About Us

Formerly BSW Ltd, First Subsea has its head office and engineering offices and R&D facilities in Lancaster, UK, and sales offices in Aberdeen and Houston. It employs 34 people and in 2007 had a sales turnover of £5.5 million.

An ISO 9001 registered company, integrated certified quality management systems and innovation in research and development of its products and services are an essential part of the motivating force underpinning First Subsea's success.

 

The first company to develop and deploy ball and taper-based mooring technology, First Subsea's Ballgrab connector has been used in over 250 subsea mooring installations worldwide. As demand for flexible connection and tethering devices has increased, the company has led the field with the development of innovative solutions. Ballgrab was the first mooring system to use a polymer rope to tether a drilling platform at 6,000 feet, the BP Ocean Confidence Programme in the Gulf of Mexico.

The first Ballgrab with an integrated camera has been developed for use in a FPSO and STL buoy production operation, providing easy retrieval of the buoy without ROVs. The first ball and taper,diverless bend stiffener connector, developed in collaboration with Trelleborg Offshore, using a Ballgrab male connector to connect umbilicals and cabling to existing risers. In addition  a Ballgrab connector became the first, ball and taper, subsea mooring system to be used for a mid-water arch, creating more flexible deepwater production facilities and subsea architectures.

Engineering Excellence

First Subsea offers bespoke engineering solutions drawing on its extensive subsea experience and systems engineering and analysis. These are high quality engineered products tested by independent agencies including ABS, DNV, BV and Lloyds Register.

First Subsea is undertaking the industry's first investigation into mooring systems forging in collaboration with the University of Sheffield's world class Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Process Engineering (IMMPETUS).

Quality Driven
 

As an ISO 9001 registered company, quality management, adherence to international standards and innovation in research and development are an essential part of the motivating force underpinning First Subsea's products and services.
 

Rapid Speed of Response

Our team of chartered mechanical engineers use the latest CAD tools to provide a rapid response design service
  

Next Generation Deepwater Mooring Systems

With offshore production moving to increasingly deeper waters, the ease and speed of mooring installation has become critical. First Subsea is committed to developing the next generation of deepwater mooring lines and connectors, working with mooring systems specialist, Offspring International. These new mooring systems and connectors are easier and simpler to install than current products.
 

Track Record

Designed and tested in accordance with certifying authority standards, Ballgrabs are available in a range of sizes up to 2500mT MBL. Used in over 250 subsea mooring installations worldwide, recent Ballgrab projects include BP's Mad Dog SPAR, Ocean Confidence Drilling Programme and Thunder Horse PLET Tie-back systems, ExxonMobil's Erha and Kizomba Drilling Programmes, Kerr McGee's Constitution, Gunnison and Red Hawk SPARs, Murphy's Kikeh and Thunder Hawk projects, Total's Dalia and Akpo projects, Nexen's Ettrick and Shell's Perdido developments, Petrobras Cascade-Chinook STP buoy, Statoil Peregrino STP buoy and buoy pull-in, BP Block 31 FPSO and Tullow Jubilee FPSO.

First Subsea is a member of the Subsea UK Trade Group and The Society for Underwater Technology.

First Subsea is part of First Tech, a privately owned company based in Aberdeen.