GE Oil & Gas

Flexible Pipe for Offshore Applications

SPE Workshop

Oil and Gas Facilities in Latin America:

Monetizing Reserves in Challenging
Environments
Nader Matari, Flexible pipe System Design Engineer
Nader.matari@ge.com
Lima, Per
23-24 April 2014

Outline
Introduction

Applications
Technical Capacity
Structural Composition

Material Selection
End Fittings
Dynamic Risers

Shallow Water Applications

Field History

Flexible pipe at a Glance

Pipes primarily used on the seabed and through
the water column for the transport of oil and gas
well fluids
Global track-record in offshore hydrocarbon
development

Strong focus on R&D and product development

3 manufactures in the world

Custom made product

Wellstream flexible pipe technology

Performance Capacity
Pipe ID

2 18 true ID

Design pressure

15,000 psi

Water depth

10,000 ft

Applications

Risers, subsea jumpers, topside jumpers,

hybrid, riser towers

Advantages
Proven track record: 2500
flexible riser installed vs 500
SCRs

Fully tested at the factory prior

to delivery

Rapid installation & retrieval

Re-usable

Promotes flexibility in field

architecture

Applications of the flexible pipe

Transfer Lines
Tend to be large diameter
pipelines connecting two
structures which are often
dynamic
Jumpers
Short lengths of pipe connecting
two fixed structures either above
or below water
Risers
Pipes suspended in the water
column connecting FPSOs to
subsea infrastructure
Flowlines
Static pipelines used to carry
fluids on the sea bed
Designed to have the strength and durability associated with rigid steel pipes, flexible systems
are often the only solution for risers in dynamic environments

Common Structural
Composition

Carcass (Flexbody)
Prevents collapse under external
hydrostatic pressure
Internal Pressure Sheath (Flexbarrier)
Acts as the boundary for conveyed fluid
Interlocked Pressure Armour (Flexlok)
Resists internal & external pressure in
the hoop direction
Inner Layer & Outer Layer of Tensile
Armour (Flextensile)
Provides both hoop and axial strength
Insulating Layer (Flexinsul)
Protects against heat loss
Outer Sheath (Flexshield)
Protects against seawater ingress and
other mechanical damage

Material Selection
Carcass

316L SS 2205 Duplex AL6-XN

Polymer HDPE

Allows for Smaller OD

Reduces Hang Off Loads
Minimizes Reel Amounts

Nylon

XDPE PVDF

Increasing temperature resistance

Production @ 200F PVDF
Gas Injection Static & Water Injection HDPE
Gas Injection Dynamic PA12

Interlocked Pressure Armour types

Carbon Steel 85ksi 110ksi 155ksi
Thickness

4.8mm 10mm 12mm

Pressure Containment
Smooth Bore Applications Collapse

Interlayer Tapes
Static
Dynamic

Carbon Steel 85ksi 100ksi 190ksi

Thickness
2 mm
7 mm

Polypropylene
High Strength Glass

9mm x 3mm Static Applications

8mm x 4mm Dynamic Applications
12mm x 6mm GI Dynamic Application

PA 11 Anti Wear Tape

Polymer

HDPE

PA11/PA12

Static applications HDPE (Yellow)

Dynamic applications PA11/PA12 (Black)

Syntactic Foam
Thickness

PT1000 PT3000 PT7000

3.5 mm 7 mm

Below 1000m
Production Lines

End Fitting Technology

End fittings are critical components of any flexible pipe

system
Custom designed for each flexible pipe structure
Each layer of the pipe individually terminated
Designed to:
Assure a leak tight transition between subsea and
surface facilities
Withstand severe environmental loads and thermal
cycling
Stronger than pipe in burst and failure tension
Allow for the venting of permeated gases
Terminations can be any design - API/ANSI flanges, hubs,
welded, or other
Most common structural material is F22 low alloy steel

Ancillary Equipment Technology

A key component of any flexible riser and flowline system is
the design and analysis of all required ancillary equipment

Bend Stiffeners & Restrictors

Installation Aids
Seabed Stabilisation
Buoyancy

End Fitting
Assembly

Subsea Bend
Stiffener Assembly

Bracelet
Anodes

Flexible
Pipe
Grayloc Interface
Assembly (Hub, Clamp,
Gasket, Test Head)

Distributed
Buoyancy Modules

Topsides Bend
Stiffener Assembly

I-Tube Interface
Flange

Split Flange
Hang-Off

Dynamic Riser System

Usual Configurations are:
FREE HANGING

TETHER WAVE

LAZY WAVE

STEEP S

STEEP WAVE

LAZY S TETHER WAVE

Riser Configurations
Increased compliance

Free Hanging Catenary

Increased vertical control

Lazy Wave

Weighted Lazy Wave

Sea bed lateral control can be enhanced through the use of hold
back clamps.

Applications on fixed platforms

Flexible pipe can be installed from the top of the platform; the following scenarios
must be considered:

topside
flexible pipe end fitting in
topside clamp

flexible pipe end fitting in

topside clamp

riser leg clamps

flexible riser
flexible
riser
simple
catenary
tall jacket

1.

The riser leg clamps will assist stability on

taller platforms.

2.

A simple catenary is a rapid solution on

smaller platforms (lower water depth)

3.

Rigid riser could be used

Submarine installation in
shallow waters
Rigid riser
must be
previously
installed on
the platform in
order to speed
the installation

Flexible pipe standards

ANSI / ISO 12628 / API 17J - Specification for Unbonded Flexible Pipe Petroleum natural gas industries - Drilling and production equipment Design and operation of subsea system- Part 2: Flexible pipe systems for
subsea and marine applications.
Petrobras NI-2409-A - Flexible Pipe Specification - 2003
Must be in compliance on all Petrobras Projects.
Bureau Veritas NI 364 DTO ROO E - Non-bonded Flexible Steel Pipes used
as Flowlines
DNV F109 On-Bottom Stability Design Of Submarine Pipelines
RP17B - Recommended Practice for Unbonded Flexible Pipe (sister
document to API 17J)
PERU SPECS:
DS 032-2004 : Art. 259 API 17A is a reference on the production
operations. API 17A contains API 17B and 17J
DS 081-2007 : on the general dispositions, in the chapter fifth, art. 49 uses
as a bases the ANSI/ASME B31.4 or ANSI/ASME B31.8. . The ANSI/ASME
B31.4 specify that in the case of the use of flexible pipe, the API 17J and B
must be used.
FLEXIBLE PIPE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE RIGID PIPE. EACH TYPE HAS
ITS OWNS SPEC

Flexible
pipe
users

ExxonMobil Kizomba A

Scope of Work
4 to 16-inch Fluid Transfer Lines approx 400m
each
9 to 11-inch SLOR Jumpers approx 400m

Challenges
Complex analytical interfaces with the SLOR
system and FPSO
Manufacturing and handling of very heavy and
stiff pipe
Combination of large diameter, high pressure and
high temperature design

Barracuda/Caratinga
Scope of Work
120km 4-inch gas lift/production risers &
flowlines
120km 6-inch production risers & flowlines
81km 6-inch & 8-inch smooth bore water
injection risers & flowlines
16km 9.5-inch gas export risers & flowlines
Technical Challenges
Water depths down to 1,150m
Parallel qualification of products

Petrobras Barracuda/Caratinga, Brazil

Chevron Frade
Scope of Work
56km 6-inch production risers & flowlines
15km 6-inch gas lift risers & flowlines
20km 8-inch smooth bore water injection
risers & flowlines
42km 8-inch gas export risers & flowlines
33 subsea jumpers
Technical Challenges
Water depths down to 1,200m
Sour service, heavily insulated production
risers

Rio De Janeiro

GOM High Pressure Supply History

BP
Mad Dog TLP 2006
Topside jumpers
4.5 ID, 7350psi

BP
Marlin TLP 2000
Risers, flowlines, jumpers
6 ID, 6000psi, 3200ft wd

Philips
Garden Banks 1994
Subsea Jumper
4 ID, 10,000psi, 1500ft WD

Walter
Ulysses 2004
Risers, 4 ID, 7850psi, 3000ft

Agip
Gyrfalcon 1998
Static Riser
5 ID, 12,200psi, 880ft WD

Kerr McGee
Neptune Spar 1996
Risers, flowlines, jumpers
7.625 ID, 2200psi, 1930ft
3.826 ID, 7000psi, 1930ft

Kerr McGee
Boomvang/Nansen Spars 2000
Risers, flowlines, jumpers
5.625 ID, 6000psi, 3200ft WD

Kerr McGee
Gunnison Spar 2002
Risers, flowlines, jumpers
5.375 ID, 8000psi, 3100ft WD

Murphy
Medusa 2004
Risers, flowlines,
4 ID, 7850psi, 3000ft

ATP
Gomez 2004
Risers, flowlines
4 ID, 8000psi, 3000ft

Agip
Morpeth TLP 1998
Risers, flowlines, jumpers
4 ID, 7100psi, 1700ft

Walter EW 921
Morpeth TLP 2005
Risers, flowlines
4 ID, 7100psi, 1700ft

Mariner Black Widow

Morpeth TLP 2000
Risers, flowlines
4 ID, 7100psi, 1700ft

LEADING

PROGRESS

TOGETHER