OIL & GAS
• Nearly 85 % of subsea CapEx is concentrated in deepwater and ultradeepwater basins .
• Cost curves for ultra-deepwater production are in the range of $ 75 to $ 85 / bbl , which is an approximate proxy for subsea completions . Cost curves vary by geographic region reflective of “ local content ” requirements , as well as water depth and geologic differences .
• Key Trends : modularization and standardization of subsea equipment
• Key Challenges : cost and lead-time reductions for subsea equipment
• Subsea completions are more demanding than surface completions in terms of depth , pressure , corrosion , accessibility , reliability requirements , and other metrics , but experience has shown that technological solutions have been developed to meet the challenges .
• Cost considerations and technological limitations regarding dry tree technology strongly favor wet trees for the ultra-deepwater basins at 5,000 feet and deeper .
• Primary valves include full-ported gate and ball . ( 1 ) Butterfly valves with bore obstructions are not piggable and have limited application in subsea .
• Subsea vertical trees may preferentially reflect usage of gate valves to minimize vertical space requirements .
• Subsea horizontal trees may preferentially reflect usage of ball valves .
• Both tree types use ∞ ” to 1 ” smallbore ball valves for chemical injections , instrument isolation , etc ., with up to 30 valves per tree .
• Subsea pipelines and manifolds primarily reflect usage of trunnionmounted ball valves
The Offshore Technology Conference and exhibition was held in May . Some 25,000 people traveled to Houston . The exhibition included more than 1000 stands of which 100 were associated with valves in one way or another . Many were distributors or suppliers of packages which included valves . There were less than 10 of the large international valve suppliers with displays . This indicates the specialized nature of offshore valve requirements . As can be seen in figure 1 the valve exhibitors are from many countries . The large number from Korea is indicative of government support for suppliers to the energy industry . Korea had a pavilion at PowerGen held in Texas in May . The subsea valve market will continue to be shaped by several factors . World politics will be dominant with large supplies from Russia likely to be unavailable . Another factor is the potential to increase supplies of less costly oil . The third factor is ESG . The impact of a spill in the ocean is compared to environmental impacts of tar sands with the higher energy input and pollution in converting contaminated to purified liquids . Both the tar sands and subsea are long term investments and therefore compete for the same capital whereas shale oil is based on short term criteria .
Reference
( 1 ) Industrial Valves : World Market published by the McIlvaine Company . www . valve-world . net Valve World August 2022
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