FMC sets its sights on Russia

Development of Arctic shelf resources presents many challenges, and Arild Selvig, Director of Technology and Business Development, Russia, at FMC Technologies, explains how his company's expertise will help Russian oil and gas industry to succeed in this difficult task.

Arild Selvig, FMC Technologies

The time when oil majors were able to tap the resources of easy oil are past. Deepwater and arctic environments are two of the areas that will be key to future developments. As Russia opens up its hydrocarbons industry FMC wants to be at the forefront of this brave new world.

FMC Technologies has actually been present in the Russian market since the 1930s, however, it is since the 1970s that the company has driven its oil credentials with wellheads, Christmas trees (XTs) and metering systems, among other things.

The first impetus for FMC Subsea in Russia occurred when the division began an informal relationship with Gazprom and its affiliates in 2003 whereby all parties could discuss the options for the utilisation of subsea systems in arctic environments.

This relationship led in 2006 to an alliance agreement signed between FMC and Gazflot, VNIIGAZ and Giprospetsgaz - under Gazprom's supervision - to provide for development of offshore fields in Arctic regions. Activities include theoretical analysis work for the development of tailored solutions, technology and equipment for arctic subsea projects.

Though the development of arctic resources will take considerable efforts on the part of FMC Subsea and its partners, projects elsewhere - including Ormen Lange - have already laid the groundwork for this future success.

Ormen Lange is situated 120 km (75 miles) off the west coast of Norway and the field contains natural gas reserves in a geographical area of 350 km² (130 miles) in water depths varying from 850 to 1,000 m (2,800 to 3,600 ft).

Ormen Lange and other Norwegian continental shelf projects are helping FMC to develop what it will call its Subsea Arctic Toolbox. This will comprise the elements necessary to safely undertake subsea operations in these harsh conditions, such as methods to protect subsea equipment from icebergs and moving topside units that can be shifted to avoid ice flows.

In Russia, FMC has already instigated a number of studies in order to understand the technical challenges involved in sub-zero environments. The first of these is an early phase subsoil concept for Ob-Tas Bay to investigate the problems associated with shallow water drilling through ice sheets.

Another recent project has been a subsea concept definition for the Shtokman gas and condensate field. FMC has been involved in a wide range of appraisal activities on Shtokman since 2005, including field layout; flow analysis; subsea compression concept definition and technical maturity assessment. The culmination of this work to date was the supply by FMC of the wellheads for Well number seven on the Shtokman field during 2007.

FMC is also involved in the early phase development of Sakhalin-3 (Block Kirinsky and Kamchatka), and, further afield, feasibility studies in the arctic White Rose field in Newfoundland.

FMC recognizes the importance of undertaking activities in conjunction with its alliance partners and the technical complexities of the arctic will only be overcome if each member of the team brings its own expertise to bear on the future hydrocarbon recovery challenges.

Arild Selvig - a Master in Petroleum Engineering and subsequently Master in Technology Management - has over 20 years of experience in various top management positions in the O&G industry. Since 2001, he has worked for FMC Technologies, mainly in S&M, Strategy and Business Development - after 15 years in Norsk Hydro O&G.