top of page

30+ years of experience

Moving today's technology

into the future

Our Story

Our Story 

The DeepStar Program was initiated 

in 1991.

DeepStar has always been the industry’s best mechanism for the progression of collaborative offshore technology development and throughout the years adapting to new market conditions and drivers. 

 

The DeepStar Program was initiated in 1991 and until recently, has been administered by Chevron. The Program identifies and assembles a technical portfolio of projects with its mission to develop cost-efficient, low-risk methods to produce hydrocarbons from deepwater.  

Deepwater areas of the world contain significant reserves and remain one of the best exploration and development opportunities for oil companies.  However, producing hydrocarbons in deepwater presents both commercial and technical challenges within our current market environment. 

 

Through the DeepStar program, oil companies, vendors, regulators, academic and research institutes have collaborated to develop the technologies necessary to tackle offshore issues.  Its common format has involved defining deepwater projects that are driven by business needs, creating scenarios for going forward, coming to a common understanding of high-level objectives, framing knowledge gaps, and identifying technological capabilities; and seeking solutions.  In doing so, each participant minimizes the costs and risk of developing the technology, while at the same time, making the most of its particular technology achievements. 

 

The value of DeepStar is that it offers participants the opportunity to significantly leverage their technology investment and co-develop solutions to a common issue or need.   

Screenshot 2024-08-07 at 12.21.57 PM.png
Published Articles
Meet The DeepStar Team

Meet The Subcommittee Chairs

Published Videos
Subsea Production Systems
00:18

Subsea Production Systems

The INTECSEA Subsea Production Systems Engineering Group has emerged as the industry leader in providing services for deepwater subsea technology for water depths to 2,800 m and beyond. INTECSEA's primary emphasis has been on subsea applications in frontier areas, notably deepwater field developments and for unusual service conditions such as high pressure and high temperature, aggressive fluids and subsea processing. These specialized technologies are firmly established within INTECSEA's extensive project experience including practical design and installation technology required for cost effective completion and operation of offshore field development facilities worldwide. INTECSEA's capability in subsea production systems has become industry leading as functional requirements for deepwater concepts have evolved. In 1985 INTECSEA initiated several joint industry studies to develop solutions for deepwater production in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic, in which as many as 15 oil and gas companies participated. In 1992 INTECSEA was selected to manage the first phase of the DeepStar Program sponsored by Texaco. In this role INTECSEA actively participated in the efforts of a multi-discipline industry group to extend the technological production limits and develop solutions for subsea operations in water depths to 10,000 ft and greater. As a result of these initiatives, the offshore industry has moved to subsea systems configurations that are now more modular and allow greater flexibility with reduced risk. These concepts have been implemented worldwide. INTECSEA has been able to validate these concepts via many subsea deepwater project applications.
DeepStar Awards Phase II of Magnetic Drive System Concept for Electric Submersible Pumps
01:55

DeepStar Awards Phase II of Magnetic Drive System Concept for Electric Submersible Pumps

Artificial lift technology company Upwing Energy and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been awarded the next phase of the Magnetic Drive System project by DeepStar, a global offshore research and development consortium. The new phase, based on the successful completion of a design study last year, will include the design, build and test of enabling technologies that are the backbone of Upwing’s MDS concept for a reliable and retrievable Electric Submersible Pump. The proof-of-concept phase, targeting deepwater offshore and subsea oil well applications, is sponsored and funded by the Nippon Foundation - DeepStar Joint Ocean Innovation program and supported by project champions Chevron, Shell, Petrobras and Equinor. Upwing Energy will design, fabricate and test a full-scale passive radial bearing assembly as well as a magnetic vibration and temperature sensor system to be utilized between the pump stages and motor in the MDS. MHI will design, fabricate and test a few stages of the high-speed, efficient hydraulic pump. The detailed design of the prototype and validation of major components of the MDS will determine the technical and economic viability of the MDS pump system. Upwing and MHI engineers will begin work on Phase II of the project in June and are scheduled to complete the experimental prototype, including component testing, by May 2021. DeepStar is a joint industry technology development program focused on advancing technologies to meet its members’ deepwater business needs to deliver increased production and reserves. DeepStar members include Shell, Total, CNOOC, Anadarko, Equinor, ExxonMobil, JX Nippon, Chevron, Petrobras and Woodside.
Technip Energies’ logo reveal
00:58
Meet The DeepStar Management Staff
Meet the team
Published Articles
Published Videos
The DeepStar Board
Shak%2520Shamshy_v1_edited_edited.jpg

Shakir Shamshy

Director 

Curtis_edited_edited.png

Curtis Linehan

Project Manager

FemkeLeeraar_edited.jpg

Femke Leeraar

Program Specialist

DS_Logo_Full_Color_Large.png

Tadashi Sakurai

Manager, Technical Lead Unit, Production Facilities Group
INPEX

C.Thompson_Headshot.jpg

Clay Thompson

Director, GOM Operations
OXY

1516793057373.jpeg

Cesar Lima

Senior Subsea Engineer 
Petrobras

DS_Logo_Full_Color.png

Sandeep Patni

Manager - Deepwater Technology
Shell

1522975608517.jpeg

Julie J. Morgan

Chief Flow Assurance Engineer
Woodside Energy

1536674244000.jpeg

Khalid Mateen

VP, Eng. & Technology
Total

DS_Logo_Full_Color.png

Luis Aguilar Cordova

Sr. Advisor, Global Facilities Engineering
                                 HESS

                         

Shak%2520Shamshy_v1_edited_edited.jpg

Shakir Shamshy

DeepStar Director &

DeepStar Board Chair
Chevron

1517352387474.jpeg

Jeswin Joseph

Technology Manager - US EPI
Equinor

1546292938159.jpeg

Wei Ren

Technology Development Manager Deepwater Infrastructure
ExxonMobil

DeepStar Subcommittee Chairs

Moussa Kane.jpg

Moussa Kane

Production Chemistry - Flow Assurance

TotalEnergies

Spiridon Ionescu_Photo.jpg

Spiridon Ionescu

Sr. Subsea Controls Engineer
Chevron

Gabriella Torres.jpeg

Gabriela Torres

Principal Engineer - Subsea Processing Technologies
ExxonMobil

1517682333718.jpeg

Chris Shaw

PTX/E Engineering Technology

Shell

1516479581504.jpeg

Dave Barrow

Senior Advisor Subsea Completions
Chevron

1517537251023.jpeg

Halvor Kjørholt

Leader Drilling and Well Solution
Equinor

1581374344989.jpeg

Amitava Guha

Technology Development Program Lead - Marine
ExxonMobil

1516272897568.jpeg

Raja Nadathur

Sr Research Engineer
Shell

IMG_0118JDS.jpg

James Stear

Sr Principal Offshore Civil

& Structural Engineer
Chevron

DS_Logo_Full_Color_Large.png

Torstein Vinterstø

Equinor

1619822266911.jpeg

Andrew Onstad

Program Lead - Low Carbon Program
Shell

DS_Logo_Full_Color_Large.png

Zhongxin Hou

Shell

DS_Logo_Full_Color_Large.png

Scott R. Hickman

Flow Assurance Engineering Advisor

ExxonMobil

Screen Shot 2021-07-28 at 5.24_edited.jpg

Marcelo Goulart

Equipment Engineer
Petrobras

1603218995070.jpeg

Rodolfo "Nahun" Vega Garcia

Drilling Engineering Advisor Sr.
                    OXY