GE Oil & Gas is joining with BP plc and Denmark’s Maersk Drilling to build the industry’s first 20,000 psi-rated deepwater blowout preventer (BOP) stack and riser system. The equipment, expected to enter service in 2018, is being supplied for BP’s Project 20K program, a multi-year initiative launched in 2012 to develop next-generation systems and tools to unlock frontier deepwater resources (see Daily GPI, Nov. 13, 2012). Maersk came aboard in early 2013 to develop conceptual engineering designs for advanced drilling rigs. GE would design, test and manufacture the BOPs and risers at the recently expanded Houston Technology Center.