Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) and its partners, LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI), a Berkshire Hathaway Company, and Subsea 7, deliver a full-service solution to increase subsea production by alleviating flow restrictions and increasing flowrates in existing subsea production lines, subsea gathering lines, and subsea trunk lines.
Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) was established in 2012 with a focus on safe subsea chemical injection to economically extend deepwater subsea tiebacks.
To achieve this objective, SMT worked with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), and several industry stakeholders.
Today, SMT is focused on increasing subsea production and pipeline flow for its customers. This focus is supported through a partnership with LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI), a Berkshire Hathaway Company, and Subsea 7.
Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT), LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI), a Berkshire Hathaway Company, and Subsea 7 bring a combination of proven applications, market leading technology and industry expertise to deliver full-service subsea production and pipeline flow increase for offshore needs.
LSPI’s drag reducing agents (DRA), also known as flow improvers, can be delivered subsea via SMT’s patented, all-electric dual barrier subsea DRA storage and injection technology. In conjunction, Subsea 7 offers delivery of SMT’s technology and LSPI products on a global basis, through its global fleet of marine equipment, marine support, manufacturing, and assembly sites.
Drag reducing agents (DRAs) cost-effectively reduce pipeline pressure losses and maximize flowrates of onshore and offshore pipelines. Injecting DRA at the subsea well/drill center offers customers the ability to significantly increase production by increasing flow rates in existing subsea production lines, subsea gathering lines, and subsea trunk lines. Using DRA may also minimize or eliminate the need for subsea boosting.
Higher production rates are achieved as the DRA reduces the flowline back pressure on the wells and allows the wells to flow more freely:
With over 40 years of proven, value-add results, LSPI provides DRA for subsea applications through the partnership with LSPI, SMT and Subsea 7.
Since inventing and commercializing the very first drag reducer for crude oil pipelines in 1979, LSPI has remained the global market leader in flow improver technology and performance.
Drag reducers, also known as drag reducing agents (DRA) and flow improvers, reduce frictional pressure loss during fluid flow in a conduit or pipeline.
DRA consist of long-chain hydrocarbon polymers that act as turbulence inhibitors along the pipe wall to decrease the amount of energy lost in turbulent activity. Pressure loss reduction is achieved by reducing the level of turbulent motion in the flow.
DRA has been used extensively onshore and in offshore export pipelines and multiphase systems to increase flowrate and/or reduce pressure.
SMT provides subsea DRA storage and injection through its Subsea DRA Injection Unit, engineered for modular industrial fabrication.
Through its partnership with SMT and LSPI, Subsea 7 supports the deployment, recovery, and maintenance of the Subsea DRA Injection Unit.
Subsea 7 is a global leader in the delivery of offshore projects and services for the evolving energy industry. Subsea 7’s offshore operations span five decades, successfully completing over 1,000 projects. Subsea 7’s engineering expertise, alliances and specialist technologies deliver safe and reliable solutions in all water depths and across all energy hubs.
Subsea 7 provides a variety of services across the full energy lifecycle, including:
Mr. Chitwood, co-founder of Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT), has 45 years of Industry experience in offshore engineering and R&D working both domestically and internationally. His principal project from 1991 to 2014 was the Chevron led DeepStar Project where he managed joint industry R&D projects. He and his SMT partners are currently working a RPSEA sponsored project to develop a large subsea chemical storage and injection system for deepwater.
Mr. Chitwood has worked for various engineering, manufacturing, and production companies both as an employee and as a consultant throughout his career. He has authored numerous technical articles and papers and holds fourteen patents.
Mr. Chitwood has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a registered Engineer in the State of Texas and a member of both ASME and SPE.
Art co-founded Safe Marine Transfer, LLC (SMT) in 2013. Prior to SMT, Art founded Energy Valley, Inc., in 2001 and focused the company on assisting entrepreneurial start-ups while also consulting with DeepStar and large oil and service / manufacturing companies defining technical needs and then leveraging for commercial advantage. Prior to Energy Valley he spent 25 years in upstream operations, engineering, construction, strategy development, and crisis management with Amoco and BP. Art also has served on numerous professional, corporate, and civic boards and has published over 100 technical papers and has been granted patents on his innovations.
Art was graduated from Georgia Tech with both a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering, and from the University of Houston with an MBA, major in Finance and International Business. He has also completed several post graduate certificate programs and lives with his family in Houston, Texas.
Darren L. Wyatt is Chief Financial Officer for LiquidPower Specialty Products (LSPI). In his role as CFO he has responsibility for all accounting and finance-related functions as well as information technology and procurement. Mr. Wyatt joined LSPI in 2006 and was responsible for a variety of departments including finance, marketing, strategy, business development and global regulatory compliance. In 2015 Mr. Wyatt accepted a position with the Lubrizol Corporation as Vice President of Finance – a position he held for two years until being appointed CFO for LSPI in January 2017. Prior to joining LSPI, Mr. Wyatt held a variety of leadership roles at Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips.
Mr. Wyatt received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Yung Lee is the Director of Engineering & Technical Services for LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI). He has been involved in the development and evolution of drag reducing agents (DRA) technology for over 30 years, and has played an instrumental role in LSPI’s 40-year track record of global DRA technology leadership. Launched under Conoco, the business continued under ConocoPhillips when the two companies merged, and under Phillips 66 when it spun off from ConocoPhillips, prior to the acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway in 2014.
Dr. Lee has been granted 5 patents around the development of new DRA products for the pipeline industry, and has written and presented numerous papers focused on fluid flow and DRA applications.
Dr. Lee holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Oklahoma State University. Prior to joining the business in 1988 he held a variety of positions within research and engineering for several different organization.
Mr. Gillespie is the Business Development Manager for LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI) and principally responsible for mergers and acquisitions.
Since 1989, he has been in the domestic and international oil and gas industry primarily with Duke Energy, Conoco, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66 and LSPI. His experience includes project management, sales, contract negations, pipelines, and terminals.
Mr. Gillespie has been in the drag reducer industry for 20 years.
Mr. Gillespie holds a M.S. and B.S in Civil Engineering, and a B.S in Business Management from Oklahoma State University.
Graeme Kinnell, Senior Global Account Director for Subsea 7, has over 30 years’ experience in the Energy Industry. Approximately 18 years spent in varied technical, project management and sales roles within a number of valve and produced water treatment manufacturing companies. Joined Subsea 7 in 2007 and held numerous commercial roles in the UK business, before assuming the position of Global Account Director in January 2016. Promoted to Senior Global Account Director in August 2019 and relocated to Houston.
Subsea 7 commercial representative in support of SMT.
Tom’s recent experience included support of BG Group’s surface technology and upstream engineering activities in Houston. Tom represented BG in a number of DeepStar and RPSEA projects. Tom was BG’s Group Technical Authority for Floating Production Systems from 2008 through mid-2014 and supported BG Group’s Floating Production interests. He joined BG Group in 2008 after 31years with the ExxonMobil organization. Tom’s experience includes research, engineering, project, commercial, and integrity for floating production, and related subsea, flowline, and riser systems with assignments in the US, Norway, the UK, and France.
Tom was educated at Oklahoma State University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Texas, Austin. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas.
Laura Reinosa leads the financial function of LSPI, which includes accountability for external and internal financials, reporting, planning and accounting, assuring compliance with SEC and other governmental regulations, GAAP and Company policy, credit/treasury activities and foreign entity accounting and support. Ms. Reinosa has spent nearly 20 years in a variety of financial, management and sales roles, within the U.S. and internationally, working primarily within the food and specialty chemicals industry. In 2009 she joined Lubrizol and then became a part of LSPI starting in 2014.
Ms. Reinosa holds a bachelor’s degree from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello and a master’s degree in Finance from the IESA Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración.
Trish Rice serves as Corporate Secretary for the Company. As a senior corporate energy industry executive, she has a valuable perspective advising on governance issues critical to investors and regulators in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Ms. Rice is currently the General Counsel and Secretary for LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Ms. Rice served for over ten years as Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Deputy General Counsel for Spectra Energy Corp, now Enbridge Corp, one of North America’s leading pipeline and midstream companies.
