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

The initial technical collaboration agreement is for four years and will build on earlier cooperation of the companies.

The partnership will 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, Aker Solutions wrote.

“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.”