The Subsea Revolution: Execution Excellence Through Standardization

Abstract

A revolutionary application of existing technology, driven by the downturn in the industry, has enabled operators to adopt the high-quality existing standards of service companies instead of implementing project-specific, single-use requirements and documentation. This has created economic viability through total expenditure (totex) reductions as well as early production benefits for operators. This paper showcases how one operator and supplier achieved a 12-month subsea tree delivery while minimizing cost through standardization. Legacy project execution models make a 12-month subsea tree delivery unachievable while driving up costs through extended alignment phases, large project teams, and procurement of project-specific components. Achieving prealignment through robust documentation, technical workshops, and a unique approach to assessing risk of perceived gaps between organizations has proven successful in the execution of an offshore project in the Caspian Sea and clearly highlights the benefits of standardization. An enhanced industry-standard offering leads to both competitive and sustainable advantages, ensuring marginal fields are economically viable. The objective of a standard system offering is delivering a subsea production system at maximum capital efficiency and minimal lead time to optimize operators' return on investment while driving industry-leading safety, peak reliability and uptime, and superior quality. The Caspian Sea project execution methodology will discuss the benefits achieved in using standard products in a subsea production system and elaborate on the potential further benefits this approach would have on a larger brownfield application.