CORPORATE NEWS:
Nexans in Gulf of Mexico subsea ‘first’
Nexans has been awarded a $15m contract by BP America to design and manufacture the world’s first subsea service umbilical to integrate a high voltage (HV) cable.
The 26km power-umbilical will be installed in the Gulf of Mexico as part of a project to retrofit two existing subsea wells in BP’s King Complex with multi-phase pumps.
Integration of the power cable and umbilical functions in a single unit will enable an HV (24 kV) supply to be provided in deep waters, which has not previously been possible. In addition, it will be more efficient to transport and install one power-umbilical rather than separate umbilical and power cables.
The concept of integrating HV electrical power cables in a subsea umbilical is very challenging from both the mechanical and electrical design aspects, with electrical interference between conductors and inductive losses in the steel tubes of particular concern. An additional challenge is that the cable will operate at depths of over 1,700m.
Two existing subsea wells in the BP King Complex are planned to be retrofitted with multi-phase pumps.
The King subsea development is tied back to the Marlin Tension Leg Platform, located approximately 135km south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, at 988m water depth.
The umbilical system for this project consists of a main dynamic and an infield umbilical to provide the necessary services to accommodate the two subsea well pumping systems.
These services include HV electrical power, low voltage (LV) electrical power, fibre optic communications and chemical injection and lube oil services. The umbilical will be manufactured at Nexans’ plant in Halden, Norway, while the fibre optic element and the LV cables will be delivered by Nexans factory in Rognan in the north of Norway.
The delivery of the King umbilical is scheduled for the second half of 2006.
Company: |
Nexans |
Country: |
France |
Fax: |
+33 1 56 69 84 84 |
Email: |
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Website: |
www.nexans.com |