Saipem and Siemens in subsea tie-up

MILAN, March 23, 2017 – Saipem and Siemens will be teaming up for the development of subsea control systems, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.

The joint development agreement between Saipem and Siemens will sea the two entities work on creating open-standard subsea control systems to underpin the Subsea Bus architecture developed by Saipem.

The company’s the Subsea Bus architecture, itself an open framework platform, consists of both hardware and software components. By integrating Siemens’ subsea DigiGrid, the two parties aim to create a combined, all-electric system for subsea fields.

“The Open Framework architecture will facilitate the unlocking of the supply chain and the achievement of cost savings through an innovative technological approach,” Saipem CEO Stefano Cao said in a joint press statement.

According to Saipem, one of the advantages of an all-electric configuration would be that it would eliminate the need for hydraulic umbilical cables.

“In Saipem we have found a partner who is as passionate as Siemens about introducing Open Framework All-Electric systems in order to facilitate flexible digitalization and automation solutions to the subsea industry,” Frode Tobiassen, subsea CEO at Siemens, said of the co-operation.

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