Wood Group JIP seeking to reduce subsea equipment failures

PERTH, Australia -- Wood Group is calling for expressions of interest from technology vendors to support a joint industry project (JIP), which aims to reduce subsea equipment failures in Australia and provide a recommended practice for the subsea industry.

The Subsea Equipment Australian Reliability (SEAR) JIP is a partnership supported by six operators and led by Wood Group Kenny. The focus is on collaboration and knowledge sharing in order to improve subsea equipment design for Australia’s challenging offshore warm water environment and to avoid costly interventions.

“The SEAR JIP has already underlined how significant the issue of subsea failures is; with five fields in Australia having more than 100 failures over a six-year operating period,” Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood Group Kenny, said. “The associated cost of the intervention campaigns only was around AUD150 million. Reducing costly failures is even more important in the current low oil price environment.”

“There are a number of areas where improved collaboration can realize tangible benefits for oil and gas operations. We are now asking vendors to come forward with technology solutions to help address the specific challenges faced in Australian waters. Of particular interest are novel coating technologies and materials which will improve the ease of equipment change out and intervention campaigns,” MacDonald added.

The testing initiative follows a review of subsea equipment performance to date in Australia and provides the opportunity for vendors to test the performance of technologies in-situ over a number of years.