Given the current energy challenges, such as renewable potential, sustainability and low carbon emissions, it is vital that the oil and gas industry prepares itself for the future, to exploit resources in a cost-efficient, carbon-efficient and safe manner. Many of the future developments to tackle these challenges will rely on systems for subsea production and processing, and by leading actors in industry and academia joining forces. To this end, the Brazilian-Norwegian Subsea Operations Consortium (BN-SOC) was established in 2017.
Subsea operations have been important for decades, and both countries are at the forefront of this field, with more than 1500 subsea wells on the Brazilian and Norwegian continental shelves. The objective of this consortium has been to enable the development of a sustainable and broad collaboration within subsea operations education, research and development, between leading academic and industrial actors in Brazil and Norway.
Through the current consortium, we have assembled a group of leading subsea actors from both academia and industry. Our Brazilian university partners include the top universities in the country: The University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and the University of Campinas (Unicamp). In addition, the companies Petrobras (Brazil), and Equinor (Norway) have been active members of the consortium, as well as GCE Ocean Technology (Norway). At NTNU, BN-SOC is coordinated by the Department of Geoscience and Petroleum (IGP) and has been attached to two Centres for Research-based Innovation ? SFI SUBPRO (primary affiliation) and SFI MOVE (sub-project with NTNU in Ålesund and USP).
Activities in BN-SOC have centered around the mobility as a major activity, to facilitate multidisciplinary collaboration. During the project period, the consortium has facilitated approximately 70 reciprocal visits and 22 short-term stays to date, from Norway to Brazil and vice versa. The short-term stays have been instrumental in achieving joint supervision of Master students, in ensuring valuable research exchange for PhD- and Postdoc.-candidates and joint publications of scientific articles and technical reports. BN-SOC has brought many excellent students from Brazil to Norway, many of whom we still cooperate with independently of the INTPART program. Three MSc. students that have been on exchange from Brazil have later been hired in PhD positions at NTNU, and one PhD candidate from NTNU has been hired in a Postdoc.-position at Unicamp. In addition, these stays have facilitated courses held at USP, UFRJ and Unicamp through visiting faculty.
To date, 5 journal articles have been published as a result of BN-SOC activity, with additional articles currently under production and / or review, as well as approximately 60 additional conference papers and presentations produced. BN-SOC has hosted annual workshops since 2017 in Trondheim (Norway) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The consortium has been an active participant group in the "November Conference on Brazilian-Norwegian Energy Research" for several years running, including being responsible for hosting sessions, contributing with presentations, and through NTNU, in the planning of the conference.
Through reciprocal visits and regular workshops, BN-SOC?s partners have developed and submitted new joint project proposals as a direct result of the project. Our cooperation through BN-SOC has led to Brazilian partner involvement in the newly established SFI SWIPA, coordinated by SINTEF Industry and with NTNU IGP as a key partner. Cooperation between NTNU IGP and Petrobras has led to a new sub-project within NTNU?s ?Research and Innovation Program in Digital and Automation Solutions for the Oil and Gas Industry" (BRU 21).
Planned remaining activities for 2020 have been cut somewhat short due to Covid-19. This includes a planned workshop in Sao Paolo (June-20) and our remaining short-term mobility stays and reciprocal visits planned for spring 2020.
Our overall conclusion is that BN-SOC has been a very successful program, which has led to a close cooperation with our Brazilian partners within this field, as well as having been of great value to SFI SUBRO and SFI MOVE. In 2020, NTNU was awarded a second phase of financing for this project by the Research Council of Norway.
This has been a very successful program which has led to a close cooperation with Brazilian Universities within this field,
and it has brought many excellent students from Brazil to Norway, with whom we still cooperate. Some of them have continued with PhD/postdoc positions, both in Brazil and Norway, and the cooperation continues independently of INTPART
The Brazil-Norway Subsea Operations Consortium (BN-SOC) is a joint effort in establishing a world-leading institutional collaboration between strong universities and industry actors from both countries. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University of São Paulo, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the University of Campinas together with Statoil, Petrobras and GCE Subsea are partners in the consortium; supported by the Norwegian Centers of Research-based Innovation: SFI SUBPRO and SFI MOVE.
Energy is one of our times greatest challenges. The global energy landscape is evolving with renewable energy, sustainability and low carbon emissions high on the agenda. With an ever growing population and energy demand increasing by 20% the coming 25 years, oil and gas will continue to be two of the most important sources of energy. The oil and gas industry has to prepare itself for the future, to exploit the resources in a cost-efficient, carbon-efficient and safe manner.
Many of the future developments in the oil and gas industry will rely heavily on subsea production and processing, and Norway and Brazil are leading nations within offshore and subsea hydrocarbon exploration and production.
Developing field concepts, processes, systems, equipment and vessels, operational concepts and plans, organizational structures and work processes in the most cost-efficient and carbon-efficient way and with low risk of damage to environment or personnel is of great importance.
Through collaboration within education, research and innovation, BN-SOC is a joint action from leading actors internationally that aims to become the leading academic-industrial environment globally through developing joint education and research to provide the solutions and professionals for the future.