PRESS RELEASE: V-LIFE Technology Supporting Operators for a Decade

June 10, 2022

Viper Innovations’ unique V-LIFE technology has been supporting operators for over a decade, originally referred to by many as a ‘magic’ technology, V-LIFE has continued to be one of Viper’s most successful innovations for the offshore energy industry. The technology has played a critical role for many of the world’s major Oil & Gas Operators in recovering the electrical integrity of deteriorating subsea control systems.

V-LIFE was first deployed offshore in 2012, the successful trial was quickly followed by the commercial product launch in 2013 and a patent being granted in 2015. Today Viper have delivered over 150 V-LIFE installations to over 30 global operators in the process. The flagship subsea product has also been associated with a number of awards over the years, including the Queens Award for Enterprise Innovation in 2016.

Peter Alexander, Sales & Marketing Manager, commented:

“Over the past 10 years it has been greatly rewarding to see V-LIFE develop into an established and trusted part of the industry toolkit for managing the electrical integrity of subsea control systems. Energy security has never been of more importance and the fact that V-LIFE can help sustain production from existing fields and extend the working life of installed equipment whilst minimising the impact on the environment means interest in V-LIFE is only expected to grow further over the coming years.”

The product was developed in 2011, as a result of the issues faced by subsea operators where water ingress into subsea cables had led to a decrease in insulation resistance (IR), which results in a risk to the safety of personnel and to a loss of power and hence production. With substantial investment in R&D, Viper developed V-LIFE as a solution to this issue. Before V-LIFE became available subsea fault-finding interventions and the replacement of cables, equipment and umbilicals were the only solutions to this problem. Replacing umbilicals has a substantial cost to the environment, Viper recently calculated that laying a 20km umbilical could emit at least 15,000 tonnes of carbon, however the V-LIM is installed topside, without any subsea intervention required and V-LIFE can be activated remotely, making V-LIFE an environmentally friendly alternative to subsea intervention methods. To find out more about the carbon calculations read our associated article here.

In order to activate V-LIFE, operators must first install a V-LIM line insulation monitor (the hardware) before enabling the V-LIFE passivation signal by uploading a software configuration file. Many operators are choosing to upgrade to Viper’s V-LIM, which not only ensures they are ‘V-LIFE ready’ but also provides precise and accurate cable monitoring, providing a better picture of the health of their system over time, helping to identify problems before they arise.