Subsea Technology in the Philippines

As European and GoM markets are declining what is FCEP's strategy?

Earl Mark Jumalon. As the latest subsidiary to the First Crude network, First Crude Engineering Products Inc is based in the Philippines and will act as the Asia Pacific hub for our group. Our strategy is to grow with the market in Asia. Our goal is to provide subsea products and services on our established know-how, which the group has built up over the past 20 years in the North Sea.

Due to the tragic accident in the Gulf of Mexico, the subsea market will slow down in that region and there will be more focus on developments in other regions, especially in Asia and the Middle East.

What kind of products and technology will FCEP provide for its clients?

EMJ. First Crude Engineering Products Inc, has a great variety of products and services. Our main service is subsea engineering, covering all aspects from conceptual field development, FEED studies, subsea refurbishment, subsea tool rental pool and of course, our latest development, the drill cutting treatment system.

We are establishing a facility for testing and refurbishment just outside Dumaguete City where our offices are located. And we have mock up ROV's, subsea torque tools, cutting equipment and we will, in the near future, also be providing various running tools.

We also perform design verifications on subsea designs using modern 3D tools to check access and feasibility of subsea structures, by using models of ROV's, running tools and subsea modules. We can perform these checks on most of the 3D CAD software systems such as Solid Works, Inventor and PDMS. By performing such verifications during the entire design process, our clients save cost and time and will have less changes and corrections during and after the fabrication period.

FCEP Inc, is also an active partner during the different test stages, we supply mock up ROV's for system integration tests on subsea structures and modules including experienced ROV engineers to ensure safe and good operation of the various systems prior to subsea installation.

You mentioned the drill cutting treatment system, can you tell us more about this technology?

EMJ.For the past two to three years we have been looking into a better way to handle drill cuttings. For years it has been the industry standard to dispose drill cuttings on the seabed, just next to the various drill centres. However, the high focus on environment and pollution control has restricted, and in some regions, banned this method. The current solution has been to separate the drill cuttings on the rig and then ship them to shore for further processing and storage, but that is a quite costly method. And we just move the problems onshore.

Our method has been developed together with our Singapore-based partner Dowtec and is based on new technology where we clean the drill cuttings onboard the drilling unit. The end product is clean granules, which we can either re-inject into a separate re-injection well or use as building material for various subsea structures such as protection mattresses, protection covers, tie in ramps, pipe supports and even subsea insulation. It's a win-win situation for both operators and the environment.

What plans do you have for your business in the coming years and how will the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions fit into these plans?

EMJ. As initially stated, we are focusing on expanding our facilities here in the central Visayas and we have introduced ourselves to the key operators within the Philippines oil and gas industry.

But we are already expanding our activities to other places in Asia as we have contracts with Malaysian companies and we will shortly establish a JV in Brunei together with our business partner Dowtec in Singapore.

And as a result of our participation at the last GDS Summit in Doha, Qatar, we have already established good contacts with some of the larger operators in the Middle East region.

Biography

Earl Mark Jumalon, an Electrical Engineer by profession, is the Region Manager of First Crude Engineering Products, Inc. (FCEP). He has been working on subsea field developments, with a focus on field architecture, for the past few years. Currently, he is also taking an MBA at the Silliman University in the Philippines.