A growing trend offshore could help pave the way to profits for Schlumberger as the oil and gas industry emerges from the downturn.

With the added experience brought by the Cameron Group and OneSubsea, Schlumberger’s focus will be on subsea tiebacks, which Cameron Group President R. Scott Rowe sees as an area of growth for the subsea sector.

“Operators are looking to spend significantly less and drive higher returns by capitalizing on existing host facilities,” Rowe said. “OneSubsea is uniquely positioned with our standardized subsea tree, our single-well boosting system, our unified control system and our partnership with Subsea 7 to capitalize on this growth opportunity.”

Currently, OneSubsea has eight paid FEED studies. The hopes are that by year-end 2016 the group will secure a small subsea tieback award that uses OneSubsea equipment and Subsea 7’s installation capacity, he added.

Like other areas of the industry, the subsea sector has been impacted by the downturn as customers revise or delay projects or schedules. Rowe said deep water has continued to be challenged, with five more rigs stacked in the third quarter and deepwater rig utilization down to 55% in September. He expects tree awards will be less than 100 this year.

“Our focus has shifted to the tieback market, and we do see a lot of opportunities on that,” Rowe said.

With a standardized subsea tree that reduces costs, a single well boosting, a unified control system and installation from Subsea 7, “we think we’ve got a very economical package to tie back one or two wells into existing host facilities.”

—Velda Addison

Offshore