certified – not in situ – and is awaiting an operator to say 'yes'. The solution to preventing the pipe from cracking under extreme temperatures came with the help of a German steel company, he said. Fluor developed the technology in response to a request for a project that has not been developed, Alvarado explained.
Jim Heavner, Fluor's senior vice president of energy and chemicals, said using the subsea PIP system for LNG transfer could be justified economically: 'It could be a real significant savings, but no one has been willing to invest in serial No1.'
The hybrid riser is still in the conceptual stage, Alvarado said, and a patent has been applied for. The solution involves the composite element and its configuration, he added.
'We think it works.' OE