GE’s Newcastle Innovation Center to focus on subsea technology development
GE Oil & Gas has officially launched its new Innovation Center in Newcastle, UK, designed to drive technology development for the subsea fields of the future. The center houses GE’s full suite of testing equipment for flexible pipelines, mimicking the underwater conditions of some of the world’s harshest offshore environments.
Along with a focus on R&D activity for the next generation of flexible pipelines for ultra-deepwater and high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) reservoirs, the center combines existing GE Oil & Gas testing equipment alongside new investments in a single site, enhancing the business’ testing and qualification operations.
R&D teams are already involved in multiple projects at the center, looking at extending the water depth capability of GE’s large-bore risers and qualifying a new polymer grade for HPHT markets.
“The work we are doing here allows us to look ahead and anticipate the future challenges for the global oil and gas industry, ensuring that our customers are prepared for new projects in the best ways possible,” Bruce Heppenstall, General Manager of GE Oil & Gas in Newcastle, said. “The entire center was designed around this focus on delivering to their future needs while driving long-term sustainability in the subsea sector.”
The center is located close to GE Oil & Gas’s existing manufacturing facility for subsea flexibles in Newcastle.
The Newcastle Innovation Center also joins a number of similar GE facilities located around the world, from the recently opened Saudi GE Innovation Centre in the Dhahran Techno Valley, Saudi Arabia, to the Global Innovation Centre in Calgary, Canada. GE also has nine Global Research Centers, including the latest in the Ilha do Bom Jesus peninsula in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
