Statoil is targeting standardization in certain situations as a means to generate cost savings in even the most complex projects.
Norway has a long and rich seafaring history, and it also sits on one of the world’s richest oil & gas resources in its sector of the North Sea. Earlier this year MTR contributor Eric Haun traversed the country in search of companies worthy inclusion in this year’s MTR100. He found, and presents here, a dozen.
Announced at the end of 2012 as a joint venture between subsea systems provider Cameron and oilfield services company Schlumberger (split 60/40, respectively), OneSubsea combines the expertise of two leading firms to deliver integrated solutions, products, systems and services for the subsea oil and gas market. As Cameron Chairman, President and CEO, Jack B. Moore explained, OneSubsea essentially provides a marriage of Schlumberger’s oilfield services technology and Cameron’s subsea equipment heritage. OneSubsea leverages Cameron’s flow control expertise, process technologies and world-class manufacturing and aftermarket capabilities, along with Schlumberger’s petro-technical leadership, reservoir and production technology and R&D capabilities, while also bringing into play its subsidiary, Framo Engineering, which provides subsea measurement, boosting and processing systems.
OneSubsea is currently operating in more than 20 countries through its six divisions: Integrated Solutions, Production Systems, Processing Systems, Control Systems, Swivel and Marine Systems and Subsea Services. The company offers a step change in reservoir recovery for the subsea oil and gas industry through integration and optimization of the entire production system over the life of the field. Using its comprehensive total system approach – from the reservoir through the well, subsea production system, up to the surface – OneSubsea aims to optimize complete subsea production systems and ultimately improve production and recovery from offshore subsea developments. The company claims its processing systems have increased production rates for operators by as much as 30-100%.
U.S.-based FMC Technologies is one of the world’s leading equipment and service providers for the global energy industry, operating from 30 production facilities in 17 countries to design, manufacture and service systems and technologically sophisticated systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high pressure fluid control equipment and pumps, measurement solutions and marine loading systems. The company also specializes in subsea technologies that maximize recovery of hydrocarbons from challenging reservoirs.
In 2013, FMC recorded $7.1 billion in revenue, 66% of which came from its deepwater and subsea technologies segment (Subsea Systems, Multi Phase Meters and Schilling Robotics), 25% from surface technologies (Surface Wellhead, Fluid Control and Completion Services) and the remaining 9% from energy infrastructure (Measurement Solutions, Loading Systems, Material Handling Solutions, Separation Systems and Automation and Control).
FMC claimed 40% of the global subsea tree unit market share from 2009-2013, and the group presently has subsea processing projects in every major deepwater basin. The company attributes much of its growth to an increased global focus on deepwater operations. According to FMC, deepwater is the fastest growing source to meet incremental production demands, and large deepwater sources are increasingly discovered in multiple basins. This, along with technological advancements that improve exploration success and recovery rates, provides an opportunity for IOCs to employ differentiated technology.
Going forward, FMC looks to expand its subsea solutions scope for its core products (trees, manifolds, control systems, template systems, flowline connection systems) as well as new products (subsea processing: separation, boosting and gas compression; well intervention services; and ROVs and ROV manipulator systems). As of March 2014, FMC identified potential for more than 300 major subsea production projects (valued at more than $150 million each) in the coming 15 months, including prospects for 48 trees for Nigeria, 38 for Norway and 20 for the Gulf of Mexico.
The Bandak Group – a complete multidiscipline project supplier to Subsea Production Systems (SPS) and Subsea Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines (SURF) players – provides advanced mechanical products, services and solutions to world-leading companies within oil and gas, marine, defense and space industries. The group provides deliveries; engineering and project management, machining, welding, surface treatment, assembly, test, tubular services and documentation for some of the industry’s top players, in Norway and globally, including key customers Statoil, FMC Technologies, GE Oil & Gas, Aker Solutions, Kongsberg, NationalOilwell Varco and Rolls-Royce.
Bandak supplies mechanical subsystems and parts that are fitted into subsea production systems or drilling systems (quick connectors, leveling jacks, HUBs, pig launchers, guide posts, connectors, etc.), also supplying capacity related to drilling systems and equipment. Typical products are drillpipe, casing, tubing and many types of related downhole products, including specialized services for OCTG. Bandak develops and manufactures tools for various mechanical offshore operations, both subsea and topside, utilizing its capabilities within engineering, manufacturing, assembly, testing and documentation. With 10 locations in Norway and two in Malaysia, Bandak is a company on the rise, reporting 4x growth in the last three years and expanding its staff from 150 to 550 in the last four years. Bandak has recently expanded in the APAC oil and gas industry with the acquisition of fabrication and engineering company Multi Fibre Snd. Bhdin Malaysia in March 2014, and its acquisition of ITM in 2013 began its move into the maintenance and service market. Annual investment hovers between $6.5-8 million in recent years, with funding toward new machining centers and transition to new clad welding technology. Bandak primarily held by is Herkules Private Equity Fund III (90% share), while the remaining shares are owned by minority shareholders including management and other key employees.
CMR Instrumentation, an arm of Christian Michelsen Research AS, is a research and development center directed towards instrumentation research and development.
The firm covers measurement science, physics, modeling, software, sensor technologies, electronics and signal processing, among others. CMR typically works in collaboration with clients and partners to carry out projects from ideas and research to qualified industrial measurement solutions and products, and can deliver both turnkey solutions or be a sub-supplier to development projects. CMR also offers services within analysis of metering stations, including uncertainty analysis and dedicated measurement campaigns.
One of CMR’s current initiatives aims to improve subsea operation and maintenance by bringing risk management into real time through Integrated Well and Subsea Instrumentation (IWSI). As improved sensors, tools and models are developed by the center, data relating to reservoir and production management, subsea control and safety systems, flow assurance management and integrity management will be used to provide real time performance and risk management, and then visualization and decision support. If workers can better gauge the conditions in which they operate, higher levels of efficiency and safety can be achieved, and thus costs are reduced and safety improved.
Established in 1973, Benestad is a world leader in glass/ceramics-to-metal sealing and thin film (PVD) technology. The company provides sophisticated design and product solutions that are based on this technology, and then uses it as a technical advantage as glass/ceramics offer excellent corrosion and erosion properties, will not degrade over time or allow diffusion of liquids/gas, thus providing unmatched long-term stability. The company says highly specialized proprietary processes are at the heart of its products and production. Under major shareholder Aker Solutions, Benestad’s market segments are split between oil and gas (85%) and the defense industry (15%). For the oil and gas market, the company produces customized penetrators (signal and power distribution systems), instrument sensors and subsea instrumentation. For subsea, this comes into play for controls, boosting and processing and power distribution, as well as down-hole ESP. In-house activities include research and development, product design and engineering, manufacturing of core technologies (both for glass-to-metal sealing and thin film deposition) and testing and qualification.
Located in the heart of the Subsea Valley in Drammen, Norway, HTS maskinteknikk (HTSM) is a manufacturer and global supplier of mechanical precision components to the subsea, aerospace and defense industry. HTS, established in 1982, is an independent contractor specializing in critical machining and welding of advanced materials, and offers a range of professional production technology advisory services. The company prides itself on its capacity as a total-solution supplier with all disciplines available in-house at its workshop which contains a production area of more than 60,000 square feet, including departments for turning, milling, welding, inspection and inspection/calibration. HTSM effectively manages everything from small-scale prototype production to large-scale serial production, though its forte is in more complex components.
HTS maskinteknikk has delivered high precision mechanical components to the oil and gas industry for more than 20 years, with a specialty in the manufacturing of hydraulic couplers and subsea valve components. The group’s subsea client portfolio includes market leading EPC contracts as well as specialized subsea installation and provision companies. Its largest customer is FMC, which it supplies to directly for sites throughout the world including South America and Brazil.
Roughly 79% of HTS’ business in 2013 was for the subsea sector, and as such is the recipient of the majority of the group’s current investments. HTSM has recently placed significant capital into its staff, state-of-the-art equipment and facility, greatly expanding upon its operational capacity.
Family-owned Reinersten delivers advanced offshore engineering, infrastructure and construction, as well as consulting engineering services. Reinersten is product independent and its clients are mainly oil and gas companies, in Norway and internationally, for which it builds modules and prefabrication units for topside-building projects as well as subsea structures and components. Reinersten’s main market areas within subsea are field development, production systems, processing (subsea-factory), flow assurance, power supply and distribution, control systems and umbilicals, pipelines/flowlines, risers and structures/stations.
The company is regarded as a major supplier of maintenance services on Norwegian processing sites, Norwegian shelf and inland. Its department of Installation is in charge of realization of the project’s installation phase on-site, and is responsible for HSE and quality control, completion, resources and subcontractors. Reinersten has also established long-term working agreements with the service trades suppliers within surface protection, isolation, scaffolding, rope access technique and pressure testing.
Coast Center Base (CCB) is a logistical hub and main base for supply activities to the petroleum fields in the Tampen area of the North Sea (Statfjord, Gullfaks, Veslefrikk, Troll, Huldra and Kvitebjørn), and has compiled considerable expertise as a service provider in technical maintenance and harbor operations since opening in 1973. CCB offers provision of services and supply to the petroleum activities offshore, the North Sea basin’s largest subsea community with an offshore subsea test well reachable from quay, harbor terminal services for traditional line shipping and IRM maintenance services for rigs and vessels. The CCB base covers about seven hectares, has 1,000 meters of quays, some with water depths up to 50 meters and no weight limits, workshops, warehouses and office buildings.
DNV GL provides classification and technical assurance along with software and independent expert advisory services to the maritime, oil and gas and energy industries. An international giant with operations at 300 sites in more than 100 countries, DNV GL stands among the world’s largest ship and offshore classification societies and is a leading technical advisor to the global oil and gas industry and expert for the energy value chain, including renewables and energy efficiency. DNV GL predicts it will generate annual revenue of approximately $3.4 billion.
Det Norske Veritas (DNV) began in 1864 as a small Norwegian classification society, and in the 150 years since, has grown into one of the world’s largest enterprises of its kind with the formation of DNV GL. In September 2013, Norway’s DNV and Germany’s Germanischer Lloyd (GL) Noble Denton merged to create what is now the DNV GL Group. DNV Foundation holds 63.5 % of the group, while GL’s owner Mayfair SE holds the remaining 36.5%, and together, DNV GL serves the maritime, oil and gas, energy and business assurance segments.
DNV GL is a leading technical advisor to the global oil and gas industry, providing consistent, integrated services within technical and marine assurance and advisory, risk management and offshore classification, to enable safe, reliable and enhanced performance in projects and operations.
Lysaker- based Computas, a 1985 spinoff from DNV Høvik, is a 100% employee-owned Norwegian IT consulting company that provides services and solutions for work processes, business systems and collaboration, with core competence in software development, architecture and integration, project management and consulting. With clients in both public and private sectors, the group serves a number of industries globally, one of them being offshore oil and gas. Computas claims its solutions currently have more than 25,000 users, including names such as Statoil, ConocPhillips, Technip, Eni, Aker Solutions and FMC Technologies.
As subsea activity on the Norwegian continental shelf and elsewhere reaches new depths, and the industry’s players are forced to become more efficient with fewer resources, new challenges persistently arise. That’s where Computas comes in to answer the call for efficient IT solutions. Computas operates with a great focus on innovation, research and development –its keywords being delivery fitness and added value. The company’s work offshore can essentially be broken down into three main categories: (a) compliance, to ensure that operations are traceable and carried out according to agreed standards; (b) decisions and processes, to provide decision support plus task support for complex work processes; and (c) information, to capture and process massive amounts of data, the basis for decisions and value generation.
DOF Subsea is an international subsea operating company and leading provider of subsea services to the oil and gas industry in the North Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Asia and West Africa. DOF’s two core business segments are long-term charter agreements for the fleet and the execution of complex subsea operations to depths of 4,000 meters, using the group’s owned and operated purpose-built vessels.
With a world class fleet of 25 offshore vessels, 59 Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), including one AUV/IIV system and 10 diving spreads, the group combines expertise and technology to deliver integrated subsea solutions to the offshore oil and gas industry. DOF’s fleet of 25 offshore vessels, built primarily by Vard, has an average age of seven to eight years and awaits seven newbuilds presently under construction in yards in Norway and Brazil.
DOF’s multi-tool fleet enables the group to perform work for high-profile clients in marine operations; engineering, construction and mobilization; supply services; geotechnical and geophysical services; ROV operations; wellhead intervention; decommissioning; pipelay; pipeline survey and diver assisted intervention.
The Bergen-based DOF Subsea Group, recorded a turnover of NOK 6.579 billion in 2013, compared to 5.248 billion in 2012, attributing much of its growth to its subsea project business, which saw revenues rise 32%. DOF’s EBITDA also saw an increase over the same period, rising roughly 9 percent to NOK 1.945 billion in 2013 compared to 1.788 billion in 2012. The group’s backlog entering 2014 was NOK 34 billion.
Founded in 1972 as the Norwegian State Oil Company, Statoil is an international energy company and true subsea pioneer with 40 years of experience in oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf. The Norwegian government remains Statoil’s largest shareholder with approximately 67% percent of the company’s shares, while the rest is held in public stock.
With operations in 36 countries and more than 520 subsea wells globally, Statoil claims a position as the world’s second largest subsea operator. It is the largest operator on the Norwegian continental shelf, with 60% of the total production, and since 2010, Statoil’s annual investments there have increased by 75%.
As a technological forerunner, Statoil has traditionally achieved success by pushing the boundaries to what is possible under water, frequently going “longer, deeper and colder,” but as the complexity of global subsea projects grows, so too does the bill for all involved in subsea projects.
Statoil is therefore targeting standardization in certain situations as a means to generate cost savings in even the most complex projects. Rather than spending costly engineering hours working toward the next grand, over-over-the-top subsea solution, industry leaders are striving for smart, simple answers to some of the sector’s largest challenges. This means innovation comes in the form of quick and effective, yet less costly, solutions that do not sacrifice quality.
Statoil’s Fast Track work process, for example, adds “simple, standard and cheaper” to “longer, deeper and colder,” said Torger Rød, Statoil’s SVP for Subsea, Pipelines and Cessation. The program essentially fuses tailored innovations with standardized solutions to develop and begin subsea production within a 30-month timeframe. Under this accelerated method, product specifications are simplified, existing designs are reused when possible and concepts are chosen from a preexisting catalog, eliminating the concept selection phase, Rød explained. With Fast Track, the company reports a 40% shorter execution time, a low breakeven level of $40/boe and average IRR (nom) greater than 25%. Statoil currently has six Fast Track projects in operation off Norway, with six more on the way.
Strong supporters of the subsea and offshore O&G industry from and working in Norway.