OneSubsea, a Schlumberger company, has announced the successful commission and startup of subsea boosting systems installed in ultradeep waters, located in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We strive to deliver the solutions that help customers reduce costs while increasing recovery from the reservoir, and in this case, our subsea boosting technology is enabling the customer to optimize production from one of the world’s deepest subsea reservoirs,” said Mike Garding, President, OneSubsea, Schlumberger.

Installed in depths of approximately 7,000 feet (2,100 m), the subsea boosting systems consist of three retrievable 3.0 MW single-phase pump modules, which are landed in their pump stations, along with the subsea controls and power distribution system. Located topside is the associated pump control and instrumentation equipment with the variable speed drive and step-up transformer delivering power to the subsea equipment.

Having developed the first subsea boosting systems by a predecessor company more than 25 years ago, OneSubsea is the market leader in this field-proven technology designed to increase production rates and ultimate recovery from subsea fields. The customer has stated that by reducing the back-pressure on the reservoir, the boosting pumps have the potential to improve the recovery factor by 10 per cent to 30 per cent. This translates to between 50 and 150 million barrels of additional oil recovery resulting from this leading-edge subsea boosting technology.