FASTsubsea and PETRONAS’ subsidiary PETRONAS Research Sdn Bhd signed a Joint Industry Project contract to develop and test a low-cost, topside-less subsea multiphase pump. FASTsubsea is a joint venture between Aker Solutions and FSubsea.

According to the agreement, PETRONAS Research will support the development and testing program while FASTsubsea is bringing the product to the market in 2022.

"Getting this participation from a large operator such as PETRONAS is a significant achievement, not least given current industry conditions," said John Macleod, chief technology officer of Aker Solutions.

According to Alexander Fuglesang, managing director of FASTsubsea, the game-changing FASTsubsea technology allows operators to more rapidly extract additional hydrocarbons from existing offshore wells and installed infrastructure. End users are drawn to the technology as increased recovery now can be done in a much more sustainable way, and at up to 50 percent lower capex investment than conventional subsea pumping systems, which is key in this market environment.

The participation from PETRONAS Research comes in addition to a NOK 11 million commitment from the Research Council of Norway and allows engineering activities to start immediately. The project is still open for two further operators to join as JIP partners, which would provide the opportunity to influence and gain early access to the ground-breaking technology.

About Aker Solutions

Aker Solutions helps the world meet its energy needs. We engineer the products, systems and services required to unlock energy. Our goal is to maximize recovery and efficiency of oil and gas assets, while using our expertise to develop the sustainable solutions of the future. Aker Solutions employs approximately 13,000 people in more than 20 countries.

About Petronas

Established in 1974, PETRONAS is Malaysia’s fully integrated oil and gas multinational ranked among the largest corporations on FORTUNE Global 500®. As an integrated global LNG producer with over 37 years of experience, PETRONAS provides an uninterrupted supply of LNG to more than 25 countries around the world. PETRONAS has safely delivered more than 11,000 cargoes globally, sourced from its portfolio of facilities located in Malaysia, Australia and in the future, Canada. PETRONAS is also the first global energy player to introduce the floating LNG concept in 2016, the PFLNG SATU, and introduced its deep-water FLNG, the PFLNG DUA, in 2019.

About FASTsubsea

FASTsubsea is a joint venture between Aker Solutions and Fsubsea to develop the world’s first topside-less subsea multiphase boosting system called FASTsubsea X. FASTsubsea X is a powerful yet simple pump to increase oil recovery for brownfields, tie-backs and marginal or distributed fields. The pump can reduce capex by up to 50% as it enables subsea boosting at fields where there is no available topside space. The system provides increased reliability and gets more out of existing wells which reduces CO2 emissions per barrel.