PMI has grown up with the oil industry. In 1969, we emerged in the underwater market by introducing the helical wire concept for use on underwater cables. And today, we offer full-service engineering from concept to production, cable hardware and kits, custom cable systems and simulated at-sea testing services.
The recent trend in oil prices casts a shadow of uncertainty on many industries like ours across the globe. But news of a Norwegian oil field has us all perking up a bit.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has given the go ahead on the development and operation plan of the oil group Statoil for Johan Sverdrup field. It’s the fifth largest oil field to ever be found off the Norwegian cost. And it looks as if it is expected to generate $200 billion in revenues within the next 50 years and create 51,000 direct and indirect jobs, which is especially important for Norway – not to mention the entire oil industry — these days.
Read more about our thoughts on Oil and Gas Exploration.
Read more about Norway’s Development of Largest Oil Field.
Submarine power cables are going to be critical to bring renewable energy on shore as this industry grows. And this industry is going to grow fast as many non-utility purchasers, such as IKEA, Facebook and Google, are jumping on the bandwagon and beginning to invest in wind power.
It’s imperative that these growing energy companies use products that assure the ease of installation, provide a long service life, reduce lead-time and survive in harsh environments. Choosing the right subsea hardware ultimately can make the difference between early failure and long-term survivability.
Read more about our thoughts on off shore wind.
Want to know more about market growth for wind energy as leading U.S. brands lock in low prices? Read this great article.
Did you know that submarine cables are at most risk of damage during installation? Stresses placed upon the cable as it is installed can manifest and cause catastrophic failures to your system. The time it takes to repair such a cable can vary from weeks to many months and becomes a costly endeavor.
Using a test lab can assist you to identify potential problems prior to use by performing extensive laboratory testing.
Gaining insight to the interaction between the strength member and attached hardware or the complete cable assembly is especially valuable when you have so much at risk.
Want to read more about the importance of submarine cables? Check out this great article at Subsea Cables UK.
Equipping ROVs is a growing industry for us, so it’s exciting to read about America’s very first Bachelor of Science in Maritime Technology program, offered by Northwestern Michigan College, and their special Falcon ROV. The Falcon is the most widely used ROV in the industry and students are most likely to come across in their working life.
We’re thrilled to learn that this program is basically in our backyard, in Lake Michigan, and that it allows students to fit and study an array of sophisticated equipment.
The aim of the BSc program is for students to become proficient in applied technology for the marine industry onshore and offshore.
Their studies cover the calibration, deployment, operation, maintenance and management of marine technology assets, including data collection, processing and mapping. Read more…
There’s no shortage of bad news these days, but looking at the trends in renewable energy, there’s plenty of hope. Last year, the world broke a record for new wind installations, installing nearly three wind turbines each hour. At that rate the need for proven subsea equipment will certainly increase as well. At PMI, we are focused on this market, the trends that will lead the energy revolution and helping these customers realize a significant return on investment.
Wind energy is surging back to stronger levels of investment is just one of the trends. Read about all them here.
As we find our products being used more and more for shipwreck explorations, we were really excited to read about this one nearly in our backyard in Lake Michigan and learning that there are many more to discover.
The bottom of Lake Michigan is literally a graveyard of shipwrecks. Local maritime historians say 1,200 of the 2,000 sunken vessels in Lake Michigan no longer exist because they hit shore and broke apart.
Experts add that about 360 wrecks have been found in the lake’s deeper water, but there are still many wrecks out there that remain undiscovered. Read more…
As engineers, we naturally love to innovate. That’s what is so exciting about what the future holds for us in alternative energy. While our subsea hardware has been proven for over 40 years, we are also equally proven in custom-engineering parts for unique cable innovations and ready to tackle what the future has in store for us.
Turbines designed in the UK aim to harness tidal energy to produce cheaper electricity − without endangering marine life.
Kepler Energy, whose technology is being developed by Oxford University’s department of engineering science, says the turbines will in time produce electricity more cheaply than off-shore wind farms.
It hopes to install its new design in what is called a tidal energy fence, one kilometre long, in the Bristol Channel. Read more…
Subsea equipment (umbilicals, risers, flowlines) and pipelines are generally one third of all expenditure of a total project. Equipment purchases add up quickly and in order to save costs, companies will be looking for hardware with proven results – hardware that increases efficiency and quickly realizes a significant return on investment.
Statoil CEO Eldar Sætre recently stated that over the last ten years, the cost of subsea developments has increased by 250 percent. According to analysts Douglas-Westwood, subsea spending will continue to rise, and there are projects and locations to watch out for. Read more…
If you are looking to lower costs and improve the economic outcomes of deepwater projects, you should consider the hydrodynamic efficiency of your subsea hardware and how that impacts your fuel costs.
It’s everyone’s favorite pastime, but no one can predict what the oil price might be—it’s an uncontrollable aspect that can and will again dramatically impact this business over time. But what can and is being implemented by most companies is the overriding imperative to take back control where it can, and that largely means reducing project costs. Read more…
In the United States, wave energy technology is less advanced than tidal. But as interest grows, companies like ours are prepared to equip these new tidal power companies with proven subsea cable hardware helping them become profitable sources of electricity.
Small tidal power companies are taking advantage of the rising interest in alternative energies. Large amounts of coastal waters are being reserved on both coasts of North America by small companies who plan to take advantage of ocean energy technologies, in the hopes that these sites will become profitable sources of electricity. Read more…
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