Global Underwater Hub, SICA partner to grow subsea sector in UK, Australia
Global Underwater Hub (GUH) and Subsea Innovation Cluster Australia (SICA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to grow the subsea sector in both hemispheres.
GUH, the trade and development body which represents the UK’s £9.2billion underwater industry has joined forces with SICA – a membership organization of companies in the Australian subsea industry – to foster innovation, collaboration and growth among companies and organizations in the subsea sector in the UK and Australia.
Under the agreement, the organizations will actively promote opportunities for their subsea supply chains in both countries and support each others’ members in entering their respective markets.
They will also share market intelligence and learnings around diversification strategies particularly in energy transition and defense, including the security and protection of critical underwater infrastructure.
Facilitating collaboration will be a priority with the establishment of partnership innovation programs between UK and Australian firms to develop and implement technology suitable for both regions.
“Crucially, and similar to the UK, Australia champions a just transition which builds in energy resiliency and security with opportunities in sustained oil and gas production, decommissioning, offshore wind and carbon capture,” said GUH chief executive, Neil Gordon. “Supply chain companies are encouraged to bring innovative, collaborative and sustainable solutions to this diversified market.”
Commenting on the agreement, Colin McIvor, SICA Cluster Manager, said: “This MOU marks an important step in strengthening collaboration between Australia and the UK’s subsea sectors. By working with Global Underwater Hub, we’re opening new opportunities for innovation, knowledge sharing, and international market access for SICA members”
Mr Gordon highlighted the continued production within the oil and gas industry in Australia where there are opportunities within new developments as well as in the expansion of current production by leading operators such as Woodside and Santos. This is augmented by an increasing focus on carbon capture and storage, driven by the high CO2 content in gas production in the region, where there are presently 18 carbon projects in the planning. Large scale projects such as Browse currently have substantial infrastructure installation requirements which will be followed by inspection, repair and maintenance over the lifetime of the project.
He added: “Decommissioning is a significant opportunity in Australia where the inventory of subsea assets requiring to be decommissioned includes over 1,500 wells and structures and 4,500km of pipelines with major opportunities for specialist plugging, cutting, inspection and recovery technologies.
Mr Gordon concluded: “Similar to the UK, the underwater components, engineering and services are not necessarily required to operate in extreme water depths as in some other deepwater global basins. Instead, environmental and sustainability are key drivers and there is therefore a strong desire from Australian operators and developers to bring in expertise and best practice from UK companies who have almost five decades of experience.”
