SUBSEA EXPO 2019 - OGV interview Scott Hamilton from Baker Hughes, a GE company

Scott can you tell us why you're attending this year subsea expo?

I think it's really important that the subsea industry has a forum and I think it's quite unique in having a subsea focused forum event that we can all get to and basically discuss lessons learned, innovation and the challenges that the subsea industry has in front of us. So that's why I think it's so important. I'm presenting on marginal fields as well and I think the timing is good because if you look at the market, the market’s obviously coming back and the Northeast and the UK sector is looking like a third of total Awards this year (in 2019, fingers crossed) so it's really important that we attend today.

And the last few years have been challenging for the oil and gas industry, what do you think the impact has been and how has BHG you responded?

So it's been tough, you know, everyone will tell you how tough it's been. The great thing is, you know, if we think back to the busy days yes there's a lot of new technology and innovation going on but it was quite dispersed in its focus; it was driven by clients own requirements for extended reach projects, higher pressure, higher temperature and deeper water. What the downturn is really driven by is a focus on cost, because that is the biggest single issue in the industry. So there has been a great opportunity to focus on one single driver and how we can overcome the cost challenges in the industry, not just to the downtown but that build on up to the future.

And can you tell us a little more about subsea connect? What is it and how will it impact the industry?

So for us, subsea connect is a combination of all of our review of how we focus on project economics. It's really about how we think like the client. How do we add value, real value, to the client and unlock barrels of oil by reducing the overall cost of the development, the production, the life of field and ultimately decommissioning. So it's a holistic view, end to end, of how we can reduce the total cost, the total expenditure.

And finally, can you tell us a little more of our Aptara and why BHG is focused on developing new concepts of smaller and lighter subsea equipment and systems?

So, subsea connect has four pillars. Okay, so one pillar is project connect and how we execute, the second one is about flexible partnerships, the third one is about digitization and the fourth one is about technology and how we develop technology to unlock those barrels of oil. And the technology, the subsea portion of the technology, that we’re developing is the Aptara product line system where were encompassing; wellheads, Christmas trees, flowline connection systems, compact manifolds and new control system. The subsea portion of an offshore development ranges from 30 to 50 percent so it's incredibly important that we focus on those costs and bringing those costs down. With the Aptara system we’re actually targeting 50% total expenditure reduction over the life of field focused on subsea alone. We’ve essentially pulled all of our new developments and innovations into a system that can be modular and flexible. We can standardize; so it's getting the balance of standardization, common parts, common products’ but flexible so that we can offer that product to multiple clients. And it's also about a product line that's adaptable through the life of field so it also gives us options through the life of field to be able to swap out and upgrade, or change the functionality, of the product subsea again unlocking more barrels of oil as the field develops.