UK oil and gas engineering firm, FES International, has secured a US$2.5million contract to supply its automated Diverless Bend Stiffener Connector (DBSC) to NOV Flexibles, for use by Subsea 7 on the Western Isles Development (WID) project in the northern North Sea area, operated by Aberdeen-based Dana Petroleum.
FES International will supply automatic DBSCs, which reduce the cost of installing subsea risers and umbillicals by removing the need for either a dive spread or work-over ROV required by existing bend stiffeners.
Ian Latimer, technical director at FES International, who is heading up the project, said: "The automatic DBSC is our latest DBSC development and can save operators up to £400,000 on the cost of installation. It is going to play a big part in our future.
“We’ve worked with NOV Flexibles before and are delighted they have chosen to work with us once again. This project requires a quick turn-around to ensure everything is completed by November.”
The WID project involves the development of two oil fields 160km east of the Shetland Islands and 12km west of the Tern field. The oil fields are at 6000ft reservoir depth in 165m water depth. The development consists of at least five production wells and four water injection wells, tied back to a new build floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
Drilling started on the WID project in 2013, and the subsea installation scope of work is taking place this summer.
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