ITF JIP Enters Trial Phase with Support from Total, BP, Shell, Chevron

A joint industry project established through The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) has entered a trial phase with the support of oil and gas operators.

As part of the venture, a new technology system designed to address a problem, which the ITF describes as “common” in the subsea industry, is undergoing a shallow water trial at Portishead Quays marina in the UK. The system will help to identify the location of electrical faults on subsea instalations and aims to enable field operators to better plan for repair or replacement of failed components, which could save the industry millions of dollars in halted production.

The system, known as V-IR, has been developed by Viper Subsea with the support of Total, BP, Shell, and Chevron. The shallow water trial will run in phases and could last up to 12 months. An initial trial of the technology will take three months, during which time the V-IR technology suite will undergo communications and performance testing in a sea water environment that includes the use of 1.2 miles of subsea cable which has been deployed onto the bed of the marina. Following the shallow water trial there will be a period of further equipment qualification before the system is fully commercialized later in the year.

ITF CEO, Dr Patrick O’Brien, said in an organization statement:

“It is encouraging to see that one of our JIPs is nearing the latter stages of deployment with this trial. Identifying the exact location and why the failure occurred is time consuming and difficult with existing technology, meaning that the recovery and repairs of cables is risky and very expensive. Viper’s V-IR system has the potential to provide substantial savings in time and costs to the industry.”



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