UK, Australian subsea groups plan collaboration
Global Underwater Hub (GUH) and Subsea Innovation Cluster Australia (SICA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate to promote growth and innovation among their local subsea chains.
GUH represents the UK’s underwater industry. Under the agreement, the two organizations will target opportunities for their members in both countries, helping them to develop subsea technologies suited to both regions.
They also plan to share market intelligence and experience in energy transition projects, including the security and protection of underwater infrastructure.
GUH Chief Executive Neil Gordon highlighted opportunities in Australia both in new offshore development projects and the expansion of production by operators such as Woodside and Santos.
This is supported by an increased focus on carbon capture and storage (CCS), in part due to the high CO2 content in gas production in the region.
Certain large planned projects, such as in the Browse Basin offshore northwest Australia, will require major offshore infrastructure installations followed by inspection, repair and maintenance over the lifetime of the projects.
“Decommissioning is a significant opportunity in Australia where the inventory of subsea assets requiring to be decommissioned includes over 1,500 wells and structures and 4,500 km of pipelines with major opportunities for specialist plugging, cutting, inspection and recovery technologies," Gordon added. “Meanwhile, in offshore wind, largely focused on key areas in the southeast and western Australia, there are projects totaling 11 GW. The subsea requirement for cables, foundations, survey and protection systems across upwards of 700 turbines provides a significant future opportunity for UK subsea companies.”
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