Expansion of the subsea sector brings with it a growing need for verification and validation services that span the entire project spectrum, encompassing the vessel, risers, and equipment. (Image courtesy of ABS)

The subsea sector is maturing, and with more systems moving into the field, there is a growing need for verification and validation services that span the entire project spectrum, encompassing the vessel, risers and equipment.

The current market

The depressed oil price has limited major growth in the overall offshore sector, but subsea installations are expanding. Market analysts at Rystad Energy predict that in five years’ time, the subsea market will grow from about US$30 billion to between US$60 billion and US$70 billion per year.

The entire sector, which Rystad divides into three segments--subsea, umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF); development and production; and inspection and maintenance--will see continued growth. According to Rystad, SURF will increase between $30 billion and $40 billion annually. Development and production could double by 2018. And inspection and maintenance, which today is the smallest of the three segments, has the potential over the long term to grow to the same size as the SURF segment.
If these predictions are accurate, the entire subsea sector will be more than double its current size in a few years, and there will be a significantly greater need for inspection and validation services.

Drivers for change

Increasingly, classification societies are receiving requests for subsea services that include vessel, riser, and subsea equipment verification and validation in a single integrated package. There are three primary drivers for these inquiries.

First, one of the most significant is achieving greater efficiencies. Streamlining efforts through a single provider often means simpler communication, more agile response to changes in the project schedule, and fewer interruptions.

Second, In approaching a classification society for these services, companies also are counting on the breadth of experience these organizations bring to the table in dealing with regulatory requirements and the knowledge of how changes in requirements will impact a project.

The third driver is the desire to capitalize on the class society’s systems that catalogue and analyze a unit’s condition, built up over many years of class service work.

Some owners and operators have found that integrating the functions of verification and validation within a single global organization that can leverage specialized personnel from design review through installation has the potential to deliver considerable savings.

Shifting expectations

There is a natural progression toward an integrated model from a design and simulation perspective. Advancement in computer simulation allows the vessel, mooring system and risers to be coupled with the interaction of these components captured in real time. Production system optimization can be carried out similarly, extending from the risers to the pipeline and subsea equipment.

Because there are fewer interface points in an integrated model, there are more efficiencies and greater savings. In a deepwater project, issues that affect the vessel can also impact risers and subsea equipment. For example, sour service has the same impact on the product-wetted surface regardless of whether that surface is part of the subsea equipment, the risers or even the topsides. If the components are treated as an integrated system, verified and validated by a single organization, there are fewer interface issues and a more coordinated approach to problem-solving.

The advantages of an integrated model can also be realized in resource optimization. Qualified personnel can easily and quickly be reallocated to carry out separate survey tasks without the need to transfer workers from remote locations or to coordinate survey efforts among multiple companies.

As operators search for ways to streamline operations to minimize cost, it is reasonable to look at the verification and validation process through the same lens and to adopt a new paradigm.

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