Subsea Riser Products Limited
Rising up
Formed in 2008 as a spin-off from the globally successful 2H Offshore company, which carries out global riser analysis, Subsea Riser Products (SRP), as the name implies, had a different charter to develop and produce High Pressure (HP) risers.
Operating a development and procurement business model, SRP has built it’s capability on HP riser flanges and integrally forged joints – up to 15 tonnes in weight – to now delivering complete riser strings and the associated deployment tooling. Sitting within the Acteon Group of subsea companies, SRP’s core knowledge and expertise is in the understanding, analysis, design and production of joints and connectors that are subject to high stress and fatigue loads. This has led to the development of new products including HP riser connectors and subsea mooring connectors.
“Although we are currently a small company, our extensive knowledge and track record of delivering high fatigue, high-stress riser joints for HP drilling applications, makes us one of the biggest and most experienced suppliers of these kind of products globally,” begins head of business development Mike Ridgway. “This is in both the HP drilling and CWOR intervention sectors and we can cover the complete process from initial FEED studies, through design to product manufacturing and project delivery.”
Able to meet the increasingly complex demands of the evolving offshore industry within its niche service offering, SRP has enjoyed steady growth over the last 12 months, as Mike states: “Geographically it would be easy to say we are operating globally, as the projects we are currently working on, or where we are involved in tenders, are truly global from GoM through Europe and West Africa to Asia. Having said that, we are based just outside London in the UK and our principal clients are UK, Europe or US-based. Over the last 12 months, although our activity levels have generally increased within the sectors we operate, there have also been a number of major projects delayed; this is often due to the re-evaluation of the financial viability of projects as costs are firmed up.”
Despite these economic difficulties in the market, SRP was awarded a multi-million pound contract with Total in mid-2013. This major contract, which involves the supply of 3500-psi drilling risers and deployment tooling for the Moho Nord project based in the Republic of the Congo, is the first time that Total has awarded the subsea and riser applications specialist a direct contract. “The scope of the contract includes 43 joints and the associated deployment tooling for drilling from a tension leg platform. Manufacturing and assembly work will take place in the UK and mainland Europe and the equipment will be delivered during the first quarter of 2015,” highlights Mike.
The 43 joints will be used for drilling from a tension leg platform based 75 km off the coast of Pointe Noire, in water depths of 780 m. The major project will require the skills of employees operating in a range of departments at SRP, such as designers and engineers, as well as quality and project management. When discussing the contract earlier in the year, Johnny Shield, managing director at SRP said: “This contract provides a solid base from which SRP will grow and provide its riser engineering and procurement capability offering to other companies. A key aspect of the contract win was our ability to deliver to the highest quality level against an aggressive schedule at a competitive price.”
Elaborating further on the company’s strengths in a competitive market, Mike adds: “We have a straight-talking approach, which I believe our customers respect, and a real desire to deliver what our customer really wants – cost efficiency, on-time delivery and best-in-class quality. On top of this, our size allows us to be agile and responsive to requests, whether simply for information or for changes to project requirements; we also look to continuously improve in all areas.
“We recognise that we are a niche supplier that is operating in a specialised field; however, our very strong track record for delivering technically challenging projects is allowing us to develop highly strategic supplier relationships with some of the major players in the oil and gas industry.”
With a large number of specialist engineering firms in the industry, Mike notes that the company’s success lies in the innovation of its products, which are designed and developed to resolve specific industry demands: “An example of this is the Rocksteady Mooring Connector and we are very pleased to have just delivered the first mooring foundation connector assemblies to Carnegie Wave Energy (CWE) for its CET05 project off Western Australia.” The scope of the project includes three Rocksteady mooring or foundation connectors that have a breaking load rating of 2000 tonnes; these will be used as part of articulated bearing assemblies in a water depth of 30 m. The groundbreaking project will deliver the first wave power application to operate with an array of multiple wave power converters; it is also the first project to produce both clean power and fresh water.
“This is the first time that a variant of the Rocksteady subsea mooring connector will be deployed on such a project, following successful qualification and fatigue testing in 2013. This project provided us with a lot of serious engineering challenges due to the demanding load conditions, and in CWE’s own words: ‘SRP was very responsive to key selection criteria and demonstrated an appetite to provide an innovative solution to project requirements’, which sums up exactly what we offer to our clients,” says Mike.
In addition to innovation, the company’s focus on a strong engineering ethic and resourcing the right people has ensured it is fully prepared for demands in the industry, both now and in the future. “We can offer people a much wider experience than larger organisations because we don’t put our personnel in one area of the business and instead actively encourage cross-team working, movement and promotion within the organisation. This results in a varied, and usually high, workload, but it means we have the flexibility to move personnel to support projects when they spike in activity,” explains Mike.
Looking ahead, this focus on integration is certain to continue as SRP’s parent company, Acteon, aims to cement its ‘Working Together’ strategy through the provision of synergies within the group. This will not only benefit clients, but will also further enable SRP to reach its goal of becoming the ‘go-to’ company for HP riser projects and subsea products.
Subsea Riser Products Limited
Products: Subsea and riser hardware