OREANDA-NEWS. Facing a surging global demand for critical subsea oil and gas production equipment, GE Oil & Gas (NYSE: GE) has launched a new strategy to dramatically reduce the time it takes to design and deliver subsea manifold systems to key offshore customers by adding a standardized manifold design option.

The new manifold customer option can help reduce manifold delivery times by up to 50 percent, depending on various project factors. GE’s new manifold design also can be reconfigured to meet certain project conditions, up to a fully customized solution if customers prefer.

“This new approach represents a significant change in how we design and deliver manifolds to our customers,” said Fredrik Witting, product manager for subsea manifolds and connection systems—GE Oil & Gas. “Previously, we would meet with customers to discuss their specific project requirements and then design customized manifold solutions for them. Now we can offer customers the option of a pre-engineered manifold solution that can be used for a variety of project conditions. This could be a real productivity game-changer in this segment from both an engineering intensity and supply chain optimization perspective.”

Subsea manifolds are used to merge the flow from multiple subsea wells for transfer into production flowlines and to manage distribution of injected water, gas and chemicals. Typically, manifold systems are designed as modular blocks that are customized to meet a customer’s individual configuration requirements and design options.

However, with offshore companies needing faster equipment delivery times to meet their urgent project timetables and with the global energy industry facing a shortage of skilled engineers, GE has expanded its product portfolio to include a more standardized, prefabricated manifold system that can be more quickly deployed to meet a diverse range of applications.

Instead of rolling out the program independently, GE is collaborating with several of its key customers to design and evaluate the new manifold option for a number of projects, including off the coast of Angola. The companies also could expand their discussions to include offshore projects in Asia, the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil.

“Bringing customers in to participate in our program is essential because they clearly understand the delivery schedule benefits of a standardized manifold with a shorter time to design and deliver versus the customized solution that they are accustomed to working with,” Witting said. “So far, we are getting very positive inputs and feedback from our discussions with our customers.”

GE Oil & Gas has more than 20 years of experience in this segment and has deployed more than 100 custom manifolds around the world. In addition to helping its offshore oil and gas customers with their production schedules, the new strategy also strengthens GE’s competitive position as a leading supplier of subsea components as the industry seeks ways to streamline their engineering, manufacturing and delivery supply chains.

The new manifold program is part of GE Oil & Gas’ broader “Structured Products Portfolio” initiative aimed at developing a series of pre-engineered products. In recent years, the company has utilized a similar approach in the development and deployment of its subsea production trees, including the SVXT and the DHXT product lines.