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.
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…
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…
At PMI, we offer mechanical testing of all subsea cable hardware, including umbilical components and umbilical structures. We possess the equipment and experience necessary to complete the most demanding testing in order to enhance project safety and quality.
Umbilical designs for deepwater are complicated and present a number of challenges that must be considered during early design stages. If not correctly taken into account, they can cause problems and limitations during installation and in service. The trend of incorporating more functional components into the design leads to heavier umbilicals and, coupled with greater water depths, results in much higher topside hang-off loads. This drives umbilical designers to further understand the behavior and limits of their products. Read more…
Companies and governments count on PMI engineering support to design and produce reliable cable systems. They look to PMI for innovation to increase performance, specifically for the brutal subsea environment. Because at PMI, we understand the subsea poses challenges unlike any other environment in the world.
Our equipment is highly-designed to guard against cable and equipment damage, extend service life, and maintain cable integrity in these extreme underwater environments.
As in the planning of any asset development, the decision-making process attempts to maximize asset value and to minimize costs without compromising safety and reliability. The cost analysis focuses on capital expenditures and operating expenses, and it also includes risks, or the potential costs of unforeseen events. The conditions driving these costs are numerous and interrelated, and they include reservoir-related factors including existing infrastructure, water depth, weather and currents, seabed conditions, cost of construction and decommissioning of permanent structures, time to first production, equipment reliability, well accessibility for future monitoring or intervention, and flow assurance – the ability to keep fluids flowing in the lines. Read more…
Forward-thinking and progressive companies will push sustainable energy technology and innovation further, testing its boundaries. These companies will advance as they see the value in environmental advocacy. They will be very focused on time and cost cutting methods. At PMI, we are looking into the future with these companies, helping reduce their costs through the use of hydrodynamic efficient hardware. Our in-depth hydrodynamic efficiency studies can be done on existing subsea devices for a complete cost analysis, as well.
In the world of energy, time and money are of the essence. Whether it be meeting projects completions, cost recovery or investor returns, entering the sustainable energy market has very real risks. All variables in the energy sector are related to time and cost. This is even truer in the sustainable energy sector. In order to get off the ground floor, in order to thrive, new emerging technologies and companies in this sector will require the removal of barriers to entry, which at times contain the much maligned red-tape. Read more…
Tidal energy farms require cables. And we understand that the lifetime of those cables significantly effect O&M costs. That’s why as the demand for tidal energy grows, we expect to find ourselves a long-time supplier in this market. Our product are designed to guard against cable and equipment damage, extend service life and maintain cable integrity in extreme underwater environments. Our hardware is proven to reduce the cost of maintaining subsea cables over time.
How the world is harnessing the power of the tides:
The Bay of Fundy is receiving a great deal of attention from proponents of ocean energy and from those in the industry seeking a more sustainable and green future. This 270 km long ocean bay is located in Atlantic Canada between the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Bay of Fundy is where you will witness the highest and most spectacular tides in the world with 100 billion tons of seawater flowing in and out daily during each tidal cycle. This enormous power is currently being harnessed to generate electricity via tidal in-stream energy conversion (TISEC). Numerous projects and research initiatives are underway. With growing demand all over the world for renewable, clean, and carbon-free energy generation, tidal energy is quickly becoming a top choice over traditional wind and solar power. Read more…
One way PMI Industries is able to help companies accelerate and streamline subsea projects is by designing and testing cable hardware solutions upfront. In our Independent Test Lab, your engineers simulate service conditions experienced by underwater cable systems and devices. Once testing is completed, the implementation cycle is accelerated, ensuring projects like RiCORE run smoothly.
The RiCORE (Risk Based Consenting for Offshore Renewable Energy) project has been awarded €1.4 million from the European Commission’s competitive Horizon 2020 programme.
Led by Robert Gordon University (RGU), a group comprising teams from Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France and Scotland will look at ways of accelerating and streamlining the environmental requirements associated with consents for offshore wind, wave and tidal projects. Read more…
