Nexans has been awarded a major contract by OneSubsea (a Cameron & Schlumberger company) to design, manufacture and supply an integrated power umbilical solution and associated termination hardware for ExxonMobil Corporation’s Julia oilfield development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. A 23 km length of Nexans’ innovative power umbilical, which combines power cables and umbilicals in a single cross-section, will be installed at water depths in excess of 2000 m to tieback the Julia field subsea systems to a semi-submersible production unit. The Julia field production start-up is scheduled for 2016.
Nexans has pioneered the development of power umbilicals that integrate the functions of power cables and umbilicals in a single cable, enabling a high voltage (HV) supply to be provided for deepwater projects. The power umbilical includes a number of steel tubes as well as fiber optic elements and signal cables for control and monitoring purposes. For the Julia project, the power umbilical will operate subsea pumps supplied by OneSubsea.
The power umbilical for the Julia field will be designed and manufactured at the specialised Nexans subsea cable manufacturing facilities in Halden, Norway.
Adapted from press release by Cecilia Rehn