National Energy Resources Australia (NERA) is supporting the Transforming Australia Subsea Equipment Reliability (TASER) project, led by Wood and in collaboration with Chevron, Shell and Woodside, by providing AUD 145,000 of funding over 2 years.

TASER follows on from the Subsea Equipment Australian Reliability Joint Industry Project (SEAR JIP) also led by Wood and supported by a group of operators. The collaborative industry effort is focused on sharing knowledge to improve subsea equipment design and reduce the requirement for costly and time-consuming interventions in Australia’s challenging offshore warm water environment.

In northern Australian waters, marine fouling has a significant effect on the performance of subsea equipment, believed to be a result of the water composition, light, oxygen and temperature. The TASER project will create a “living laboratory” to assess the effectiveness of innovative coatings, materials and technologies against calcareous deposition and marine organism growth on subsea equipment.

Robin Watson, Wood’s chief executive comments: “We are delighted to receive funding from NERA for this project which will assist operators, service companies and others in the oil and gas industry in Australia to avoid costly offshore repair campaigns. The project will enable a better understanding of subsea equipment failures and intervention requirements and has the potential to offer significant cost savings to operators by maximising equipment reliability, availability and therefore production uptime.”

NERA chief executive Miranda Taylor says the project was an excellent example of the power of collaboration, innovation and technology to transform the international competitiveness of the Australian energy resources sector.

“Digital technologies and ‘living laboratories’ allow faster, safer adaption, testing and application of the technologies needed to optimise performance of the oil and gas industry’s subsea equipment. NERA is supporting the TASER project as it will bring operators and vendors together to share, collaborate and address industry challenges in real life conditions,” Taylor says.

Multiple vendors are loaning equipment to be tested underwater over a three-year period. Results will be validated by University of Western Australia researchers.

Tags: Chevron, National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), Shell, Wood, Woodside