SLB OneSubsea’s new contract takes it to Equinor’s all-electric subsea project

SLB has secured a contract with Norwegian state-owned energy giant Equinor under which it is set to deliver the front-end engineering design (FEED) for an all-electric subsea project in Norway’s waters.

As part of the agreement, SLB will deliver the FEED of a 12-well, all-electric subsea production systems (SPS) project in the Fram Sør field offshore Norway, with future engineering, procurement and construction to be directly awarded to SLB OneSubsea, a joint venture backed by SLB, Aker Solutions, and Subsea7, conditional on a final investment decision (FID).

The Fram Sør solution will use SLB OneSubsea’s standard subsea tree design upgraded with a fully electrified power, control and actuation system. According to SLB, the elimination of high-pressure hydraulic systems will allow operators to go further and deeper, improve production and make even marginal fields more viable.

The project is the first application to be implemented resulting from a joint industry project, which commenced in 2018 and involved close collaboration across major industry players to accelerate the development of breakthrough electrification technology through a standardized industry solution, the company said.

OneSubsea last month won another assignment with Equinor for a project that aims to bolster gas infrastructure at a giant oil and natural gas field in the northern part of the North Sea.

“Electrification is vital to the future of subsea operations in the energy transition,” said Mads Hjelmeland, CEO of SLB OneSubsea. “This technology has effectively created the IoT for subsea trees, providing operators with improved control through live performance and condition monitoring. We are grateful for the collaboration with Equinor and the other joint-industry-partners over the past six years that has made this milestone possible.”

The Fram field, discovered in 1990, is located in the northern part of the North Sea, 20 kilometers north of the Troll field, in a water depth of 350 meters. It comprises two main structures, Fram Vest and Fram Øst, with several deposits, with both structures developed with two subsea templates each, tied back to the Troll C platform.

Equinor in August 2023 reported that it had made a new oil and gas discovery 4 kilometres west of the Fram field using an Odfjell Drilling-owned rig. The discovery is said to be the ninth in this area, in addition to Echino South, Swisher, Røver North, Blasto, Toppand, Kveikje, Røver South, and Heisenberg.