In 2001, TechnipFMC made the first step towards all-electric subsea when it introduced electric choke valve actuators on the Statfjord field. This all-electric solution was retrofitted to the field, and is still fully functional to this day,

Prior to the all-electric choke valve actuator, ROVs from vessels were required to make adjustments to manually operated chokes, which was both inefficient and time-consuming, as well as expensive.  

Since 2001, electric valve actuation has become the solution of choice for choke and manifold valve operation.

Back 20 years ago, the Statfjord field was producing. Subsea chokes were actuated by ROV operations which implied vessel mobilization.  

This was costly, required logistics and planning and did not allow for a fine optimization of the production. Indeed, frequent choke actuations were needed to best manage the sand content in the production.

TechnipFMC came up with a concept using existing infrastructure, the electric lines in the umbilical, and developing a subsea battery to overcome power limitation. This provided enough power to actuate the choke via an electric actuator controlled by a brand new subsea control module.In 11 months, the idea turned into a prototype followed by a pilot and the implementation on 16 chokes in the field.

This was a successful implementation with minimum additional hardware for significant benefits in terms of production optimization with the accurate positioning of electrical actuated chokes. The latest generation subsea electric choke actuators will be installed this year for the water injection template of the field.

20 years of subsea electric systems in operation

"We worked really hard, but we had a lot of fun".

Meet Veronique Prevault, who started as a Project Engineer for the first subsea electric actuators and chokes systems and later became the Lead Engineer. Currently as the Project Director, Veronique shares her story of the start of the all-electric journey and its challenges.

electric valve actuation has become the solution of choice for many Operators when it comes to choke and manifold valve operation, and these components are also available for retrofit application. More than 100 million operation hours have been clocked.

We now have all the building blocks.

The final stages of the building blocks for a fully electrified system are now being developed (built and qualified).

Since 2001,

“All of the qualification work was really well invested time”.

Dive deeper into the benefits of our subsea electric systems with Håvard Thuen Jensen.

eSolutions™ enables simplification of the field design, leveraging proven system components with outstanding and proven reliability performance.

Building on our configure-to-order portfolio, our electrical solutions enable standardization and industrialization. Key components in the electrical safety system include our 800-series controls system and electrical actuators.

Through close collaboration between clients and our industry-leading TechnipFMC subsea experts, we can develop fully or partially electric field solutions.

eSolutions™ also prepares fields for the Energy Transition, as we look beyond oil and gas to renewable energy resources.

We call our electric offering:

eSolutions™

"Manufacturing more than one eActuator per day..."

Egil Skrivervik will give some examples on how our electric systems create success, and how the focus on standardization is important for the electric future.

Leave your contact information and we will get in touch with you.

Do you want to know more?