ABB Expands Measurement Products Center to Meet Demand from Upstream Oil & Gas

Summary

Owner-operators and independent exploration & production (E&P) companies in upstream oil & gas face increasing operational, environmental, and regulatory challenges as they strive to bring natural gas and other hydrocarbons to market safely, efficiently, and profitably; despite the recent phenomenon of declining oil prices. The last few years have shown that the opportunity for US energy independence is now close to reality, with some industry sources predicting that this milestone could be achieved by 2025.

Recently ARC Advisory Group had an opportunity to tour ABB's newly expanded Measurement Products operations, based primarily on the Totalflow product line. Located about 50 miles north of Tulsa, ABB's Bartlesville facility is focused on producing measurement and automation solutions for the upstream oil & gas market segment. It is seeing growing demand from its customer base in the burgeoning US shale oil and gas sector.

ABB Investing to Meet Strong Upstream Market Demand

The $14 million expansion, part of ABB's ongoing investment in its North American oil and gas operations, will help meet both regional and global customer demand for its measurement products, engineering services, and project services. The project doubles the facility size by adding 100,000 square feet of space. It is also expected to double the size of the local workforce over the next ten years by adding 250 jobs, a majority of which are likely to be in technical and engineering disciplines. Two-thirds of the expansion is for manufacturing operations while the remainder will accommodate office and laboratory facilities. This is ABB's third expansion of the Bartlesville site since 2000, reflecting continued strong growth in oil & gas.

ABB's Bartlesville Facility Seeing Significant Expansion

"The resurgence of the oil and gas industry in North America has driven the demand for all types of products, solutions and services to help make operations more efficient, productive and safe," said Kevin Kosisko, Region Division Manager, Process Automation, North America for ABB. "We are seeing many new sites here in the US that need to start up quickly, particularly in the shale gas area, and increased demand from existing operations that need to optimize their production. The Bartlesville site expansion is one of ABB's numerous investments to increase our ability serve our industry customers in this region."

Packaged Solutions Designed to Meet Customer's Needs

The facility designs, develops, and manufactures natural gas & liquids measurement products and analyzers, as well as software applications and system solutions for the global oil & gas market. These solutions are comprised of electronic flow measurement devices for custody transfer applications, RTUs, software to optimize well production, well pad automation solutions, gas chromatographs that analyze composition and measure gas quality, tank level measurement devices, as well as pressure and multivariable transmitters. The Bartlesville operation is also integrating other ABB measurement products into its solutions to provide a more comprehensive solution portfolio to customers. ABB has more than 300,000 flow computers and RTUs installed in oil and gas applications around the world.

ABB Bartlesville Facility Ships Products to Oil & Gas Customers Around the World

ABB provides industrial solutions for the hydrocarbon supply chain, encompassing exploration & production, processing, transportation, storage and distribution. Among other accomplishments, ABB has helped automate about 50,000 unconventional gas wells in North America and delivered automation and safety systems to the world's largest natural gas offshore platform in the North Sea.

Customers Seek Partners with Broad Solutions Portfolios

Over the years, ABB has increased its investment and market presence to be able to better serve oil & gas industry customers in North America and across the world. It is currently expanding its automation and power technology center in Houston so customers can learn more about how ABB's full breadth of products, services and systems can help them increase productivity and energy efficiency and maintain safety and reliability. This facility is already staffed with more than 500 engineering, operations, project execution, service, and sales and marketing professionals that serve its customers in the oil, gas, petrochemical and power industries; many with facilities and headquarters in the Houston area.

ABB also has a major marine service center located on the Houston Ship Channel that provides maintenance, repairs, and other services for propulsion and power systems for all types of marine vessels, including transport tankers, FPSOs (floating production, storage and offloading vessels), drill ships, and other vessels used in the oil & gas industry. Opened in 2008, this center serves all marine operations in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as vessels operating throughout North and South America. Also, to serve the growing oil & gas marine market (including offshore supply vessels), in 2013, ABB Marine expanded its offering in Houston to provide all levels and types of training for marine customers, as well as comprehensive engineering, retrofits, and project management services.

According to ABB, it offers one of the world's most comprehensive range of products and services designed to make the process of obtaining, delivering and using all types of energy more reliable and efficient. The company believes that its capability to integrate operations and systems, such as offshore platforms, drilling vessels, land-based operations, and process and power management systems offers unique benefits to its oil & gas customers.

ABB continues to invest in developing one of the broadest portfolios of products and system solutions designed to serve the needs of upstream, midstream, and downstream oil & gas customers. For example, ABB was the first company to deliver a power-from-shore solution for an offshore rig and is working with Statoil to develop electrification solutions for subsea oil & gas production with components that can operate at depths of up to 3,000 meters.

Conclusion

ARC research indicates that ABB is major player across all the product and solution categories in which it competes in oil & gas. In areas such as multiphase flow metering, oilfield operations management, and leak detection, ABB is well positioned to increase its future market share as it continues to invest in its product development, manufacturing, and customer support facilities such as the new flow products center in Bartlesville and the Houston marine service center.

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Keywords: ABB, Totalflow, Well Pad Automation, Artificial Lift Optimization, Multiphase Flow, Leak Detection, Oilfield Operations Management Systems.