Aker Solutions and Total have agreed to collaborate on research and innovation to develop new cost-effective subsea field technology.

The initial four-year technical collaboration agreement will build on earlier cooperation and bring both companies closer in developing technologies that will reduce costs and increase value at subsea oil and gas fields. The partnership will this year explore a wide range of issues, including further evolution of subsea processing and compression systems to boost cost-efficiency of deepwater gas production, development of electric subsea controls and optimization of flow-measurement technologies. Further scope of the collaboration will be defined over the next months.

"This joint effort reinforces our common interest in finding more effective solutions to maximize value from subsea field developments," said Hervé Valla, chief technology officer at Aker Solutions. "It allows us to work more closely with Total to solve technical challenges faced by the industry today and to reduce the time needed to bring subsea technology to the market."

Total has been a strategic customer of Aker Solutions for many years including on subsea projects such as the Kaombo and Dalia developments in Angola and Moho Nord in Congo-Brazzaville. The companies have worked closely on solving specific project challenges and designing solutions to enable future developments. This includes collaborating on subsea boosting solutions and subsea plant for deepwater application as part of Total's deep offshore research and development program.