A Baker Hughes executive assesses the electrification effort

Interview with Rodrigo Farias, Vice President, Completions, Interventions and Measurements, Baker Hughes 

Rodrigo Farias, Vice President, Completions, Intervention and Measurements, Baker Hughes

Electrification in the oil and gas (O&G) sector is proceeding rapidly, driven by the need for efficiencies, cost-reduction strategies, emissions taxes and environmental mandates. Onshore fields have led the way, due to easier grid access and lower technological barriers. Meanwhile, some offshore operations are shifting from self-generation toward shore-power and renewable integration despite complex infrastructure challenges.

Rodrigo Farias, Vice President, Completions, Interventions and Measurements, sat down with World Oil recently to help sort out the factors in the upstream electrification effort, as well as delineate his company’s own contributions to the process.

World Oil (WO): Please give us an overview of how Baker Hughes is advancing upstream electrification to reduce carbon footprint, improve reliability and increase efficiency. 

Rodrigo Farias (RF): I think it's important, from Baker Hughes' perspective, when you look at electrification and the upstream business, it's a core lever for us to reduce the upstream carbon footprint intensity, increase overall efficiency, production and ultimate recovery. And when I say that, there is a lot to be done in terms of simplification of systems, increasing reliability of the systems, improving their efficiency and also driving performance. There are multiple ways that we can look at using electrification, especially downhole reservoir management but also in subsea applications and then on topside, Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Upstream electrification is a key business focus for Baker Hughes. Image: Baker Hughes.

Electrification improves the overall total cost of ownership for our customers including reduction on total CAPEX, as well as total OPEX, to operate those fields, especially in offshore and deepwater environments. And when we talk about the main drivers for electrification, one of them is simplification. When you think about the hydraulic intelligent completion systems that we have today, there are a lot of requirements for control lines and hydraulic fluids. Those control lines require different types of assistance, like penetrators in the packer, penetrators in the tubing hangers, also access to the trees. Then, if you look at it more realistically, you have the number of hydraulic lines that need to come all the way to the topside, plus umbilicals to the subsystem, to control all these valves downhole.

If you look at the complexity of this, it does require having a lot of our controls in place for the hydraulic system, while in the electric version, you can replace a lot of those hydraulic lines with just one electric line. So, one electric line is able to control multiple valves and control multiple systems downhole. This makes it a lot simpler and, at the same time, makes it more reliable. The reliability will come with less connections, less penetrators, simplification of the feed-through packer, and simplification of the hanger system. It makes the entire system easier to control, easier to automate, and then it definitely will last longer.

When we talk about simplification and reliability, if you look at it from the perspective that you don't necessarily need multiple control lines in the annulus of those production systems, you probably can have a larger bore for the completion. This can increase the capacity of your production tubing or production system in the well. That goes to the last points that I mentioned, which are efficiency and performance. The electric components drive a lot more efficiency in improving reservoir management. It's all about the reservoir.

For our customer, the main asset is definitely the reservoir oil or gas in place. The electric systems downhole will be able to get better, precise control of the inflow, as well as better control of the monitoring of a pressure and temperature sensors. It also enables fiber optic capabilities. This drives the entire ecosystem—simplification, reliability, efficiency, overall equipment performance, and also the ability to drive, to some extent, automation and digital. When you connect all the data from the electrified system, we'll be able to improve considerably the overall performance of your production.

WO: Perhaps you can get into more granular detail about electrification’s effect on some of your core areas, as in subsea production systems; onshore cementing, production and completions; and intelligent well systems. Please share some more details on these core areas. 

RF: Once again, the deepwater environment is a lot different than the onshore environment. But if you look at some of those technologies and electrification, it's really about having greater control of the main asset, which is the reservoir. So, for those technologies, you’re able to create value for the customer when you electrify the system. And then you can increase the capabilities of the well.

Fig. 2. SureCONTROL™ is a hydraulic intelligent completion system providing precise zonal control and monitoring. Image: Baker Hughes.

The desire with the intelligent system is really to have real-time monitoring and then the capability to manage the reservoir at a different level. And when you look at the capability that the intelligent system will drive, and then you combine that with the electrification, it gives us another level of performance for a well through monitoring and driving real-time actions. This is not only through monitoring, but also with the control of those valves.

If you look at the reservoirs, some of them are very complex, extended reach, multi-layered or multi-zoned. You can install multiple control devices downhole, including ICVs, which is our inflow control device. We also have an intelligent completion system that we call SureCONTROL™ (Fig. 2) for the control device. And we also have what we call SureCONNECT™, Fig. 3. This is the device that allows the connectivity between the lower completion and the upper completion, both while you’re still deploying the system and during the production of those wells. This enables connection all the way to the electric subsurface control valve. 

And with the entire ecosystem being electrified, it allows you to have better management of the reservoir. When you can better manage the reservoir, you can control the inflow, you can better manage the pressure, and you can better manage the ultimate recovery of the field. So, electrification will amplify those capabilities while reducing overall capex, because it makes it a lot simpler and a lot more robust for a much longer life. It also reduces the entire footprint required to deploy those systems, whether its downhole, subsea, or even topside.

Fig. 3. The SureCONNECT™ system utilizes a downhole wet-mate connector that houses multiple channels and comes together to connect the upper and lower completions. Image: Baker Hughes.

If you try to remember how many other hydraulic systems that you're going to require on the topside for hydraulic power units, just to deploy hydraulic fluids downhole to control the valves or to control some of the systems downhole, it's a lot of complexity and a lot of possibilities to have issues and problems. Electrification drives consistency of improvement on the performance, especially for a high-cost intervention environment, like deepwater and subsea. 

When I think about several technologies that we have today, we have a tiered approach for electrification, especially when you talk about downhole completions. It's not one-size-fits-all. You're not going to deploy all the features and gadgets that we have for electrification. We have solutions like SureCONTROL™, SureCONTROL™ Plus, and SureCONTROL™ Max (Fig. 4), which is our ultimate electrification system, together with what we announced a while back, our fully electric subsea tree. So, when you take these downhole components together, our electric, intelligent completion; our electrical control and monitoring; together with our electric tree, you get the best outcome for some of these subsea wells across the world.

Fig. 4. Ricardo Tirado, Global Director, Intelligent Production Systems, talks about the specific characteristics and operation of SureCONTROL Max™, the company’s ultimate electrification system, to attendees at the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting last January in Florence, Italy. Image: Baker Hughes.

WO: A clarifying question here: Once you do an electrification project for a company, is that a one-stop win, or do you see further progress once you electrify these upstream operations?

RF: As I said about the tiered approach, it will depend on the outcome you're looking for. When you design a well completion, you are thinking about designing a system to last for decades, not just a few years, especially in a deepwater environment. So, reliability of those systems is critical. And reliability of the electric system, when you compare it to some of the hydraulics, you don't have connectors, you don't have fluid to leak, it's all about the electric components to have much more precise control of the downhole equipment. The reliability of those components is paramount. Imagine reducing multiple cables or multiple control lines to just one control line—to just one electric line to control multiple components. Also, the redundancy—if you have a multiple control line that is a physical limitation on your packer, on your tubing hangar, and also in the tree, how many control valves can you have? If you have multiple zones or you want to have better control on the reservoir, it's just impossible physically to have that many control lines.

You can also have two electric lines for redundancy, providing 100% backup in the system. This brings a lot more capabilities and reliability for your entire system. And on top of that, I think it's important to say that we are evolving, and the technology and the reliability will continue to evolve. What we have today is a lot better than what we had five years ago. And I believe the components, the material, and the reliability of that equipment will continue to improve in the further years to come.

WO: On that point, can you talk a bit about A.I. and how that's changing the game on and off?

RF: Definitely. When you look at intelligent completions, regardless whether they’re hydraulic or electric—I'm not talking specifically about electric—it's almost an AI-enabled system. Your true control system, your SureSENS™ Electronic Well Monitoring systems, which is pressure, temperature, fiber optic capabilities with the full electric system, it gives you the capability to drive much better management of the reservoir across its life. We do have Leucipa™, which is our automated field production solution. If you connect the intelligent completion systems, which have better control of reservoirs downhole, it's a reliable system that lasts longer.

You connect that with your entire production system and ecosystem. You can monitor your reservoir. You can have a lot more control and then real-time monitoring, also real-time decision-making, how you're going to better manage the reservoir to drive improvement on production and to drive ultimate recovery of the reservoir. So, the entire A.I., together with our Leucipa field automation platform, it's a perfect combination of how you better manage the reservoir to create a lot more value, which is total recovery of the oil and gas.

WO: We haven't really touched upon decarbonization. How does electrification help decarbonization of the upstream?

RF: When we talk about the complexity of some of the hydraulic systems and how you exchange it for the simplification of the electric system, imagine that we run downhole all those control lines. You need reels, you need cables, you need hydraulic fluids—multiples of these. With electrification, you just convert that to one. So, you already reduce the footprint. That's why when I mention the reduction of capex and opex, it just becomes a lot less physically, you need a lot less material – less metal and  fewer control cables and hydraulic fluids.

The whole decarbonization process is a critical part of electrification. You make the equipment a lot simpler, and you can also increase the capacity. If you think about the hydraulic lines, you need to have controls in the annulus between the well—the casing, if you will—and the production tubing. If you expand it to be electric with one cable—maybe you have a chemical injection system, where you need to have one connection downhole for that—it gives you a lot more capability to expand the size of your production tubing. You may reduce the tubing size, just because of your capacity with the electric system. Or you may want to increase the production of your well with the same size of tubing that you already have.

So, it brings you a lot more capacity in terms of increasing production and gaining better management of your reservoir. When you think about some of those short control valves that we have down below, your ability to monitor them or to control them with the electric system is a lot more precise with the opening of those valves and closing to be 0% to 100% with much more control than the hydraulic system. So, it's definitely supports decarbonization when you reduce the amount of equipment and the size of it that is required for the same production rate that you had before.

WO: Can you give us some final thoughts on a main message for electrification in the upstream? Also, regarding deep water, are there particular areas where electrification makes the biggest difference—is it ultra-deepwater?

RF: I think definitely makes a difference offshore and especially deepwater and larger fields, because your ability to have the intelligent system combined with the electrification of that system gives you the ultimate efficiency and performance that you're looking for. Cost of intervention in the deepwater environment is sometimes prohibitive, so the reliability of those electric systems for a longer part of the life of the well and producing without intervention is all critical for the success of our customers. That deepwater environment is probably the one that's going to be most demanding for electrification, decarbonization, simplification, efficiency, reliability, and performance. So, for those giant fields, it does require that level of technology to become more sustainable and to become economically available and viable.

WO: How much difference is there in electrifying newer fields, versus older, more mature fields? If things are already in place and you're now electrifying, is that harder than electrifying new fields from the start?

RF: Once again, we do have a tiered approach for electrification. It's not one size fits all. We're going to have one approach for onshore applications and a different approach for deepwater applications. It's really what is going to dictate the ability to deploy some of those electric systems or intelligent completion systems. It's definitely going to start with the reservoir and what we need to do. Again, once you find that you're going to have intelligent monitoring and control of the field and of the well, it has to be part of the initial investment decision because you don't want to have to do too many more wells just to install intelligent completions. If you need to re-complete the well, you definitely can do that again. However, the system should be deployed as early as possible because it's better then for the operator’s ultimate recovery. But it’s definitely valuable for deepwater environments and larger fields, which require enhanced reliability and have longer lives for wells to pay back. That's most of the focus for our customers and most of the focus that we, Baker Hughes, have today.

RODRIGO FARIAS is vice president of the Completions, Intervention and Measurements (CIM) segment at Baker Hughes, a role he assumed in October 2025. He leads global strategy, technology development, technical support, product and service portfolio management, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, service delivery, and digital transformation for three product lines in that segment. Previous leadership roles include country managing director, Brazil (2017); senior key account director, Petrobras (2018–2020); sales & commercial director, OFS Latin America Region (2020–2022); vice president, OFSE Global Pressure Pumping Product Line (2022–2024); and vice president, OFSE Global Oilfield & Industrial Chemicals PL (2024–2025). Mr. Farias earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from UENF – Rio de Janeiro State University, Brazil.