The annual Offshore Technology Conference provides a great way to catch up with old and new customers and get a feel for what’s happening in offshore oil & gas. As in other years, we joined forces with other Sercel group companies to show the multidisciplinary fit across the group. As well as DeRegt, we had Metrolog and GRC all on one booth at the heart of the exhibition area. A great position to check the pulse.
Aker Solutions came to DeRegt with an unusual request. Aker is responsible for the maintenance of a floating concrete tension-leg platform, installed over a subsea template with 56 well slots. The rig is named Heidrun, and produces oil and gas from a depth of 2,300 metres. It is located about 200 km off the middle of the Norwegian coast. The unusual question was: can you reverse-engineer the same cables from 25 years ago, as a replacement for the next 50? We spoke to Roger Sand at Aker Solutions to find out more about this unique project.
The EU aims to reduce dependency on imports of raw materials. Large quantities of raw materials can be found in deep sea Polymetallic Nodules. Polymetallic Nodules contain relatively high concentrations of Nickel, Copper and Cobalt. Cobalt is especially valuable to harvest since it is used in batteries for electric cars. Nodules occur at any depth, but the highest abundance has been found between 4,000 and 6,000m. How do you harvest these nodules at such a large depth?DeRegt was asked to join an EU funded consortium of 14 companies. Industry, research institutes and service companies across seven different countries joined hands to solve the question on how to harvest them, avoiding serious harm and minimizing the environmental risks.
When working with cables in shallow water, relatively less of the cable will be submerged while the rest of it is wound on a drum on the vessel. In deep water applications, where relatively more of it is deployed, water provides a cooling effect for the cable when it is subjected to electrical currents. In contrast, in the shallow water applications, layers of cable are spooled on a drum on the vessel and these layers are unable to benefit from the cooling effect. Eventually, the heat caused by the electric current flowing through the cable builds up.
