Influential forum reports early success in tackling subsea challenges

An influential forum of oil and gas operators with a vested interest in subsea operations is tackling the challenges of ageing offshore infrastructure through cross-industry collaboration. 

Early reports, since the forum was established by Global Underwater Hub (GUH), reveal that it has been instrumental in linking end-users to the supply chain in a bid to overcome barriers and accelerate solutions which will have a tangible impact on increasing efficiency and reducing operating costs as well as safety and environmental risks.

GUH says that the forum is helping to bring new technology and innovation to market more quickly, benefiting the operators and creating new opportunities for the supply chain to capitalise on the global subsea IRM (inspection, repair and maintenance) market, worth over £3billion.

The trade and development body, which represents the UK’s £8bn underwater industry, established the action-oriented forum to provide a collaborative environment for operators to explore the common problems affecting subsea operations. Challenges in areas such as subsea control systems, well intervention, structural integrity, FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) operations and inspection of subsea pipelines and structures have been identified and companies with relevant experience and technologies in the underwater supply chain have been invited to collaborate on solving these specific problems.

Neil Gordon, chief executive of GUH commented: “The depth of the peer-to-peer knowledge sharing of 70 subject matter experts, from 13 operators, within the forum has enabled us to identify common problems which impact on people, performance and profits. The trust and transparency among forum members allow us to dig deeply into these challenges and gain a thorough understanding of exactly what the problem is. We can then raise awareness of the relevant technologies and services available in the supply chain and match the end users with the right companies to collaborate on tailored solutions. This is a hugely compelling proposition for our supply chain members as well as the operators themselves.

“Given the long-recognised challenge of truly open discussion around problems and effective collaboration on solutions, rather than simply a ‘talking shop’, the refreshing success of the forum has been eagerly welcomed by both operators and the supply chain.”

The forum has informed GUH’s events programme and several Subsea Springboard events have been held where supply chain companies have presented to a panel of potential end-users on new innovations with themes including digital applications for subsea inspection and the adoption of autonomous underwater vehicles.

Greg Jones, subsea lead for TotalEnergies E&P commented: “The GUH Operator Forum provides two key benefits. First, the ability to discuss common technical issues with other operators in an open forum and, arguably, the more important Springboard events which give the supply chain, including vital SMEs, direct access to operators with technical challenges that they have potential solutions to.”

Autonomy is one of the success stories from the forum where a key challenge is adoption, in particular, of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). A recognised barrier is support for offshore trials which can be due to a lack of willingness, budget constraints or risk aversion among operators and low technology readiness along with a lack of investment among supply chain companies.

To find out how to increase collaborative trials and accelerate deployment, GUH held a knowledge sharing session with several developers of autonomous technology, followed by a Springboard session where large organisations with proven technology, and small developers, came together to pitch their ideas. This was an efficient and effective way to allow operators to see early-stage ideas and provide rapid feedback. This has culminated in a one-day event, to be held in December 2024, where developers will demonstrate their autonomy capabilities using real-life footage, allowing delegates onshore to see the latest generation of autonomous technology in action in an offshore setting.

Most recently, GUH organised a Splash Zone workshop where nine operators and eight member supply chain companies converged at GUH’s HQ in Aberdeen for a workshop on the challenges of operations in the difficult to access splash zone – the area where tidal changes occur and waves hit the structure. With a real need to improve safety and efficiency in inspection, cleaning, protection and repair in the splash zone, the workshop discussed the issues and heard from companies on new technologies and approaches being developed to reduce the risk of potential harm to personnel, improve data management and analysis and replace human intervention with robotics.

Tim Eley of OceanTech said: “The GUH Splash Zone workshop is turning out to be a not-to-be-missed event. For the first time several operators presented this year, which really enhanced the overall experience for both operators and contractors. The opportunity to present once and have that presentation viewed by 15 or more operators is invaluable.” 

Future challenges to be taken up by the forum in the near term will include external inspection of subsea pipelines and structures as well as investigating how the administration process for regulatory permits and consents can be improved. 

Mr Gordon concluded: “While this is largely an oil and gas focussed forum, it’s important to recognise that many of the technologies and approaches being developed will have applications in offshore renewables as well as in the defence and aquaculture sectors. This has been reinforced by the interest from offshore renewable developers and tier one contractors in our recent events. The cross-industry collaboration, driven by our operators’ forum, will deliver solutions that will be applicable globally and in multiple sectors, creating new opportunities for our supply chain to diversify and grow exports.”

GUH’s Operators’ forum brings together senior personnel who operate subsea infrastructure from the majority of oil and gas operators in the North Sea including bp, CNOOC, CNR, Dana, Enquest, Harbour, INEOS FPS, Ithaca, Neo Energy, Repsol, Serica Energy, Shell and TotalEnergies.