September 5, 2013
Oil and gas firm Statoil and ABB agreed to jointly develop technology to transmit and distribute electricity up to 3,000 m below the sea surface to power subsea equipment.
Statoil has been moving more and more equipment to the bottom of the sea, as subsea equipment improve recovery ratios and power distribution at the bottom of the sea, instead of platforms, would cut cost as it would need fewer cables.
The joint industrial programme will develop technologies needed to provide electrical power to subsea pumps, electrical submersible pumps and subsea gas compressors for projects on the Norwegian continental shelf, in the Gulf of Mexico and other places around the world.
The total cost of the five-year programme is $100 million.