Siemens and Saipem to collaborate on subsea control system technology

March 23, 2017

MILAN and OSLO -- Saipem and Siemens have signed a Joint Development Agreement aimed at qualifying and promoting an open standard subsea control systems for Saipem’s Subsea Bus architecture based on Siemens Subsea DigiGrid.

Siemens, a world leader in electrification and digitalization, will, through its Subsea entity, support Saipem in realizing the Saipem Subsea Bus architecture, by adapting and further developing the Siemens Subsea DigiGrid digitalization, control and communication portfolio into a customized subsea control system. This system is one of the key enabling elements of Saipem’s technology platform for subsea processing systems, and it will be the first control system in the market promoting a modularized and standardized subsea system through Open Framework architecture.

The Saipem Subsea Bus is an extendable Open Framework platform of software and hardware components, including development and debugging tools, designed to ensure full support for and integration into all subsea applications.

The combined system will be capable of controlling an “All Electric” configuration, ideally suited for subsea fields with long distances between wells and host facility, thereby avoiding expensive hydraulic umbilical cables while leveraging distributed architectures with high performing control units to support the most demanding and innovative subsea technology applications, such as seawater treatment and separation.

This collaboration between Siemens and Saipem fits neatly into both companies’ strategic objectives of supporting the oil and gas industry with innovative solutions, allowing customers to exploit new and challenging opportunities and achieve improved operating performances, while reducing the environmental impact of their activities. Through this collaboration Siemens and Saipem will now be able to draw on the combined strengths and excellent know-how in both organizations.

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