At its Annual Meeting in Florence, Italy, which brings together more than 1,000 senior oil and gas leaders and government leaders for a two-day event, Baker Hughes, a GE company announced a series of new, innovative contracts and partnerships.
As the world’s first and only technology and services company with fullstream capabilities and a holistic view of the oil and gas industry, BHGE’s integrated suite of products, technologies and digital solutions continues to help customers break down siloes and achieve radical improvements in efficiency, productivity, performance and project economics.
“As an industry, we have had to learn some hard lessons and acknowledge the need to embrace new ways of working to reach the levels of optimization, efficiency and productivity required to grow,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO of BHGE. “The future of competitiveness in energy will be defined by radical improvements in project economics, significant shifts in the way we do business and the ability to balance energy demand and environmental responsibilities. Our industry will face challenges as it navigates continued market volatility, evolving policy priorities and cost pressure but we cannot forget our focus on productivity or allow old habits to return.
“These deals and partnerships show the value of BHGE’s diversified portfolio, which allows us to partner with our customers and develop innovative solutions across the value chain. Our fullstream and integrated offerings are what differentiate us to compete in every segment and sector – upstream, midstream and downstream, brownfield and greenfield, onshore and offshore.”
Modern, digital technologies are changing the way BHGE works with its customers and the outcomes it delivers. The company is helping to re-invent how work gets done and deliver radical efficiencies across the value chain, as demonstrated by a partnership with Shell.
BHGE has jointly developed JewelSuite, which is revolutionizing the way Shell executes field development planning by integrating data and workflows from seismic interpretation all the way through to geological modelling. This allows Shell to reduce uncertainties on well placement, reserves estimation, and production planning.
“Digital Technologies have been an important feature in our industry for years but now the pace of change is increasing dramatically. What used to take years or months to be developed and deployed, can now take only weeks,” said Harry Brekelmans, Director Shell Projects and Technology.
BHGE also announced two deals that further underline the company’s leadership in gas technologies.
A contract with Maersk Oil will see BHGE deliver an integrated scope of turbomachinery equipment for the topside production facility of the Tyra field redevelopment project, in the Danish North Sea, including seven compression trains featuring BCL centrifugal compressors driven by GE Power high speed electric motors; three gas turbine generator sets; and two turbo expanders. The compressor technology uses an active magnetic bearing (AMB) solution for both driver and driven equipment, and BHGE will supply AMB applications through a license-based partnership with SKF, a leading player in the development, manufacture and sale of active magnetic bearings and magnetic bearing control technologies. Adopting an AMB and high-speed electric motor configuration provides Maersk with an optimized, oil-less solution that eliminates lubricant materials and reduces the weight, footprint and maintenance costs for the equipment on the platform’s topside.
On the power generation side, BHGE will supply the aeroderivative gas turbine, which is derived directly from GE Aviation’s aircraft engines and is a lighter, compact and more efficient option. The equipment will be manufactured, packaged and tested in the BHGE Turbomachinery & Process Solutions centers of excellence of Florence, Italy and Le Creusot, France.
Underlining its leadership in providing industry-leading gas turbine technology, BHGE is delivering 10 NovaLT16 gas turbines for customers in the APAC region. The latest deal will see BHGE supply the turbine to Vietsovpetro, the first time the proven technology will be deployed in an offshore environment in Vietnam.
The country continues to have significant levels of oil and gas development both onshore and offshore, with increasing demand from power plants, refineries and petrochemical plants. The NovaLT16 – designed for both onshore and offshore applications – provides an efficient solution with a strong emphasis on high availability and reliability, while reducing operating costs. It will be combined with the gas compression platform’s existing gas engine-driven reciprocating compressors to expand gas compression capacity at Block 09-1. The turbine is designed for both mechanical drive and power generation applications and, for this development, its mechanical drive capabilities are ideally suited to enhance the facility’s gas compression performance, with 89% or higher compressor efficiency.
Developed and built in Florence, Italy, the turbine can operate for up to 35,000 hours between maintenance intervals and has been configured to ensure servicing activities can be completed quickly and efficiently, thereby reducing downtime, resulting in high levels of reliability, availability and efficiency, with reduced operating costs for the customer.
