GE Oil & Gas chose the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) 2014 event to formally launch its new Deepwater Vertical Xmas Tree, designed to meet the challenges of deepwater subsea projects at depths of up to 3,000 m (9,843 ft).

It also chose its shiny new Technology Solutions Centre in Stavanger to do it, and explained that the DVXT is aimed at expanding GE’s portfolio of pre-engineered, pre-qualified modular systems – designed to enable products to be brought to market faster. Mike Wenham, subsea trees senior application engineer at GE Oil & Gas, said: “As an industry, we need to make sure we stay focused on both the future and the now, working to address the challenges of deepwater development. The launch of our new DVXT is a great example of this, providing customers with a leading-edge production system that enhances our subsea trees portfolio to meet current and future needs, and enabling us to offer the industry a tree to meet any of its challenges, regardless of depth.”

The tree was developed with the help of detailed dialogue with the company’s major operator clients, all providing key input into the design of the tree to help it reduce engineering costs, lead time and risk.

“There is a rising sense in the oil and gas industry that many of the challenges faced today can be addressed by leveraging standardised products and solutions in order to simplify processes and reduce lead times,” said Chris Phebus, engineering executive for subsea systems at GE Oil & Gas. “By offering our DVXT as a standard product, we can not only improve cycle times, but also ensure the highest levels of quality, safety and reliability for our products.”

The DVXT is also to be deployed with the company’s remote electronics canister, the SemStar5-R, which incorporates the latest in communication technology and is designed with the objectives of higher subsea reliability, extended service life and improved environmental monitoring.

With communications out to 220 km, at water depths of up to 3,000 m, GE says the ‘ModPod’ subsea control module is designed to complement the DVXT’s modular layout and enables an even more flexible communications network. This, it adds, is a key ingredient for future field expansion and enhanced access to remote wells.