The need to help small companies in a French offshore industry that has always punched above its weight was a key factor behind the recent amalgamation of the country’s leading oil & gas trade bodies. Meg Chesshyre reviews this and other talking points at the latest Subsea Europe gathering in Paris.
The July 2011 merger of France’s two leading oil & gas associations, GEP and AFTP †, brought together 1300 companies and professionals whose expertise ranges across the entire oil & gas sector spectrum. To achieve its goals, the new GEP-AFTP skills network provides a full range of tools and services to its members, giving them enhanced support for their international development.
The enlarged association’s objectives are to support the international deployment of French oil & gas sector expertise and to promote technological and industrial excellence among France’s hydrocarbons industry worldwide.
Former GEP president Jean Ropers, having previously spent most of his career in Total’s Exploration & Production division, was elected as president of the new association, with Dominique Michel serving as its first vice-president. Gerard Momplot was named general manager and Gabriel Gombart deputy general manager.
The sector has a very high capacity for innovation, commented Ropers, describing it as an innovation chain.
‘Together we have a fantastic new tool to foster the growth of our members’ position in the international oil & gas industry: our technologies and our skills will find new uses in alternatives energies,’ he said. ‘GEP-AFTP is now one of the major associations of oil and gas professionals internationally.
‘What is behind this is that we want to do more with the small companies. We want to help the small companies to sustain their markets, where they’re already selling products or services, and if possible to increase their share. For that we are helped by the large companies like Technip, Subsea 7, Saipem, CGGVeritas, Schlumberger, Total, GDF Suez, Vinci Entrepose, and Schneider.
‘What we would like, what we are trying to do by merging the two associations, companies on one side and professionals on the other, is to take advantage of the new retired personnel from the industry to help the small oil & gas service companies to stay up to date, to help the innovators to be in line with real demand.’ Ropers sees a need to standardise the procedure and probably the products, mainly in deepsea development. ‘I guess the experienced professional can help the new professional with that.’
He added that his members were interested in everywhere where there were new subsea developments – West Africa, Brazil, SouthEast Asia, Australia and in the longer term, the Arctic. Ghana was a new country and Guyana, where Tullow had also been successful, was also of interest.
GEP-AFTP Citeph (Collaborative technological innovation in exploration and production of hydrocarbons) facilitates access for SMEs to private funding for R&D projects. Established in 2007 it completed its fifth funding programme in 2011 involving an expenditure of E5 million on 24 research and development programmes with Total providing some 50% of the funds. The sponsors are: CGGVeritas, Doris, Entrepose Contracting, GDF Suez, Saipem, Schlumberger, Subsea 7, Technip and Total with the support of the IFP.
Honeymoon over
‘The honeymoon period is well and truly over,’ Subsea UK’s chief executive Neil Gordon told Subsea Europe attendees in November. Gordon, referring to his time in office since taking over as CEO from Alistair Birnie last July. Originally trained as a commercial diver, Gordon spent four years managing the National Hyperbaric Centre in Scotland prior to joining Subsea UK. More recently he developed the subsea safety training and consultancy aspect of the business, regularly lecturing to subsea engineers and delivering a range of training courses both in the UK and overseas.
‘I have taken on what I consider is a very good and well run organisation, inherited something that is very positive,’ he said. ‘Over the past three years the vibration subsea industry in the UK has performed very well with growth of 27% and we are looking ahead to substantial growth predicted by both the operators and the subsea construction companies for the next few years, so it is a very good positive outlook.’
Gordon described the UK as a global centre of excellence, due to the large subsea construction companies having their operational headquarters there, with ‘SURF City’ developing in the Westhill area of Aberdeen (OE September 2007). ‘We have a strong knowledge base and a strong technology,’ he added. ‘We are looking at going into deeper waters again, which pushes our limits and some of our technology. We are looking at longer tiebacks as well.’
According to a 2010 survey, the subsea market represented almost £6 billion in value to the UK economy, nearly a third of the global market of £20 billion, with 56% of the £6 billion equating to export, Gordon noted. A priority for him over the next 12 months, he stressed, is working with public bodies and the government to get recognition of the subsea industry and the importance of it to the country. He put it on a par with the automotive industry in value. With more recognition it might be possible to attract more investment into R&D.
Subsea UK’s membership is not just based in Aberdeen, but throughout the UK, and he had recently instigated regional branches and committees to try and engage a bit more with the wider membership. There has been a branch in Newcastle for the northeast of England for a couple of years. More recently there have been meetings in London covering the southeast and in Manchester covering the northwest. The membership at the moment is 225 and growing.
Gordon saw the big markets at the moment as being Brazil, Angola, Australia, plus opportunities in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East and perhaps emerging offshore frontiers such the Arctic and India. The relationship with the UK Trade & Investment was important in helping members to develop into new markets. Subsea UK also works closely with the ITF, which recently issued its subsea call for papers.
He was concerned that future growth in the subsea sector was being constrained by a shortage of skills and not enough young people entering the industry. Subsea UK was looking at the skills issue and had begun a campaign of beer and pizza evenings at universities highlighting career opportunities in the industry. The first had been held at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, and a second at Salford University in the northwest.
Talking points
Discussing ways of managing the integrity threat of subsea pipework fatigue failure, Xodus senior consultant John Hill told Subsea Europe attendees a new joint industry project set up with Energy Institute (EI) backing was looking specifically at the avoidance of vibrationsubsea induced fatigue failure in process piping With funding in place via the EI scientific and technical committee, the JIP has already held one meeting and is scheduled to convene again on 10 January. The objective, Hill explained, was to produce engineering guidelines for use at the design stage or when changes to existing systems were being contemplated.
The JIP steering committee, which includes BP, Chevron, Nexen, Shell, Total, the Health & Safety Executive and Lloyd’s Register, expects to have a draft report circulating for review this quarter. Hill said Xodus had developed its noise and vibration competence during 2011 following the establishment of its new Southampton office, which had attracted specialists in this area.
Edgar Keijser of Oil States suggested a novel use of diverless pipeline repair equipment. Rather than construct new and costly long-distance pipelines to shore, he said, operators can save field development costs for new marginal field discoveries by exporting the oil or gas via an existing export pipeline network located nearby. Keijser cited the example of Shell’s remote Gulf of Mexico Perdido field in 8000ft of water, which faced the financial and technical challenge of exporting the oil to shore as there were no existing tie-in facilities in the vicinity.
The solution, he said, was the creation of a new tie-in point in a nearby existing 18in ExxonMobil producing pipeline in 4500ft of water using Oil States’ Diverless Grip & Seal connectors, equipment previously only used for pipeline repairs. Perdido’s tie-in to the existing pipeline was successfully carried out in 1Q 2009. It required only 17 days of shut-in time for the existing pipeline, Keijser noted.
Manfred Lueth, who heads product development for Kolpi, discussed the development of a subsea avatar in a project heavily supported by Total with contributions also from Statoil, Technip and Saipem.
Subsea tasks are performed today using monocular vision only, representing a long learning curve for ROV pilots. Operational needs and public opinion require safer routines, he noted. Integrating the human side improves return on investment, because it is 50% faster, and the technology is available and already in the field.
According to Lueth, natural vision with depth perception to estimate distances is crucial for sub-conscious decision making. The quality of interaction depends on the means to harmonise exactly the execution of the body movement with the visual field. Flat displays and glasses act as barriers, he said. The glass-free Kolpi equipment brings vision and action together enabling immersion into the scene. OE
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