WORLD PIPELINES

Volume 15 Number 4 - April 2015

APRIL 2015

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Contents
WORLD PIPELINES | VOLUME 15 | NUMBER 4 | APRIL 2015

03. Editor's comment DEEPWATER PIPELINE ENGINEERING

Can't go South, must go North.
63. How to succeed in subsea environments
05. Pipeline news Fabian Dawson, GE Measurement & Control, UK.
Trans Adriatic Pipeline; Nord Stream; Nabucco pipeline; Eastring; Trans-
Anatolian pipeline; Negotino-Klecovce pipeline; and more. 66. Protecting deepsea habitats
Dr Kate Gormley, Lea-Anne Henry and J Murray Roberts, Centre for Marine
REGIONAL REVIEW Biodiversity & Biotechnology, Heriot-Watt University, UK.

12. A mixture of prospects

The Gulf of Mexico has quietly been gathering steam. Gordon Cope COATINGS FOR OFFSHORE APPLICATION
analyses areas of bright spots and concerns envisioned in the Gulf’s
future.
75. Delving into new depths
David Bell, CRC-Evans Pipeline International, Inc., USA.

81. Push up your sleeves

Ing. Sander Hofstee and Neil Gill, Seal for Life Industries, the Netherlands.

85. Working at new frontiers

Fernando Ulecia, ShawCor Ltd., USA.

CLEANING, GAUGING & DEWATERING

91. A mixture of art & science
Joe Hockberger and Mark Wertzberger, Michels Corporation, USA.

PAGE
12 PIGGING TOOL PERFORMANCE
95. Innovative inspection technology
Mark Slaughter, Product Line Manager, Applus RTD.
18. Pipelines, oil boom and railroads
Jack Behar and Samer Al-Azem, Petrohab, USA. LANDFALLS & SHORE APPROACHES
OFFSHORE WELDING 99. Clearing the way for a clean landfall solution
Tim Ley, Technical Manager, Land and Marine Engineering Limited, UK.
29. A matter of quality
Patricia Leroy, Polysoude, France. 105. Dealing with Mother Nature
Philippe Bisson, CASE Construction Equipment, USA.

SCADA SYSTEMS
110. A future-proof SCADA system
33 Eduard van Loenen, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, the Netherlands.
Featuring AVEVA Solutions,
ClampOn AS, CRC-Evans,
Deepwater Corrosion 116. Keeping connected
Services, FoundOcean, Inc., Glenn Longley, Senior Product Manager for IO & Software, FreeWave
Hydratight, Jan De Nul Group, Technologies, USA.
Land & Marine, NRI, Online
OFFSHORE Electronics Group, Seal For Life
Technology Review Industries and ShawCor, Ltd.
WORLD PIPELINES

Volume 15 Number 4 - April 2015

APRIL 2015

ON THIS MONTH'S COVER Reader enquiries [www.energyglobal.com]

Canusa-CPS provides the world’s leading Factory GradeTM field applied coating systems
for 3LPP and 3LPE coated pipelines. Our Factory GradeTM coating technologies, GTS-PP
and GTS-PE, are comprised of the same PP and PE material grades as the mainline
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(factory-applied) coating, delivering true end-to-end pipeline coating performance. The

pictured 24 in. OD 3LPP coated pipeline, constructed for the offshore section of the
Medgaz Pipeline, is equipped with the GTS-PP coating system at the girth-weld joint area.
The GTS-PP coatings were field-applied prior to the S-Lay and J-Lay methods used in the
construction of the 210 km offshore section.
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Comment
CAN’T GO SOUTH, MUST GO NORTH
W
ith no forward movement on
Keystone XL and the project
effectively in limbo, Canada is
looking to forge ahead with
other projects that would send its oilsands
crude to market. So it looks north: recently,
sea-ice surveillance and shipping company
Canatec has performed some research, at the
request of the Alberta government, that
outlines proposed routes and methods for
transporting crude from Fort McMurray to
the Arctic, for onward shipment to Asia. A
northern export route, coined the Arctic
Energy Gateway, would utilise pipelines, rail
and/or tankers to deliver the crude.
Three projects
were proposed by
Canatec.1 The first THE GREATEST
would send diluted
bitumen by rail from
INCREASE IN RAIL
Fort McMurray to Hay
River and then by barge
TRAFFIC COMES
up the Mackenzie River
to Tuktoyaktuk. It
FROM BAKKEN
would be stored here
until summer, when ice
RESERVES TO
melt would allow open EAST COAST
water tankers to ship
to Asia, Europe or DELIVERY POINTS
eastern Canada. The
second would use the existing Normal Wells
pipeline, incorporated into a new pipeline
from Fort McMurray, for delivery to
Tuktoyaktuk. Thridly, year-round production
could be exported via a new 2400 km
pipeline from Fort McMurray to Tuktoyaktuk
directly.
The rail transport option is an interesting
one. North America is seeing unprecedented
usage of railway transport amid rising
production and delayed pipeline projects.
This month’s keynote article (‘Pipelines, oil
boom and railroads’ by Jack Behar and Samer
Al-Azem, Petrohab) explores the topic in
detail, so turn to p.18 if you’d like to learn
more about the recent return to railroads.
Back to the north and Generating for
Seven Generations (G7G) are seeking
permission to build a 2400 km railway line
from Fort McMurray to Valdez, Alaska, to
carry 15 million bpd of oilsands crude. The
project has the support of First Nations
groups, who would receive a 50% stake in
the project and are satisfied that the route
avoids inland waters. But the risks inherent in
rail transport need no introduction,
especially in the wake of two recent
incidents: a 94 car crude oil train derailed in
Ontario en route to Quebec and some
40 cars ignited; and a train derailed in rural
Illinois carrying 630 000 gallons of Bakken
crude.
The Centre for Biological Diversity called
for a ban on moving oil by rail last month, as
accidents and derailments increase in line
with the burgeoning shale sector. We’re back
to the pipelines vs rail argument, which I’ve
heard framed as ‘pick your poison’, but the
statistics clearly show that pipeline transport
is the safer of the two options. Recently
we’ve seen four oil train wrecks in North
America within a three week period. The
greatest increase in rail traffic comes from
Bakken reserves to east coast delivery points.
The incentives to
move crude by rail
this way are
obvious: rail routes
exist where
pipelines do not.
Last year, railroads
moved 493 126 tank
cars of crude oil in
the US, compared
to 407 761 in 2013.
Just 9500 cars were
filled in 2008 before
the hydraulic
fracturing boom
took off in the Bakken region of North
Dakota, Montana and Canada. Government
tests show Bakken crude is more volatile
than most crude oil, although the American
Petroleum Institute says Bakken is no more
volatile than other light, sweet crudes.
Last month, the US DOT quietly
proposed a rewrite of oil pipeline safety
rules (new gas pipeline safety laws came into
effect after the San Bruno tragedy in 2010).
Some 95% of liquids pipelines would need to
comply with the PHMSA’s new Hazardous
Liquids Integrity Verification Programme,
which would demand that pipelines be given
extensive tests to prove they can operate
safely at their designated MAOP, and would
require hydrostatic pressure testing, spike
testing and possible pipe replacement in the
event of a pressure concern.
The rules would provide more
protection for people living along pipeline
ROWs, which is laudable and worthwhile,
but I wonder how many landowners are
looking at railway tracks across their
property and wondering when rail safety will
be addressed with equal fervour?
1. http://www.albertaoilmagazine.com/2015/03/the-
real-northern-gateway/
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World News
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Exxon CEO talks US energy
The US government needs to adjust its
energy policies to ensure that America
can realise all the benefits of the new era
of energy abundance, said Rex W.
Tillerson, Chairman and Chief Executive of
Exxon Mobil Corporation.
“We need sound energy policies –
policies equal to the innovation that has
redefined the modern energy landscape,”
Tillerson said in an address to The
Economic Club of Washington. “It is time
to build policies that reflect our newfound
abundance – that view the future with
optimism, that recognise the power of
free markets to drive innovation, and that
proceed with the conviction that free
trade brings prosperity and progress.”
As examples, Tillerson said that
Congress and the White House need to
enable US exports of oil and natural gas,
approve the Keystone XL pipeline, and
make the regulatory process less
burdensome and more transparent.
“With free trade in energy and
common sense regulatory reforms, the US
energy industry can strengthen US energy
security and continue to pioneer the
innovations that make possible the safe
and responsible development of energy”,
Tillerson said. “No one can say for sure
how the industry will evolve next or
where it will go – but one of the enduring
lessons of our industry is that sound policy
rewards wide and disciplined investments,
spurs economic growth and improved
environmental performance, and leads to
greater peace and prosperity.”
Tillerson also hailed the recent growth
in the US energy sector and its impact on
the American economy.
A major driver in the industry’s
expansion, Tillerson said, has been
breakthroughs in the integration of
hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling,
a renaissance that is now bringing
economic benefits to all 48 states in the
continental US along with unanticipated
environmental gains.
He noted that industry has a
responsibility to meet the two pronged
challenge of providing for the world’s
energy needs while protecting the
environment.
DNV GL updates two RPs for the pipeline sector
Life extension of assets and infrastructure is an increasingly important issue for
operators. To reflect the changing needs of the industry, DNV GL has worked
together with its industry partners to update two recommended practices. The
first for corroded pipelines (DNV-RP F101) and the second for integrity
management of submarine pipeline systems (DNV-RP-F116).
The revisions aim to further support the decision-making processes related to
maintaining the integrity of pipeline systems in the following areas: extension of
in-service operation; costly repairs and replacements; long-term planning of
activities based on balanced evaluations of both technical and non-technical issues;
and continuous improvement of integrity management systems.
Felix Saint-Victor, Principal Engineer - Pipelines & Materials, DNV GL Oil & Gas,
says: “The latest revisions to two RPs for the pipeline sector will help ensure that
best practice is adhered to and that decision-makers have the most appropriate
guidelines at their fingertips.”
First issued in 1999, the latest update to DNV-RP F101 includes a new assessment
methodology on how to estimate the pressure resistance of a pipeline containing
long axial grooving, and assessment of internal corrosion development with time.
Updates have also been made to achieve better compliance with the newest
edition of the offshore standard DNV-OS-F101 rev. 2013-10, for example with regard
to pressure definitions and terminology, characteristic material properties, partial
safety factors and fractile values, and supplementary material requirements.
Revisions to DNV-RP F101 aim to improve corrosion defect assessments through
thorough probabilistic evaluation, corrosion development evaluations and pressure
resistance calculations accounting for system effects.
The February 2015 revision of DNV-RP-F116 provides more comprehensive
guidelines on carrying out risk assessments. Guidelines regarding integrity
management reviews as well as recommendations for identifying key performance
indicators have also been revised and updated. These can be used to further
develop risk assessment methods for company governing documentation.
CPUC proposes bigger penalty for San Bruno
California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker has proposed
increasing to US$1.6 billion a penalty imposed on PG&E for safety violations
related to a fatal 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno. The proposed penalty
is US$200 million higher than a US$1.4 billion penalty proposed in September last
year, and would shift the bulk of the penalty from a payment into state coffers to
funds set aside for safety improvements, according to CPUC officials.
Where the previous penalty included US$950 million to be paid to California’s
general fund, the current settlement calls for PG&E shareholders to pay
US$850 million toward gas transmission pipeline safety infrastructure,
US$300 million to the state’s general fund and a one-time US$400 million bill
credit to gas customers.
PG&E had appealed the penalty proposed last year. San Bruno officials had
objected to the proposal in part because it put too much money toward state
coffers and not enough toward pipeline safety improvements.
The new fine proposal would shift the bulk of the money from the general
fund to safety improvements, but San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane. says he needs more
details about exactly where that money will go. “I want to see what they’re
actually going to do with this US$850 million to put back into the ground. I really
didn’t see anything there about what we were fighting for – for many, many
months; a pipeline safety trust,” he said. A PG&E spokesman says they are still
reviewing the proposal, but plan to comment on it soon.
APRIL 2015 / World Pipelines 5
IN BRIEF
Mexico
A 600 km gas pipeline between Mexico
and Guatemala is likely to be extended
to reach Honduras, helping the Central
American country to become more
competitive with cheaper energy. The
cost to extend the pipeline is expected
to cost between US$380 - 400 million.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria wants the European
Commission to revive plans for the
Nabucco pipeline that would bring gas
from the Shah Deniz gas field. Nabucco
was shelved in part because there was
not enough demand to sustain both it
and South Stream.
Argentina
Argentina will invest US$1.8 billion to
build a pipeline to import Bolivian gas to
supply its northeastern provinces. GNEA
will connect to Bolivian gas transport
infrastructure via the Juana Azurduy
pipeline, facilitating gas imports to
Argentina from Bolivia. The entire
pipeline is expected to be ready by 2016.
Slovakia
Eustream expects to sign MOUs on the
construction of the Eastring gas pipeline
with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria in
the near future. Slovakia has proposed
Eastring as an option for diversifying gas
supply infrastructure in Europe.
Depending on the selected route, the
proposed pipeline could be between
744 - 1015 km.
Cameroon
Gaz du Cameroun S.A. has issued
completion certificates to ENEO
Cameroon S.A., Cameroon’s power
utility company, for all pipeline
construction work and pressure
reduction and metering stations at both
the Logbaba and Bassa power stations
located in the port-city of Douala,
Cameroon.
USA
The PHMSA has approved the restart of
a portion of the Poplar Pipeline System
that was shut after a spill into the
Yellowstone River near Glendive,
Montana in January.
6 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
World News
FOR MORE NEWS VISIT HTTP://WWW.ENERGYGLOBAL.COM/PIPELINES/
TAP launches two pre-
qualification contracts
Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG has launched
two pre-qualification contracts for the
construction of the 105 km offshore
pipeline section under the Adriatic Sea.
The greatest depth the pipeline will be
laid is 820 m.
The first pre-qualification comprises
engineering, procurement, construction
and installation works for the offshore
section of the 36 in. pipeline between the
coastlines of Albania and southern Italy.
The EPCI scope of work includes
associated landfall civil works at the
landfalls in both Albania and Italy, as well
as survey, seabed and pre-commissioning
activities.
The second pre-qualification process is
for the supply of offshore line pipes and
coating. The scope of work is divided into
three lots.
Knut Steinar Kvindesland, Procurement
Director at TAP, said: “I am delighted to
invite companies – including those from
TAP’s host countries – to submit
expressions of interest in line with the pre-
qualification documentation now available
on TED. The selection of potential
suppliers will remain rigorous, with
particular emphasis on meeting health,
safety and environment standards and a
proven commitment to TAP’s zero harm
policy.”
Following the selection stage, TAP aims
to issue the related invitations to tender for
offshore construction by May 2015.
Alberta pipeline audit: system is efficient
Oversight of the pipeline network in the
oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta was
found to be effective, though there is
room for improvement, an audit found.
The Auditor General in Alberta
reviewed pipeline safety and found its
energy regulator had performed well in
terms of risk management and safety. While
the provincial Department of Environment
was not meeting expectations, the Alberta
Energy Regulator performed well “with a
board and management that think as
regulators,” the audit found.
Gazprom’s pipeline plans
The Gazprom Board of Directors
approved the company’s strategy aimed
at diversifying its export routes and
increasing Russian gas competitiveness. It
was noted that gas supply alternatives
and enhanced reliability and safety of
supplies were of primary importance to
make Gazprom’s products attractive for
international markets over a long term..
With a view to provide stable
supplies of Russian gas to Europe as well
as to mitigate the risks related to gas
transit via third countries, Gazprom aims
to expand existing gas transmission
routes and build up the new ones.
A project for constructing a new gas
pipeline from Russia to Turkey has
entered the execution stage. The gas
transmission route will be laid via the
Black Sea and will supply up to 47
billion m3/yr of gas to the Turkish-Greece
border. The pipeline will represent the
alternative export route, which, in
combination with Nord Stream, Blue
Stream and the Yamal-Europe gas
pipeline, will secure the whole Russian
gas exports beyond the CIS and will make
it possible to abandon the transit
corridor via Ukraine.
Gazprom is also focused on
supplying significant volumes of Russian
pipeline gas to Asia-Pacific. Work is
underway to have the resource and
transmission base in place for the start of
gas supplies from Russia to China via the
eastern route.
Auditor General Merwan Saher made
six recommendations for improving
pipeline safety in Alberta, but said that
overall the regulatory system is working
well. Recommendations include adopting
a more formal training programme for
pipeline staff, reviewing data collection
practices and implementing a new process
to evaluate pipeline operators’ integrity
management programmes. The Alberta
Energy Regulator is taking appropriate
action to implement the
recommendations.
Events DIARY
World News
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON EVENTS VISIT WWW.ENERGYGLOBAL.COM/EVENTS

TANAP: BP agreement should Stroytransgaz to build

happen soon pipeline across Macedonia
13 - 17 April 2015 The Trans-Anatoliann gas pipeline project Russia’s Stroytransgaz will build a gas
HANNOVER MESSE expects BP to resolve outstanding issues pipeline across Macedonia, which could
Hannover, Germany
soon to become a stakeholder in the eventually be used as part of a route to
multi-billion dollar project that aims to supply Europe with Russian gas via
http://www.hannovermesse.de/
home# reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian gas. Turkey.
Magsud Mammad, the TANAP External A spokesman for Stroytransgaz said the
13 - 17 April 2015 Relations Director, told reporters at an sanctions would not hamper the project
PLCAC energy summit in Montenegro that talks in Macedonia, which is not a member of
with BP, which said in 2013 it wanted a 12% the EU.
Maui, Hawaii
stake in the project, were ongoing. The 96.6 km Negotino-Klecovce gas
http://www.pipeline.ca/convention.
html Mammad said, “It is all about technical pipeline will cross Macedonia from near
problems which should be resolved soon... I the Greek border in the south up to the
4 - 7 May 2015 don’t think there’s going to be a pull out by vicinity of the Serbian border in the
Offshore Technology Conference
BP.” north. Stroytransgaz will build 61 km of
Azeri firm SOCAR holds a 58% stake in the link by June 2016.
Houston, USA
TANAP, while Turkish pipeline company Moscow plans to build a subsea
http://2015.otcnet.org/
Botas raised its stake to 30% in 2014. pipeline to Turkey, a replacement for the
TANAP will carry 16 billion m3/yr of gas cancelled South Stream project via
1 - 5 June 2015
from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II field in the Bulgaria. The details of an onward route
World Gas Conference Caspian Sea, which is being developed by a from Turkey through Greece have not
Paris, France BP-led consortium. been finalised.
http://www.wgc2015.org/ In December 2013 the US$45 billion Stroytransgaz, which was scheduled
final investment decision on the Southern to participate in the construction of
8 - 10 June 2015 Energy Corridor was signed between the the Bulgarian section of the South
Pipeline Technology Conference BP-led Shah Deniz Consortium and the Stream pipeline, will construct the new
Berlin, Germany Azerbaijani government. It is expected that pipeline in Macedonia, preserving some
http://www.pipeline-conference.com/ the first gas will arrive in Turkey in 2020. of the planned South Stream course.
The gas will pass through the South The pipeline will cost about
9 - 11 June 2015 Caucasus Pipeline expansion, the TANAP US$75 million.
Global Petroleum Show and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
Calgary, Canada
http://globalpetroleumshow.com/
Fugro wins inspection
contract
News Highlights
8 - 11 September 2015
Offshore Europe Statoil Petroleum AS and Gassco AS have
Aberdeen, UK awarded the 2015 annual pipeline
http://www.offshore-europe.co.uk/ inspection contract to Fugro.
The contract covers inspection of
14 - 17 September 2015 defined sections of subsea pipelines
Turbomachinery Pump Symposia
between Norway and continental Europe:
Europipe 1, Europipe 2, Franpipe, Zeepipe
Houston, USA
and Norpipe. Inspection of pipeline
http://pumpturbo.tamu.edu/
sections for production fields in
Norwegian waters is also included.
9 - 12 November 2015
Fugro will utilise its Echo Surveyor ➤➤ Australia’s APA Group
ADIPEC Hugin 1000 AUV equipped with EM2040 raises cash to fund gas pipe
Abu Dhabi, UAE multi-beam echosounder and EdgeTech
http://www.adipec.com/ Full Spectrum 120 and 410 kHz side scan ➤➤ Opponents of Atlantic Coast
sonar. The AUV will be deployed from push for alternative route
9 - 12 November 2015 Fugro’s multi-purpose survey vessel Geo
Fabtech Prospector. ➤➤ NEB to extend participaton
Chicago, USA The inspection survey is scheduled to time for Energy East hearing
http://www.fabtechexpo.com/ commence in May 2015 and the confirmed
workscope has an estimated duration of
30 days.

Get the free mobile app at

8 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015 http:/ / gettag.mobi

To read more about the articles go to
www.worldpipelines.com
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Severstal to supply pipes for Power of Siberia
project
PAO Severstal, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated steel
and steel-related mining companies, has won a tender to supply
about 160 000 t of large diameter pipes for Gazprom’s major gas
transmission project Power of Siberia.
The pipes are to be manufactured by the Izhora Pipe Mill (IPM), a
part of Severstal’s Russian Steel division.
Construction of the pipeline involves supply of 14.2 m pipes
produced of K60 grade places with 21.7 mm wall thickness with inner
and outer anti-corrosion coatings. IPM’s large diameter pipes are
made using self-rolled sheet produced at the 5000 Sheet Rolling Mill
at the Cherepovets Steel Mill’s #3 Sheet Shop.
Vitaly Motorin, Director of Pipe Production for Severstal’s Russian
Steel division, commented: “Izhora Pipe Mill already has experience of
successful production of pipes for Power of Siberia Project. Besides,
Severstal as a vertically integrated steel company produces its own
raw materials, has its own steelmaking and rolling facilities that
altogether provide substantial synergies for the company.”
Pipes will be delivered to the consumer by river and railway
transport.
The first section of the Power of Siberia GTS – the Yakutia –
Khabarovsk – Vladivostok gas trunkline – will come onstream in late
2017.
McDermott and Petrofac form strategic alliance
McDermott International, Inc. and Petrofac Limited have formed a
strategic marketing alliance to pursue top-tier deepwater subsea,
umbilical, riser and flowline (SURF) projects. The five-year alliance
expects to provide oil and gas companies a competitive, integrated
solution across a broad range of complex engineer, procure,
construct, install (EPCI) subsea projects in deep and ultra-
deepwater across the US Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, Brazil, the North
Sea, Mediterranean and West Africa.
Leveraging the complementary capabilities and experience of
both companies, the alliance will open up further EPCI
opportunities by combining McDermott’s specialty SURF fleet, its
new Derrick Lay Vessel DLV 2000 and strong subsea fabrication
capability with Petrofac’s world class JSD 6000 installation vessel.
“The strategic value of this alliance benefits our clients by
combining each company’s strengths to create a new competitive
top-tier market participant,” said Scott Cummins, Senior Vice
President, Commercial for McDermott.
The key terms of the Alliance are:
)) Territory: US Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, West Africa, Brazil,
North Sea and Mediterranean.
)) Scope: SURF projects above US$200 million.
)) Duration: Five years (plus follow-on time to deliver secured
projects).
)) Structure and scope: project scope is anticipated to be
split between partners roughly equally, but according to
the specifics of a particular opportunity, and governed by
separate project agreements.
10 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
Technip to supply pipes for Lula Alto field
Technip was awarded a major (for Technip, above
e500 million) contract from Tupi BV, a consortium
composed of Petrobras Netherland BV (PNBV, 65%), BG (25%)
and Galp (10%), for the ongoing development of the Lula Alto
field, located in the Santos Basin pre-salt area, Brazil.
This contract covers the supply of around 200 km of
flexible pipes and associated equipment, including gas lift, gas
and water injection, gas export and production lines. These
high technological flexible pipes are designed to meet pre-salt
challenges with water depths of up to 2500 m and high
pressures.
Technip’s operating center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will
perform the project management and engineering. The flexible
pipes will be produced at Technip’s manufacturing sites of
Vitoria and Açu, Brazil. Delivery is scheduled to start in the
second half of 2015.
Adriano Novitsky, President of Technip in Brazil,
commented: “Lula Alto is a major project for Technip in Brazil.
Its size contributes to improving even more the workload
visibility of our manufacturing plants. In addition, the
challenging technical requirements confirm again the suitability
of flexible pipes to pre-salt developments and Technip’s
strong position in this domain.”
Ceona Amazon: first rigid pipelay
contract
Ceona has secured a Letter of Intent for the company’s
flagship field development vessel, the Ceona Amazon.
This will be Ceona’s first rigid pipelay project in the Gulf
of Mexico for well-established US independent oil and
gas operator, Walter Oil & Gas Corporation.
The Ceona Amazon will be deployed for the
Coelacanth Export Pipelines project with the scope of
work encompassing the installation of an oil and a gas
export line tying the new Coelacanth Platform into
existing pipeline infrastructure.
Each 10 in. line will be approximately 11 miles, totalling
22.6 miles (approximately 36 km). The pipelines will each
be terminated by two pipeline end termination (PLETs)
structures installed by the Ceona Amazon. All work will
be undertaken in one single mobilisation.
Project Management and Engineering work has started
in Ceona’s Houston office with support from the
corporate offices in London and Aberdeen.
Mark Preece, Ceona’s Executive VP Commercial and
Business Development, said: “We are extremely pleased
that the Amazon has secured her first contract, with final
vessel delivery on time and within budget. This will also
be her first rigid pipelay project and we look forward to
demonstrating the Amazon’s capabilities in this area.
The Ceona Amazon is 199.4 m (655 ft) long and 32.2 m
(106 ft) wide, drawing 8 m (25 ft) with a gross tonnage of
33 000 t. She is due to enter service in March 2015.
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12
 The Gulf of Mexico has quietly been
gathering steam. Gordon Cope
analyses areas of bright spots and
concerns envisioned in the Gulf’s
future.

W
hile newer US plays, such as North Dakota’s Bakken, Texas’ Eagle Ford, and
Pennsylvania’s Marcellus have been getting all the attention recently, the Gulf of
Mexico has been quietly gathering steam.
In 2014, Chevron made a significant discovery at the Guadalupe prospect.
The company announced that it had encountered multiple pay zones in the Lower Tertiary
Wilcox sands after it drilled the Green Canyon Block 807 well on its Anchor prospect to a
total of 33 749 ft.
Venari Resources made a significant discovery in the Keathley Canyon Block. The company
drilled to a total of 30 173 ft on its Guadalupe prospect and encountered oil pay in the
Lower Tertiary Wilcox sands.
Many discoveries made over the last decade are now entering
production. Stone Energy Corp. recently began testing
on its two Cardona deepwater development wells.
The wells are expected to reach a gross production
rate of 12 000 boe/d. Production is being
concentrated at their wholly-owned Pompano
platform. The platform can support more flow; the
Louisiana-based company has plans to drill two
more production wells this year.
Freeport-McMoRan encountered 234 ft of net
oil pay in the deepwater Holstein prospect in its
Green Canyon Block 643, increasing its resource
potential for the Holstein Deep field to more than
250 million boe. The company currently has a
platform at the nearby Holstein field and it plans to
tie in 15 000 bpd in 2016; it also notes that the field
has the potential to reach 75 000 boe/d by 2020.
In late 2014, Chevron announced the first oil and gas production from the Jack-St. Malo fields.
The deepwater fields are expected to ramp up to 94 000 bpd of crude and 21 million ft3 of gas
by 2020. The company estimates that the fields hold more than 500 million boe of recoverable
hydrocarbons. Production will be transported by pipe from a semisubmersible floating unit to the
nearby Green Canyon platform, and hence to shore.

13
 Hess Corporation also announced the start of production at
the deepwater Tubular Bells field. The field uses a spar hull floating
facility to produce up to 50 000 boe/d.
Chevron and Hess have announced that they will move
forward with the joint development of the Stampede field. The
deepwater prospect holds more than 300 million boe recoverable
reserves. The US$6 billion project is expected to enter service in
2018, with final production peaking at 80 000 bpd.
Shell began production at the Cardamom project in its Garden
Banks Block. The field will be tied into the company’s Auger
tension-leg platform. When the latest field is fully onstream, the
platform will be producing 130 00 boe/d.
The US is not the only country with assets in the Gulf.
The lucrative Lower Tertiary subsalt play extends beyond the
international boundaries of the US into Mexican waters. It is
estimated that up to 15 billion bbls of undiscovered, recoverable
oil may exist south of the border. Pemex recently announced the
discovery of 350 million bbls of reserves in the Trion discovery
well, located 177 km off the coast and 39 km south of US waters,
which is expected to yield up to 10 000 bpd production.
Traditionally, Mexico has been off-limits to foreign oil
companies. Since his election in 2012, however, Mexico’s President
Enrique Peña Nieto has been striving to modernise his country’s oil
and gas sector. Recently, the constitution was changed to remove
the decades-old monopoly held by state enterprise Pemex. In
mid-2015, the government will hold bidding for oil exploration
rights in 14 blocks in the Gulf of Mexico. The blocks are in shallow
water (less than 500 m), off the coasts of Veracruz, Tabasco
and Campeche states. The National Hydrocarbons Commission
estimates the parcels contain almost 700 million bbls of oil,
capable of producing 80 000 - 100 000 bpd. The government,
keen to represent the bidding process in the most transparent
manner, has stated that any evidence of corruption will result in
cancellation of deals.
Mexico hopes to reverse production declines and reach
3.5 million bpd production by 2025. Analysts estimate that it would
take annual oil and gas sector investment of US$15 billion, or
US$150 billion in total, to reach that target.
Another Gulf country, Cuba, has recently seen the long
shadow of isolation lifted from its shoulders. In December 2014,
President Obama announced a partial easing of the half-century-
long embargo against the island nation, a trend that might
eventually yield benefits to its oil and gas sector. Cuba produces
approximately 55 000 bpd from ageing onshore fields, but it
imports over 100 000 bpd to meet its needs. Much of its offshore
areas share many of the same lucrative prospects as in US waters,
but the country lacks the technology and deep pockets needed to
find and produce the oil.
Russia has pledged assistance to Cuba to help increase
production. President Putin, along with Igor Sechin, the Chairman
of state oil company Rosneft, promised to invest US$3.5 billion
in onshore development and offshore exploration. But in order
to achieve any significant dent in its import burden, Cuba will
need attractive fiscal and regulatory regimes to lure the kind of
international investors that can bring sufficient funds and know-
how to achieve those ends.
Pipelines
While much deepwater Gulf production is loaded onto container
vessels from FPSO platforms, several fields use a network of pipes
14 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
to tie oil and gas production to nearby facilities that have existing
pipeline connections to shore. Hess, for instance, has contracted
with Enbridge to build, own and operate a crude oil pipeline that
will service their planned deepwater Stampede development. The
27 mile, 18 in. line will originate in the Green Canyon Block 468
and connect to an existing third party system. The US$130 million
pipeline is expected to enter operation in 2018.
The onshore region of the Gulf has also seen significant
midstream activity, thanks largely to the development of shale gas,
oil and natural gas liquids.
Plains All American Pipeline and Enterprise Products Partners
are building a new condensate gathering system and increasing
capacity to existing pipelines. A total of 125 mile of new pipe
will deliver product to the Three Rivers terminal. The Eagle Ford
Pipeline that transports fluids from Three Rivers to Corpus Christi
will be looped, effectively increasing capacity to 600 000 bpd.
Dallas-based EnLink Midstream Partners recently completed
Phase 2 of its Cajun-Sibon NGL expansion in Louisiana and West
Texas. EnLink is a new entity formed from the combination of Devon
and Crosstex Energy assets. The company oversees 7300 miles of
gas gathering and transportation lines with 3.3 billion ft3/d of net
capacity.
Magellan Midstream and Occidental Petroleum’s BridgeTex
Pipeline Company was formed in 2012 to transport Occidental’s
crude output from the Permian Basin in Texas to the Houston
region. The JV consists of 400 miles of 20 in. pipe running
from Colorado City, Texas, to East Houston. It is now taking
commissions from third party operators to transport up to
300 000 bpd.
Cheniere Corpus Christi Pipeline will build a 23 mile, 48 in. OD
pipeline to connect its Corpus Christi Liquefaction plant to a point
near Sinton, Texas. With a capacity of 2.25 billion ft3/d, the pipeline
will move both domestic natural gas to the plant for export and
re-gasified imports from the LNG terminal to interconnections with
the existing pipeline systems. As part of the import/export project,
Cheniere plans to construct three 5 million tpy liquefaction trains.
The liquefaction portion is expected to enter operations by early
2019.
Enbridge and EPP’s Seaway Twin pipeline entered service in late
2014. The 450 mile pipeline can carry 450 000 bpd of crude from
Cushing, Oklahoma, to Freeport Texas. The twinning more than
doubles the capacity of the Seaway system to 850 000 bpd. The
work was done in part to alleviate the bottleneck that had arisen
in the Cushing terminal due to approval delays to the Keystone
XL pipeline. The gulf region around Freeport is home to several
million bpd refining capacity that relies on heavy crudes. The new
line will supply an alternative to faltering Venezuelan deliveries and
supplies from the unstable Middle East region.
Several new pipelines will transport gas south to Mexico. The
Federal Electricity Commission is installing a total of five lines
to service gas turbines throughout the country. Two lines will
originate in Waha, Texas, and run to Chihuahua State. A third will
run from Ojinaga, Chihuahua to El Encino, Chihuahua, and a fourth
from El Encino to Durango. A fifth line will extend from Arizona to
San Luis Rio Colorado in Sonora State. In all, the five pipelines will
have a capacity of 5.8 billion ft3/d
TexStar Midstream will build and operate a 30 000 bpd
pipeline system for Calumet Specialty Products. The Karnes North
Pipeline System (KNPS) will consist of an 8 in., 50 mile line from
Karnes City, Texas, to Elmendorf, Texas, near San Antonio. The oil,
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 which originates in the Eagle Ford shale play, will be converted to
jet fuel, diesel fuel and gasoline.
Troubles
Like any petroleum region, the Gulf of Mexico is not without
its concerns. The August, 2014 lease sale in the western Gulf
of Mexico drew 91 bids for a total of almost US$110 million.
According to the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
(BOEM), explorers expressed greatest interest in the blocks
offered on or near the 3 mile limit of the continental shelf
boundary between the US and Mexico, which are subject to
the recently enacted US Mexico Trans-boundary Hydrocarbon
Reservoirs Agreement.
But industry participants noted that the sale is relatively
disappointing in relation to other areas of the gulf; in the March,
2014 central Gulf sale, 50 companies filed 380 bids for a total of
US$850 million. Because of the long lead times involved in gulf
exploration and production, the relative abundance – or lack –
of lease purchases is an harbinger of activity for the rest of the
decade.
Although the region has largely recovered from the BP
Macondo disaster of 2010 (in which the Transocean Deepwater
Horizon semi-submersible rig was engulfed by an immense
explosion and fire, killing eleven crew members and spilling
millions of barrels of oil), its legacy lives on. The American
Petroleum Institute (API) published new guidelines for the design,
manufacture and use of subsea capping stacks. The recommended
practice will be a guide for new subsea capping stacks, and for
retrofitting existing equipment. “These guidelines will further
strengthen subsea spill response capabilities as part of industry’s
commitment to continuous improvement in safety,” the API
noted.
Hurricane season
Oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is situated in
one of the world’s most hurricane-prone regions; damage
and lost production can reach immense proportions. In
2005, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared through
the Gulf of Mexico, they breached protective levees
around New Orleans and destroyed production platforms
and pipeline gathering systems. It took over a year for
the petroleum industry to return to normal; in all, the
hurricanes cost 1800 people their lives, US$80 billion in
damages, and US$16 billion in lost production revenues.
In the last decade, the petroleum industry, federal
agencies and the American Petroleum Institute (API) have
drawn up rules to build stronger facilities and locate
them further inshore. Design standards for platforms
and rigs were upgraded to increase the space between
platform hulls and sea level. Moorings for Mobile Offshore
Drilling units MODUs) were made 50% stronger, and
GPS installed to find drifting rigs. Some pipelines were
buried deeper to avoid damage from dragging anchors,
others were relocated away from mudslide-prone regions.
Redundancies were built in to allow re-routing around
failed sections.
The 2014 hurricane season was relatively quiet, with
eight named storms (six of which became hurricanes),
16 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
Like oil companies throughout the world, Gulf operators
are concerned about the recent slump in oil prices. Generally,
deepwater projects tend to be more immune to the ups and
downs of the marketplace; Chevron’s Jack-St. Malo, for instance,
has been advanced through several oil slumps since its initial
discovery in 2003.
Still, several projects are facing slowdowns. BP announced
a further delay to its Mad Dog Phase 2 deepwater project; the
UK-based company had initially paused the project after the
budget ballooned to US$20 billion, but now low oil prices are
obliging it to review all major expenditures in the region.
Although Freeport-McMoRan will continue to develop its
Holstein Deep project, the company recently noted that it is
reviewing its entire gulf capex budget in response to the recent
decline in oil prices.
The future
As far as the Gulf’s future is concerned, there are both bright spots,
and concerns. According to consultancy group Wood Mackenzie
(WoodMac), deepwater production is expected to plateau at
a record 1.9 million boe/d in 2016, up from the current level of
approximately 1.5 million boe/d.
In its long-term appraisal of the Gulf’s prospects however,
WoodMac warns that, as explorers move further and deeper
into the deepwater plays, costs and technological challenges
will rise, and payouts diminish. “A typical development well in
the Lower Tertiary can cost US$300 million, as compared to the
shallower, more established well-known plays, such as the Upper/
Middle Miocene, where development well costs are closer to
US$100 million,” it noted. Unless new technology can reduce costs
and increase production, then long-term growth for the region will
be in jeopardy.
during 1 June to 30 November. The only major storm to
reach the US mainland was Hurricane Arthur, which made
landfall in North Carolina. Neither of the two storms that
entered the Gulf of Mexico tracked toward the coasts
of Texas or Louisiana, and no significant production was
curtailed or lost due to inclement weather.
Prior to the start of the 2014 season, the NOAA had
predicted 12 named storms, with three to six hurricanes
and up to two major hurricanes of Category 3 strength
or greater. The relatively quiet season was attributed
to Atlantic currents that steered storms in a northern
direction, away from North America, and a persistent
ridge of high pressure over the eastern Pacific that created
upper level wind shear, which limited the formation of
thunderstorms in the Gulf.
The NOAA is already examining weather trends for
its 2015 forecast, to be issued in late May. Factors such as
trade winds, West African monsoons and El Nino in the
Pacific Ocean can all affect the severity of the hurricane
season. The agency is also working with the US Air Force
(whose Weather Reconnaissance squadron gathers airborne
storm data) on increasing the accuracy of storm tracking;
for every mile of evacuation that can be spared through
increased precision, for instance, emergency providers save
an estimated US$2 million.
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railroads
Pipelines, oil boom and

Jack Behar and Samer Al-Azem, Petrohab, USA, examine how rising oil and
gas production is outpacing the transportation capacity of pipeline and rail
infrastructure.

18
T
he North American oil boom has transformed the
way oil flows in America. For decades, oil flowed
out of ships and into pipelines heading inland to
major refineries. Today, it is flowing out of shale
into railroads, pipelines and heading toward the coasts.
It is a shift that the energy industry has never predicted
or expected, creating a major problem for the industry,
an industry that does not have enough pipelines to move
all of this oil. Accordingly, it is estimated that in order
to accommodate the oil glut, the US and Canada need to

19
 build over US$272 billion worth of new oil pipelines over
the next two decades.
Insufficient transport methods
In October 2012, Kinder Morgan Partners announced plans
to build a 740 mile pipeline at the cost of US$2 billion
from the oilfields of West Texas to a refining hub outside
of Los Angeles, California, delivering 277 000 bpd of crude
oil. The idea was to replace the more expensive crude
delivered from Alaska’s North Slope and other deliveries
from several foreign markets. In April 2013, Kinder Morgan
began negotiating with refiners who normally commit to
buying predetermined amounts of oil and gas for as long
as 10 years. In May 2013, however, Kinder Morgan cancelled
the project after the refiners Valero and Tesoro stated
that they were not interested in buying the pipeline oil
on a long-term basis. They had found a better and less
expensive way to get the product – railroads!
As shale fields scattered across the Midwest and West
Texas produce millions of barrels of crude oil, energy
companies are finding the national pipeline network
insufficient to transport their output and railroads are
increasingly picking up the slack. Recently, Valero applied
for a permit to build rail offloading facilities at its
Figure 1. Map of the Bakken Formation oil and gas play.
The Bakken is below parts of northwestern North Dakota,
northeastern Montana, southern Saskatchewan and
southwestern Manitoba.
Figure 2. The cost of moving a barrel of oil: estimates of
pipeline vs rail.
20 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
refineries near Los Angeles while Tesoro announced last
April a joint venture to build a rail offloading terminal
at the Port of Vancouver, Washington State, to facilitate
distribution to West Coast refineries. And in December
2013, a new terminal in the Port of Beaumont, Texas,
welcomed its first customer: a train carrying 43 000 bbls of
crude oil from Colorado. The crude was then transferred
to a barge, which travelled down the Neches River to a
nearby refinery.
With discoveries of large oil and gas deposits and
developments in places like North Dakota and Southern
Texas, where there is very limited existing infrastructure in
place to move the oil to demand centres, companies have
had to inefficiently transport crude oil hundreds of miles
by rail or by truck to refineries. Transporting crude oil by
rail or rig is far more costly – at least US$10/bbl or more
– than to move the hydrocarbon by pipeline.
Pipeline construction boom
In contrast to Kinder Morgan, on 2 September, 2014, Duke
Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas announced the selection
of Dominion to build and operate a 550 mile interstate
natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia
and into eastern North Carolina, to meet the region’s
rapidly growing demand for natural gas. The 550 mile
Atlantic Coast Pipeline project is expected to serve as a
key infrastructure engine to drive economic development
and create jobs, helping counties on the pipeline’s
route attract new, energy-dependent businesses and
industries. The pipeline has an estimated cost of between
US$4.5 - 5 billion, an initial capacity of 1.5 billion ft3/d,
and a target in-service date of late 2018. The pipeline’s
main customers are six utilities and related companies that
will collectively purchase a substantial majority of the
pipeline’s capacity to transport natural gas – Duke Energy
Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress, Virginia Power Services
Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, Virginia Natural Gas and
PSNC Energy. Gas will be carried through a 42 in dia. pipe
Figure 3. Crude oil and petroleum products during domestic
transportation.
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 in West Virginia and Virginia, and a 36 in. dia. pipe in North
Carolina.1
Another pipeline, the Seaway Pipeline, began in May
2012 to carry 150 000 bpd of crude oil from Cushing,
Oklahoma, to refineries near Houston, Texas, with
increased capacity of 400 000 bpd, and a second pipe
is to bring the total capacity to 850 000 bpd by the end
of 2014. Six other projects were also constructed in 2013,
bypassing Cushing carrying an additional 355 000 bpd from
Figure 4. Crude by rail costs.
Figure 5. Rail delivery: cost to transport a barrel of oil via train
from the Bakken oilfield to different US regions.
Figure 6. North American freight railroads.
22 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
West Texas directly to the Gulf Coast with 478 000 bpd
added to that in 2014. The pipeline construction boom,
like much US spending, results mainly from the surge
in activity related to shale and other low-permeability
formations. Capital spending for oil and product pipelines
and pump stations in the US is estimated at US$23 billion,
a steep climb from US$4 billion in 2012, and according to
the Oil & Gas Journal’s ‘Worldwide Pipeline Construction
Report of 2014’, projects completion of 4121 miles of crude
and product pipelines, compared with 834 miles projected
at the same time as in 2013.2
Will all the additional capacity relieve the surplus
at Cushing? It is an impressive amount of new capacity
to take oil out of Cushing, but even more has been
coming in as over the past three years, 815 000 bpd of
new pipeline capacity delivering crude oil to Cushing
was added. Over the same period, only 400 000 bpd of
new pipeline take-away capacity was added. During the
next two years, an additional 1.19 million bpd of pipeline
capacity for delivering crude oil from Canada and the mid
continent to Cushing is planned, but this is balanced by
the 1.15 million bpd of planned pipeline capacity additions
to deliver crude oil from Cushing to the Gulf Coast. In
addition, about 830 000 bpd of new pipeline capacity is
planned to move crude oil directly from the Permian Basin
to the Gulf Coast, avoiding the congested Midwest. If
this capacity is constructed and fully utilised, waterborne
imports to the US Gulf Coast, particularly of light sweet
crude oil, will drop significantly.3
According to a recent study conducted by the Fraser
Institute, a Canadian public policy think tank, both the
US and Canada, more crude oil, petroleum products, and
natural gas is transported via pipelines than by all other
modes combined. Pipelines are the primary mode of
transportation in both Canada and the US and according
to the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, 97% of
natural gas and petroleum products are transported via
pipelines in Canada while in the US, approximately 70% of
crude oil and petroleum products are shipped by pipeline
on a tonne-mile basis. US tanker and barge traffic accounts
for 23% of oil shipments while trucking accounts for 4% of
shipments, and rail for the remaining 3%.
With the number of US refineries decreasing, and
capacity concentrating in fewer places, crude usually has
to be moved some distances. There are four ways to move
it over long distances: by pipeline, by boat, by truck or
by rail. Each has its unique problems and none is without
harm, but, in all cases, the rising oil and gas production in
North America is outpacing the transportation capacity
of the pipeline and rail infrastructure. For North America
to realise the massive economic benefits from the
development of the shale fields, the transport challenge
must be solved. At present, resistance to pipeline transport
on concerns over the safety, reliability and challenges
on the grounds of environmental safety is sending oil to
market by modes of transport that pose higher potential of
spills and personal injuries such as rail and road transport.
According to CBC News of 31 May, 2013, the Canadian
 government of British Columbia rejected a proposed
Northern Gateway pipeline strictly on environmental
grounds.
Rail transportation
The question arises what do railroads have to do with
oil and gas, especially when the US oil and gas industry
has built and continues to build impressive network of
pipelines for transporting crude more economically,
securely and efficiently than ever before. The answer
is a major alternative means of fuel shipment is greatly
and urgently needed to transport crude as increasing
limitations on pipeline capacity both in Canada and the US
have become evident ever since the hidden oil of North
America ‘shale gale’ entered the picture.
Rail transportation came into existence as a product
of the industrial area with the introduction of the steam
locomotives. Transporting crude oil in the US by rail began
in 1862, when the first railroad to reach Pennsylvania’s Oil
Region was established, stretching 27 miles. It was a single
track line that could only deliver about 15% (approximately
30 000 bbls) of the region’s monthly 200 000 bbls of oil.
Railways have been affected by continuous
innovations, technical, regulatory and commercial changes,
which have improved their capacity and efficiency. Rail
transportation is thus as important in the 21st century as it
was in the late 19th century. One innovation relates to the
quality of the rail infrastructure, particularly rail tracks,
which will determine the operational characteristics of
their use such as speed, allowable mass, maintenance and
flexibility to the environment. Increasing electrification
and automation has also improved the efficiency of rail
transportation, passenger and freight alike. Railway speed
records have constantly improved with the introduction
of high speed rail systems. However, freight trains run at a
considerably lower speed, in the range of 30 - 35 km/hr. In
some cases, as the rail system gets more used, operational
speed may decline. Rail transport has comparative
advantages in carrying heavy bulk traffic on specific
itineraries over long distances.4
The current energy boom in the US is providing the
country with inexpensive oil and in order to capitalise
on the new increase of oil production, primarily from the
Williston Basin, the Bakken Formation, where production,
according to Bentek Energy, LLC, has recently increased
to more than 600 000 bpd. Other feasibility studies are
Figure 7. Proposed pipelines.
24 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
done concerning the ability of the ideal transportation
system – oil pipelines, truck deliveries, and rail – to move
crude oil out of the area. Due to the current pipeline
capacity constraints, Williston Basin producers rely on rail
and trucks to move additional crude oil out of the region.
Because of these transportation constraints, Bakken crude
oil is currently delivered at a discount of US$7.50/bbl to
West Texas Intermediate (WTI). This discount was as much
as US$28/bbl in February 2012 and is expected to continue
as long as transportation constraints persist. According to
a recent report by the North Dakota Pipeline Authority
(NDPA), transportation of Williston Basin crude by rail
continues to dominate all other forms of transport, stating
that 63% of Bakken crude was shipped out of state on
railways while 30% was exported by pipeline
According to NDPA report published on 3 December,
2013, 19% of the produced gas is flared because of
constraints on existing gathering systems, lack of pipelines
and issues with the current infrastructure. North Dakota’s
oil production has risen from 609 503 bpd in April 2013 to
just over 1 million bpd in April 2014, a new state record.
In 2012, rail transportation overtook pipeline exports and
continues to be the predominant form of transportation.
Pipeline exports have hovered between 20 - 30% for the
past year while railway transports fluctuated between
60 - 70%.
Currently, North Dakota has only one refinery, which
processes about 58 000 bpd of crude oil. Crude oil is
delivered to other markets using a combination of pipeline,
rail and truck. Delivery capability as of April 2012 was:
450 000 bpd by oil pipeline; 150 000 bpd by rail; and small
volumes by truck. However, in 2012, incremental additions
to rail and oil pipeline capacity for the Williston Basin
could total 350 000 bpd.5
New pipeline projects
In contrast to Kinder Morgan Partners, which has cancelled
the proposed 740 mile pipeline at the cost of US$2 billion,
the North Dakota Pipeline Authority (NDPA) has 14 projects
slated to begin operations by 2016 in the Williston Basin
area. And some significant capacity additions are expected
to happen in 2015 and 2016. Total pipeline system capacity
is projected to increase from 583 000 bpd to 1.6 million
bpd in 2016 – an increase of 172% in three years. In
addition on 26 June, 2014, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP)
announced that it would start building an approximate
1100 mile crude oil pipeline – the Bakken Pipeline – to
transport crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks
production area in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. It will
connect ETP’s existing Trunkline Pipeline, which is being
converted from natural gas service to crude transportation
service. From Patoka, crude oil can be transported to
Midwest markets and East Coast markets by rail. Through
the Trunkline Pipeline, crude oil can also flow to Sunoco
Logistics Partners’ (SXL) crude oil terminal facility in
Nederland, Texas. The 30 in. dia. pipeline will initially
provide 320 000 bpd of capacity, which can be further
increased.
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 The development of crude rich areas in and around the
Bakken area will be placated by the construction of the
Bakken Pipeline project. It will provide additional US crude
supplies to US markets and refineries along the East and
Gulf Coasts. A crude oil pipeline is generally more cost
effective than rail. It helps reduce the current utilisation
of rail and truck transportation as the predominant
alternative to moving Bakken crude oil volumes to major
US markets. Higher production at the Bakken shale of the
Williston Basin is encouraging for the midstream pipeline
operators. Increased transportation requirements will be
positive for crude oil pipeline suppliers in Bakken including
Enbridge Energy Partners, Energy Transfer Partners and
Plains All American. Increased transportation capacity
would also benefit oil producers like Oasis Petroleum,
Whiting Petroleum and Continental Resources through
higher price realisation. All of these are components of the
SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (XOP).6
While oil shale is found in many places worldwide,
by far the biggest deposits in the world are found in the
US in the Green River Formation, which covers portions
of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil
resource in place within the Green River Formation range
from 1.2 - 1.8 trillion bbls but not all resources in place
are recoverable; however, even a moderate estimate of
800 billion bbls of recoverable oil from oil shale in the
Green River Formation is three times greater than the
proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Present US demand for
petroleum products is about 20 million bpd and should
oil shale be used to meet a quarter of that demand, the
estimated 800 billion bbls of recoverable oil from the
Green River Formation would last for more than 400 years.
More than 70% of the total oil shale acreage in the Green
River Formation, including the richest and thickest oil shale
deposits, is under federally owned and managed lands.
Thus, the federal government directly controls access to
the most commercially attractive portions of the oil shale
resource base.7
Another issue is the fact that most of the new wells
are situated far from the existing pipelines that serve
the area around the principle oilfields and as production
is increased quickly adding and accumulating around
3 million bpd to the US oil production in just few years.
At the same time, the US shale boom is producing
record amounts of new oil as demand weakens, pushing
prices down toward levels that threaten to reduce
future drilling. According to the US Energy Information
Administration, domestic fields will add an unprecedented
1.1 million bpd of output in 2014 and another 963 000 in
2015, raising production to the most since 1970. The Energy
Department’s statistical arm forecasts consumption will
shrink 0.2% to 18.9 million bpd in 2014, the lowest since
2012.8
Normally, all of the oil and gas must travel from point
A to point B to point C before arriving to the refinery
and for many years much of the oil was delivered from
26 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
across the oceans through the ports of the East and West
Coast. But before getting the crude to refineries, pipelines
delivered the oil through Cushing, the central hub for
US oil. Cushing is a vital transshipment point with many
intersecting pipelines, storage facilities and easy access to
refiners and suppliers. Crude oil flows inbound to Cushing
from all directions and outbound through dozens of
pipelines. In 2005 crude oil and refined products in the US
were almost always transported by interconnected pipeline
systems. From Cushing oil is directed to other pipelines
that feed refineries, many of them on the Gulf Coast. But
Cushing was never ready for the current situation, the
emerging oil boom, since it was never designed and built
to move ever increased quantities of domestic crude,
consequently, the crude arrives but there is not enough
pipeline capacity to move it out to other destinations
therefore it was not a surprise that the oil inventories in
Cushing more than doubled between 2008 - 2013 reaching
21 year highs as the ‘shale gale’ took off.
The opening of the Marketlink Pipeline in January
enabled larger volumes (830 000 bpd) to move from
Cushing, to the Gulf Coast, contributing to the largest
February drop in commercial crude oil stocks stored at
Cushing since tracking began in 2004. Inventories of crude
oil held at Cushing, the delivery point of the WTI futures
contract, declined by 8.1 million bbls from the week ending
31 January to the week ending 28 February. In addition,
refineries in the Midwest maintained high run rates, with
utilisation remaining above 94% for the sixth consecutive
week. Gulf Coast refineries also processed high amounts
of crude oil, with the average throughput for the previous
four weeks 0.74 million bpd higher than at this time last
year.9
A return to railroads
As the oil production in the US is spiking, it is clear
that the oil infrastructure is not prepared for such a
massive boom in production, especially as the shale
oil producers intend to increase crude production by
more than 50%. At the same time, as the oil travels by
pipelines and gets locked up in Cushing, the ‘chokepoint’
represents about US$4.6 billion of profit for the well
operators who are looking for alternative ways to get
their crude to market knowing well what it takes to lay
new pipeline, inspect, approved and get it up and running.
The glut in oil production combined with the hurdles of
constructing new pipelines is driving well operators back
to the old faithful railroads where, according to the Wall
Street Journal, the North American Railroads are in full
revival and spent US$14 billion on upgrades to rail yards,
additional tracks and refuelling stations, up some 40%
increase since 2008.
New destinations and increasing capacity in 2014 has
come at a time where the rail industry is facing several
issues – some even as big as questioning the longevity
of rail as an economically competitive mode of crude
takeaway. With the collapse in price differentials, new
pipeline projects not far from completion and additional
costs potentially incurred from new rail car modification
mandates, the evaluation of available capacity, economics
and logistics of getting to different rail terminal
destinations could not come at a better time. As crude
oil volumes continue to rise, the demand for increased
capacity to take crude to new markets quickly and
economically is on the rise with it. Producers and refiners
want to know the latest offloading terminal locations,
railroad connectivity to new and emerging markets in the
West, Gulf and East Coast, cycle times, volume capacities
and the cost of transportation to enable a thorough
evaluation of the market differentials of moving crude
to different rail markets vs pipeline. Against the current
climate, it is crucial that railroads stay competitive and
as a result, the congress will be focused around how rail
operators are planning to meet the demands of refiners
and producers through the expansion of railroads, rail cars
and terminal capacity.10
According to the June 2014 report by Bloomberg, the
US’ largest railroad, the Union Pacific, tripled the amount
of transporting crude oil in 2012, boosting its profits to
a record US$3.9 billion and BNSF, the US number two rail
company, is now transporting about 650 000 bpd of crude
daily. BNSF and Canadian Pacific haul about 400 000 bpd
and much of this increase in hauling crude has come from
the Bakken shale basin where the production of crude
has increased around 250% since 2009. According to
Bloomberg, 71% of all Bakken crude is now transported
by rail compared to only 25% in January 2012, and only
20% is shipped by pipelines down from 61% in 2011. Union
Pacific (UNP) accounted for 13 300 extra car loads in
2012, an increase of 84% from 2011, but another factor
that cannot be overlooked are the oil refineries. The US
largest oil refinery Valero is currently spending more than
US$750 million to purchase more than 5000 rail cars by the
end of 2014 augmenting the fleet to 12 300 cars.
New guidelines for railroads
With all the good news for the rail industry, the US
Department of Transportation proposes new rules for
transporting crude oil by rail, classifying a train with more
than 20 tank cars as a high-hazardous flammable train,
becoming the subject to low speed limits, environmental
routing risk assessment and other requirements. The new
proposals and guidelines by the federal government’s
come after a string of explosive derailments involving
trains filled with oil from the Bakken shale and will modify
how flammable liquids are transported in North America.
The new regulations are not as severe as some in the
rail and energy industry feared and all upgrades must be
 concluded by 2017. DOT is also proposing the phasing out
of old model tank cars unless such cars are retrofitted
with new safety standards. This could mean the phasing
out thousands of railroad tank cars that carry crude oil
within two years. These older tank cars, known as DOT
111s, will have to be replaced or retrofitted under the
proposed rules, elevating the US standards to the same
timetable as Canada. Part of the new regulations will
require mandatory notification to the State Emergency
Response Commission (SERC), and other state entities
about operation of the trains through their states. Under
the new DOT regulations, rails cars which do not meet the
proposed new design enhancements would be limited to
40 mph maximum speed in all areas, a 10 mph less than the
limit for tank cars that meet the new specifications and
even limited to the speed of only 30 mph.
Pipeline safety
The Obama administration’s decision to delay approval
for the construction of TransCanada Inc.’s proposed
Keystone XL Pipeline is based, in part, on concerns over
the safety and reliability of oil and natural gas pipelines.
The pipeline is intended to transport oil from Canada
to US refiners on the Gulf of Mexico. In announcing his
decision, the President called for a full assessment of “the
pipeline’s impact, especially on the health and safety of
the American people.” But, according to extensive data
on pipeline safety in the US from the DOT Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Office
of Pipeline Safety (PHMSA, 2013a), safety and ecological
damages in the transport of oil and gas were balanced
to the volume of shipments, one would expect the vast
majority of damages to occur on pipelines. But a review
of statistics from both Canada’s National Energy Board as
well as the US DOT clearly demonstrates that, in addition
to enjoying a sizeable cost gain and benefit, pipelines
result in fewer spillage incidents and personal injuries than
road and rail. Sadly in spite the fact that both, the US and
Canada combined, have over 3.1 million miles of pipelines
and fairly good safety records, the US government
authorities still insist on blocking additional pipeline
construction. Much of the opposition to pipelines has
been based on the alleged dangers of a pipeline breaks.
But the devastating derailment of an oil tanker train in
Quebec Canada has illustrated that transport by rail has
its dangers as well. With both pipelines and rails running
at capacity, not surprisingly, accidents have increased as
well, with the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration reporting that the 4.35 million litres of
crude spilled in 2013 by US railroads exceeded the total
since the government agency began keeping count. As
that does not include Canadian spills, it excludes the July
explosion in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that besides killing
47 people spilled more than 5.6 million litres of North
Dakota crude. The spills since the production surge altered
28 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
a long safety record in which pipelines spilled three times
as much oil as rail from 2004 to 2012, according to IEA Oil
Market Report analysis of US Transportation Department
data. Since the US pipeline agency started tracking spills
in 1975, there were no rail spills in eight years and in five
years no spill exceeding 3.8 litres.
However, pipelines carried far more oil then moved
by rail, but while a spill by rail was six times more frequent
than for a pipeline, the average pipeline spill was far graver.
Rail is a relatively costly way to ship oil, but it has distinct
advantages over pipelines where transport infrastructure
does not exist or is insufficient. In North America, it is easier
to obtain regulatory approval for regional or cross-border
rail links than for a pipeline. Other advantages include
flexibility and the relative speed of rail infrastructure
deployment. ‘Unit trains’, long freight trains that carry only
oil, offer producers economies of scale and substantially
lower costs compared with traditional freight trains.
Pipelines do have their advantages, after the initial
investment, operating costs are about one-third on
average of rail, and pipelines are more energy-efficient and
emit less carbon.11
Finally, the good news for pipelines – according
to a new study released by the Interstate Natural
Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation Inc.,
projected growth in North American natural gas supplies
and market growth will require billions of dollars of
additional investment in pipeline, storage and other
midstream infrastructure through 2030. The Natural Gas
Pipeline and Storage Infrastructure Projections Through
2030 study, prepared for INGAA by ICF International,
analyses future natural gas infrastructure requirements
under various market scenarios anticipates a range of
investment in infrastructure over the next 20 years,
primarily to attach increased domestic natural gas
production from unconventional shale basins and tight
sands to the existing pipeline network. In total, the study
finds that US and Canada will need 28 900 - 61 600 miles
of additional natural gas pipelines through 2030. New
infrastructure is needed throughout the US and Canada
and not just to move natural gas across long distances
between regions.12
References
1. http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2014090201.asp
2. OGJ, 6 February, 2013, p. 98.
3. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Crude-Oil-Pipelines-Planned-for-the-
Future.html
4. https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch3en/conc3en/ch3c3en.html.
5. http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5870
6. http://marketrealist.com/2014/07/must-know-new-pipeline-projects-in-
bakken/
7. http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/
8. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-07/shale-boom-tested-as-sub-
90-oil-threatens-u-s-drillers.html
9. http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/uncertainty/pdf/mar14_uncertainty.pdf
10. http://www.crude-by-rail-destinations-2014.com/
11. http://www.iea.org/ieaenergy/issue6/rail-vs-pipelines-how-to-move-oil.html
12. http://www.pipelineandgasjournal.com/billions-needed-meet-long-term-
natural-gas-infrastructure-supply-demands
 A matter of

UALITYDifferent welding processes can be used to

join offshore umbilicals together. Patricia
Leroy, Polysoude, France, examines why the
use of automated TIG/GTAW welding is the
best choice when weld quality is a top priority.

I
n the field of offshore oil exploration, umbilical cables provide
vital links between the platform or FPSO units and the seabed
equipment. Understandably, these key components must offer
impeccable quality and flawless reliability.
Umbilical cables – or umbilicals – are assemblies consisting of
duplex, super-duplex or even hyper-duplex steel tubes,1 electric wiring
harnesses, hoses and fibre optic cables bundled together in a steel tube
with a protective polyethylene casing. The final outside diameter ranges
from 75 - 300 mm. Umbilicals supply the electrical and hydraulic power
required by the control functions of the wellhead, subsea wellhead
equipment and manifold. They are also used for injecting chemicals
designed to improve fluidity or eliminate the formation of scale and
hydrates in the production stream. Two-way communication or data

Figure 1. Spools of butt-welded umbilical cable tubing (photo

courtesy of Technip).2 29

Figure 2. Umbilical.
Figure 3. Umbilical cables provide vital links between the
platform or FPSO units and the seabed equipment.
transfer between several platforms and the subsea installations is
also conducted via umbilicals.
Numerous items of Polysoude equipment is used at the
various stages of umbilical construction, from the assembly of
tubes coiled on spools to the assembly of connectors joining the
umbilicals to the equipment. Once in position on the seabed,
especially in very deep water, they are practically impossible to
repair. Impeccable quality is therefore a crucial requirement and
the customer and manufacturer must have total confidence in the
manufacturing process.
30 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
Tube production
The process begins with the super-duplex tubing. A first method
consists in joining tubes at least 12 m in length and with an inside
diameter ranging from 1 in. (25.4 mm) to 3.5 in. (88.9 mm). Following
tube end preparation in the workshop, the tubes are butt
welded to form a several thousand metre-long pipe coiled on an
enormous spool.
To tackle this job, Polysoude proposes its MU range of
open-head orbital tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding equipment
with arc voltage control (AVC) and torch oscillation control (OSC)
to produce a flawless weld seam over the entire thickness. This
welding head is generally combined with a P6-type power source
and a wire feeder.
A PC 300 power source can be selected for particularly
demanding applications in terms of quality and productivity.
It must be emphasised that only the TIG (GTAW) process can
guarantee the integrity of the material by controlling the energy
input rate. Indeed, the high level of flexibility of the TIG process
lies in the fact that filler wire speed is independent of the welding
current. Obviously, qualification of the welding procedure must
meet quality requirements relating to the weld and continuity
in the mechanical and physical properties of the material used.
The parameters are therefore monitored by means of a data
acquisition unit, which records data in real time.
This manufacturing concept offers large flexibility through
independent installations for all phases of preparation.
A second method consists of a complete, fully automatic
machine integrating four operations: cutting, dressing/
bevelling, welding and polishing. The equipment is mounted on
a motor-powered trolley. Utilities and connection bundles are
conveyed via cable-carrier chains. The welding power source is
also mounted on the trolley transporting the welding head. This
automated configuration integrates all phases of tube assembly.
Umbilical construction
Once the various constituent tubes have been made, the umbilical
is bundled to gather the tubes, tube separators, electrical cables
and fibre optic cables together in a single strand.5 Each reel unrolls
its contents to the lay-up machine where the super duplex tubes
are spiralled around a larger centre tube, forming the interior of an
umbilical cable. Depending on the manufacturer, the bundles are
assembled either horizontally or vertically. The umbilical bundling
system can take up to a dozen of these large spools of stainless
steel piping, of various inside and outside diameters.2,3,4,5
The contents of the spools are fed to an assembly structure
where the super-duplex pipes are wound around a larger pipe
forming the core of the umbilical. The umbilical can then be
armoured, or pre-encased in a plastic sheath, before finally
undergoing an extrusion operation in which it is covered with a PE
sleeve. As various diameters of tubing are used in the construction
of umbilicals, the spools contain different lengths of tubing, which
means that they often have to be changed before the umbilical is
completed. The assembly operation is suspended while the empty
spool is replaced by a new one. A welder then steps in with a
Polysoude mobile orbital welding set to butt the new tube to the
end of the previous one.
Connecting umbilicals to the UTH Polysoude offshore welding solutions
Umbilicals are joined to an umbilical termination head (UTH) via Polysoude has been the TIG welding specialist since 1992.
connectors that are welded to the various constituent tubes of In 99% of applications relating to umbilical cable production, the
the umbilical. A Polysoude MU low profile head is used to make cold wire TIG process is used. However, it has been demonstrated
the joint. that a clear gain in terms of productivity and quality can be
At each stage of the manufacturing process, the Polysoude achieved with hot wire TIG installations, depending on the
orbital or automated TIG installation guarantees consistent quality diameter-to-thickness ratio. Indeed, as the energy input required
through use of the same type of equipment, from continuous to melt the wire is lower, the ferrite rate is also lower than is the
manufacturing of spooled tubing through to final umbilical case with cold wire technology.
construction and subsequent connection. Furthermore, all welding The materials used can also result in a number of constraints
procedures are transposable and ensure traceability. Polysoude that are all successfully handled by Polysoude. For example,
safeguards the methodology by harmonising welding procedure duplex and super-duplex steels can lose their mechanical and
development. physical properties as the ferrite content increases. The energy
level must therefore be kept as low as possible to ensure the
Why use TIG process?
It is the only arc welding process where
the arc can be controlled completely
independent from the addition of filler
metal. A flawless begin of a weld seam,
interruptions and continuations of a pass at
will, remelting of an already welded section,
tack welding and other ambitious operations
can be carried out in a perfect manner.
TIG welding allows achieving joints of an
unequalled quality level.
Furthermore, TIG welding has the other
following advantages:
)) All welding positions are possible.

)) No slag or fumes are developed during

welding.

)) The affecting weld parameters can be

adjusted in a wide range and mostly
independent one of each other.

)) The TIG welding can be carried out with

or without filler wire.

)) The arc voltage, which is directly related

to the arc length, and the weld current
intensity offer a wide range of variations
and can be controlled automatically.
Compared to manual TIG welding, the
mechanised or automatic process leads to TEN TIMES more pipe.
enhanced productivity. Repetitive work
in the shop or complicated assembly
jobs onsite – orbital welding equipment
HALF the man hours.
guarantees that approved weld sequences Lift materials faster, safer, smarter with Vacuworx Lifting Systems.
are reliably repeated, hence time-consuming For over 15 years Vacuworx has been manufacturing the safest, most economical lifting
repair work will be reduced to a minimum. equipment for heavy-duty pipe, plate, slab, concrete barriers, and HDD drill stem.
The orbital welding can be executed
• Faster load and unload cycles means less downtime for your workers.
even under harsh environmental
conditions as restricted space or access, • Wireless remote operation is safer than hooks, slings, or chains.
lack of visibility; once the welding head • Full inventory available for immediate purchase or rental.
is positioned properly, the weld can be
• Parts, service, and technical support available 24/7 365 days a year.
accomplished without problems.

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 lowest ferrite level. Polysoude equipment is fully compliant to
manage such requirements.
Hyper-duplex offers good weldability with a high level of
austenite reformation in the heat-affected zone. This produces
a weld seam with good hardness and excellent mechanical
and corrosion resistance. A specific filler wire is required to
guarantee optimum mechanical strength and corrosion resistance
properties. TIG welding is strongly recommended and the
welding procedure must include a heat input of 0.2 - 1 kJ/mm
and an interpass temperature not exceeding 100°C.1 Argon, either
pure or with a nitrogen or helium content, must be used as the
shielding gas. Pre-heating and post-heating are not necessary.

Conclusion
Offshore umbilicals are key components that must offer ‘zero
defects’ quality and complete reliability. Different welding
processes can be used to join offshore umbilicals together.
However when weld quality is a top priority, the use of
Figure 4. Mobile orbital welding set for spool interconnection (photo
courtesy of Nexans).1 automated TIG/GTAW welding processes is the best choice.
In all industrial sectors, but particularly in oil and gas
exploration and production, the environmental aspects and
related issues can no longer be ignored. Efforts to increase the
productivity of automated TIG/GTAW welding have been
successful. Circumferential welds of an unexpectedly high
quality can now be realised at an affordable price. Polysoude has
become the orbital welding specialist thanks to the results of
operational feedback that it has gained from customers over the
past 50 years. Polysoude is always prepared to study a project
to provide a response to an identified technical requirement.

Figure 5. Umbilical cable joined by orbital welding to the Termination
Head (photo courtesy of Nexans).1
References
1. Sandvik: Umbilical tubing in Super-Duplex and Hyper-Duplex steel - Sandvik
Materials Technology.
2. Nexans Norway AS: Polysoude interview in 2010 with Truls Nordahl, Welding
Manager, Halden (Norway) and photographs.
3. Technip : photograph and information extracted from their website http://www.
technip.com/fr/activite/subsea/ombilicaux and article published in L’Usine
Nouvelle on 29 May 2014 http://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/a-newcastle-
technip-fait-basculer-son-outil-productif-dans-une-nouvelle-dimension.N264522
4. Aker Solutions: photographs and information taken from their website http://
www.akersolutions.com/en/Global-menu/Products-and-Services/Subsea-
technologies-and-services/Subsea-production-systems-and-technologies/
Umbilicals-and-power-cables/
5. Oceaneering: information taken from their video http://www.oceaneering.com/
oceanmedia/subseaproducts/multiflex-pc-fullvideo.html

Figure 6. Cold wire TIG welding principle. Figure 7. Hot wire TIG welding principle.

32 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015

 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Dedication

Booth No 2441-C
Innovation
Integrity

Offshore Onshore Spoolbase Custom Coating

Field Joint Coating and Custom Coating Services

Pipeline Induction Heat provide specialist field joint
coating services at onshore and offshore locations
around the world, using of state-of-the-art equipment
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Carbon Fiber Composite Reinforcement System

Typical Applications
Offshore
Transmission and distribution pipelines
Oil and gas risers
Mechanical dents and defects
Girth welds on vessels and pipelines

Water-activated polyurethane resin reduces composite preparation time by over 50%

Installation in wet, rainy, or submerged environments ensures ease of application
Full factory engineering consultation support,ensuring safe and successful repairs
Welcome to World Pipelines’
annual Offshore Technology
Review. Catch-up on a
year’s worth of international
offshore oil and gas activity
before the whole sector
meets at OTC
(4 - 7 May, Houston).

OFFSHORE
Technology Review

33
 34 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
AVEVA Solutions 
UK
AVEVA Solutions is the leading supplier of engineering,
design and information management software to
the world’s offshore industry. Its 3D design solution,
AVEVA PDMS™, has long been the industry’s de facto
standard; today its users are rapidly upgrading to AVEVA
Everything3D™ (AVEVA E3D™), the most powerful and
advanced 3D solution of its type. Not only is AVEVA
E3D completely compatible with AVEVA PDMS – they
can be used side by side on the same project – it also
integrates laser survey data with 3D modelling in the
same design environment, enabling in-service revamp
projects to be carried out more quickly and with
minimum risk.
Uniquely, AVEVA offers not only the most
comprehensive, self-integrating range of applications for
the plant industries, but also the industry leading solution
for shipbuilding, AVEVA Marine™. Both integrate closely,
enabling floating offshore assets to be designed and built
using a common solution set. This is of particular value
on projects such as FPSOs and FLNG vessels, where hull,
tower and topsides are each designed by specialist project
partners and must be tightly integrated to eliminate costly
design clashes. AVEVA Enterprise Resource Management™
complements these solutions by drawing on the data
they generate to enable efficient project and business
management.
While AVEVA’s engineering and design technologies
are used to achieve the most rapid deployment of
offshore production assets, its information management
Figure 1. The AVEVA digital asset diagram.
technologies then enable their most efficient operation
and lifecycle management. The AVEVA WorkMate
EAM solution is used by offshore operators, including
Salamander Energy, for managing assets in challenging
locations around the world.
It is the ability of AVEVA’s solutions to share common
data assets that enables AVEVA to pioneer the digital
asset approach to the creation, management and use of a
physical asset’s digital information. The company’s vision
is that every physical asset should have a corresponding
digital asset – an information counterpart that continuously
represents the true current state of the physical asset
throughout its entire lifecycle. Typically, project and
operational information is fragmented, incomplete,
inaccessible, siloed in incompatible source systems,
or of uncertain reliability. AVEVA’s unique information
management technologies enable all information assets, of
whatever type or from whatever source, to be aggregated,
validated and made readily accessible across the enterprise
as a coherent digital asset.
The digital asset approach enables information to be
captured from the earliest stages of a project. It supports
efficient project execution, a progressive handover of
information from the EPC to the operator, and efficient
asset lifecycle management.
AVEVA Solutions Ltd is a global, FTSE 250 company
headquartered in Cambridge, UK. It has sales, support and
development offices in 40 countries around the world.
Offshore industry 2015 prediction
Bill Muldoon, AVEVA’s SVP of Global Sales,
OO, said, “There is no doubt that AVEVA is
today the number one technology provider to
the capital engineering industries. For several
decades we have worked in partnership with the
leading players in the offshore industry, enabling them to
continually set new standards for deepwater exploration
and production. While growth in the global economy
may remain uncertain for the coming year, both AVEVA
and our customers continue to invest heavily in new
technologies and projects for the long-term future of the
energy industry. Together we will continue to take on
new and ever-more complex challenges.”
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 36 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

ClampOn ASNorway, booth 5031

ClampOn has seen an increase in rental jobs for subsea )) Vibration on subsea flowlines.
vibration monitoring, subsea leak monitoring and well
collision detection during 2014. Besides supplying sand )) Vibration from chemical injections.
monitoring instruments, pig detection instruments and
Pig detectors
corrosion-erosion monitors, it continues to set the pace
Sales of ClampOn’s pig detectors increased during 2014, due
with new developments on existing systems.
to operators’ sharpened focus on safety. The company finds
Development of unique technology for 3D integrity
that non-intrusive instrumentation is preferred to avoid
monitoring of subsea pipes makes the ClampOn
generating potential leak points, as you might get using
Subsea CEM® (Corrosion-Erosion Monitor) even more
intrusive probes. Pigging is part of day-to-day operations
advantageous. Not only does the Subsea CEM provide
on many offshore and onshore installations and operators
direct measurement of ongoing corrosion and erosion, but
require a reliable method of confirming the pig leaving the
now also offers highly accurate high resolution 3D imaging
pig launcher and arriving at the receiver. ClampOn has now
of subsea pipes, securing pipeline integrity. Tomography
developed and implemented a solution for magnetic pig
has never before been used as part of fixed subsea systems
detection in its sensors, which supplements its already tried
to monitor wall thickness loss in pipes. The R&D team at
and tested acoustic detection technology.
ClampOn has worked in parallel to develop and implement
more technology in the system, which will provide high
resolution 3D data on the area being monitored. Growing
numbers of ageing subsea installations increases the need Offshore industry 2015 prediction
for good retrofit solutions that can monitor the integrity of Dag A. Aldal, President of ClampOn, said: “As
the pipes. we speak the oil price is fluctuating between
US$45 and US$50 per barrel – engineering
Field case vibration monitoring companies and suppliers do their best to cut
ClampOn recently completed a job measuring vibration costs and people are losing their jobs. Oil is
flowing to the market in volumes we have not
on a subsea template installed at a depth of 330 m. The
seen before – and break-even is the most used word
operator had to close down production from a subsea well
in the industry at the moment. Still, we believe that
due to suspected vibration and needed urgent assistance to
investment in technology, such as that described in
measure and confirm the actual vibration level. this entry, is one of the answers to the challenges the
ClampOn was contacted and mobilised within two industry is facing. ClampOn will continue to develop
days from first contact. During this short time ClampOn and deliver the best instruments available in the oil and
were able to test, prepare and ship a complete vibration gas industry.”
measuring system with two vibration monitors, a specially
adapted retrofit clamp, a 500 m reel of cable, an ROV basket
and a PC with ClampOn vibration monitoring software. Two
experienced ClampOn Service Engineers were mobilised
and met the support vessel at the docks, where all the
equipment was loaded. Once offshore, the ClampOn
vibration monitors were deployed and installed by ROV
and connected to the ClampOn PC with software topside
onboard the vessel. Data was gathered and sent in real-
time to ClampOn’s file server, from which the operator’s
own vibration experts downloaded the data for further
processing and analysis. The vibration test was completed
and the operator received confirmation that vibration on
the subsea module was outside acceptable levels.
ClampOn’s Service Department has the equipment,
people and expertise to measure vibration, sand production
and leakages and is ready to mobilise for topside and
subsea jobs at short notice.
For vibration jobs, this typically means determining
whether or not vibrations are within acceptable levels.
Other typical subsea vibration jobs performed include:
)) Vibration on large subsea flapper valves. Figure 1. ClampOn Subsea Vibration Monitor rental kit.
 DESIGN BUILD CONNECT
Jan De Nul Group offers specialized services for the installation of subsea
structures for oil, gas and renewable energy industries. They comprise
seabed preparation, trenching, stabilization and ballasting and can be related
to subsea pipelines, cables, umbilicals, foundations or platforms. In addition,
Jan De Nul Group also installs cables and umbilicals for these three offshore
industries. These types of services are offered on an EPC basis and are
always tailor-made to the client’s specific wishes.

www.jandenul.com follow us on
 38 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

CRC-EvansUSA, booth 2441

For years, CRC-Evans has proven that its combination of an Kizomba Offshore Deepwater Project in Angola, the Kaombo
experienced offshore contracting team and trusted product Ultra-Deep Offshore Project and the Lianzi Oil Field in the
portfolio translates into true leadership within the pipeline Republic of Congo. CRC-Evans will continue to expand upon its
industry. Today, in addition to offering the world’s most advanced business in the Gulf of Mexico, with projects involving Murphy
offshore pipeline construction technology, CRC-Evans offers the Oil at the Dalmation oilfields, Shell at the Coulomb field, Hess’
expertise of a highly experienced team of offshore and spoolbase Stampede Project and Deep Gulf Energy’s Kodiak Project.
specialists trained to directly support automatic welding,
inspection and specialist field joint coating operations, as well as a
full staff of offshore-qualified management to lead this dedicated
team. Offshore industry 2015 prediction
CRC-Evans has engineered its offshore pipeline construction “CRC-Evans’ offshore sector will continue to
technologies to address the enormous logistical and financial push the existing technical boundaries to exploit
challenges that come with offshore operations. Among the many obtainable and fresh resources and shape how
automatic welding innovations are tandem-wire and dual-torch they are delivered to the consumer. The selection
technologies for faster welding, through-the-arc tracking for more and use of materials will become most critical for
accurate welds and digital-to-digital programming, onboard data deepwater applications and will increase attention
collection, laser inspection and touch-screen control to reduce to research and development attention.” – Colin Speedie,
errors and downtime. Light, ergonomic equipment designs allow Regional Manager, Americas Offshore, CRC-Evans.
easier handling in limited spaces.
Pipeline Induction Heat Ltd., the specialist field joint coating
division of CRC-Evans, has an extensive track record in the
offshore and spoolbase industry throughout the world with
all of the major offshore contractors. Application systems
and procedures have been developed to meet the changing
requirements from within the industry with the emphasis on HSE,
production, automation and cost.
CRC-Evans inspection group is known as Stanley Inspection
and is a market-leading asset integrity services provider to the
global energy industry. Service offerings include automated
ultrasonic testing (AUT), radiography and many other inspection
methods for pipelines, petrochemical plants and industrial
facilities. Now, with one company integrating your welding,
inspection and coating services, CRC-Evans makes the job easier
for you. Using one supplier instead of three means quality work,
faster development, smoother production and better customer
Figure 1. The ‘Spacer’ aligns the pipe ends before welding.
service.
In 2014 alone, CRC-Evans’ field joint coatings revenue stream
has produced record numbers in the Gulf of Mexico with
the execution of larger projects with Shell at the Stones field
development, with ExxonMobil at the Julia oilfield, with BP at
the Thunder Horse oilfield and with Noble Energy at Big Bend
and Gunflint. CRC-Evans’ technology investments for injection
moulded and tape wrap polypropylene continue to grow as the
organisation makes strides toward projects in deeper water and
higher elevation environments.
CRC-Evans’ welding business is also on the rise with CRA-
related projects, as is the case with BP at the Thunder Horse
oilfield, with continued support for multiple spoolbase and vessel
projects, such as with LLOG at the Who Dat oil and gas field
in the Gulf of Mexico and with Stone Energy at the deepwater
Cardona well in Mississippi Canyon 29.
2015 promises to be another significant year for CRC-Evans,
Figure 2. First fill station deposits the hot pass and first fill.
with substantial welding and coating activities for Block 15 of the
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Figure 3. The capping station

deposits the final pass
finishing the weld.
 40 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

Deepwater Corrosion
ServicesUSA, booth 4305
Deepwater Corrosion Services provides corrosion control Other services offered by the company include corrosion
for energy industry offshore structures worldwide, including engineering and inspection, as well as cathodic protection
pipelines, platforms, FPSOs, wind farms and anything else design, consulting, failure analysis and predictive computer
requiring expertise in cathodic protection and offshore modelling of CP systems.
engineering. This past year, Deepwater Corrosion Services continued
The company has developed innovative anode systems its worldwide expansion and opened offices in Australia and
designed primarily to ensure reliable protection while making Brazil, giving the company a presence in almost all of the
installation substantially faster and easier. major energy markets. Of course, the recent dip in oil prices
Deepwater Corrosion Services recently supplied a caught its attention, but the company expects that demand
galvanic anode system for a 36 in. North Sea pipeline where for its business will continue to grow. The world will always
the protection at either end was failing. The crew installed need its energy infrastructure, and what the company offers
Retromats, which are concrete stabilisation mattresses with keeps its clients way ahead in corrosion control.
anode arrays cast inside, to give 15 years of protection to
12 km of pipeline at a depth of about 300 ft.
Another client recently needed 45 years of cathodic
protection and monitoring on two dozen well head Offshore industry 2015 prediction
permanent guide bases in 3000 ft of seawater. To do this, “Working in the offshore industry today, we
Deepwater Corrosion Services provided large galvanic anode have a clear divide between brownfield and
sleds that also included monitoring panels that can be read greenfield, the old and the young. Many of our
by camera whenever ROVs are used in the area. The anodes real challenges as integrity managers fall in the
rest on the bottom near the guide bases and are electrically brownfield sector, which are still critical assets
attached using constant tension clamps and subsea cable. despite being way past their original design
Future subsea equipment can be protected and monitored life. We have to work with tighter budgets in an increasingly
using a set of extra clamps, which allow for future expansion regulated space while always maintaining safety as the
of the field without the need for an additional CP sled install. number one priority. Tough challenges require a complete
A huge benefit from these systems is the quick installation, rethink of “it’s the way we have always done it”. Only the
which is normally done without using divers. The overall companies who are able to think outside of the box will
costs can be just a third of traditional anode replacement prosper in this market sector going forward.” – Jim Britton,
by substantially reducing vessel time requirements. Another President/CEO, Deepwater Corrosion Services.
benefit is the ability to monitor the CP of a few dozen
installation points from a single location, eliminating the need
to navigate the field with an ROV and further eliminating
the need for a contact probe. Deepwater Corrosion Services’
patented Sunstation technology allows the monitoring system
to function throughout the lifetime of the CP system without
the need for replacing a battery system that will not survive
even 10 years.
Pipeline cathodic protection is particularly difficult to
monitor, since there is no above-water structure on which to
mount an inspection panel. The company can install panels on
the sea floor as described above, or it can use probes affixed
to ROVs to take readings. A system it recently developed
uses a contact probe to take readings at specific points, and
the results are visible on a readout recorded by the ROV’s
camera. Plus, the information is fed through the umbilical to
your computer via an analogue-to-digital converter, where the
data is automatically compiled and optionally loaded into the Figure 1. A Retromat anode array is shown during assembly.
cloud for easy access and trending. Anodes to protect a North Sea pipeline are placed in the
moulds before the concrete is poured.
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Figure 2. One of the

Retropod XL anode sleds
that will protect twenty
four PGBs is lowered
3000 ft to the sea floor.

Figure 3. Solar panels take the place of

batteries on the Sunstation readouts. The
displays power up when an ROV shines
its lights on the panel.
 42 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
FoundOcean, Inc.
USA, booth 1963
Throughout almost 50 years in the oil and gas industry,
FoundOcean has continued to demonstrate its
commitment to technical expertise and innovation,
with a continual emphasis on providing the client
with the best solution for their project needs. This
drive to create innovative solutions to meet market
requirements has led to growth in new regions, including
expansion into the Americas, with FoundOcean opening
its Houston office in 2013.
Prior to this, FoundOcean had already begun to
develop a track record in the region; in 2011, for instance,
it completed repair operations on a pipeline in the Gulf
of Mexico at a depth of 750 m, after the 18 in. pipeline
was damaged by a vessel dragging its anchor along the
Figure 1. Gulf of Mexico deep water pipeline repair.
seabed during adverse weather conditions. To repair
the weakened area, a two-stage solution involving the
installation of a repair clamp and a fabric formwork
was used. A steel clamp was utilised to add strength to
the pipeline and prevent any further damage; a fabric
formwork was then installed to provide support to
the pipeline due to the additional weight of the repair
clamp. Repair clamps (also known as repair sleeves) are a
common method of repairing pipelines, getting them back
up to full operating pressure without having to replace
sections of the damaged asset. The most common reasons
for repair that have been observed by FoundOcean
include fatigue, as well as impact damage from dropped
objects, dragged vessel anchors or trawl boards.
 44 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
Pipeline repair and rehabilitation is an area in
which FoundOcean boasts extensive expertise. A
pipeline may require rehabilitation for a number of
reasons; including pipeline freespans, which may
occur during installation due to seabed topography
or as a result of seabed scour. In either case, if
not corrected, freespans can cause a multitude
of problems that may affect a pipeline’s lifespan.
Moreover, as more subsea pipelines are installed
Figure 2. Ambico FoundOcean manufactured fabric formwork.
Figure 3. ROV deployed freespan support.
we can expect to see the frequency of pipeline
crossovers increase. Over time, these crossed
pipelines are subject to forces that can cause them to
distort and depending on the level of distortion, to
snap, crack, or even result in hogging where the pipe
could bend upwards. When problems of this nature
are seen, a rehabilitation procedure is needed before
the pipeline suffers catastrophic failure. In either
case, FoundOcean’s fabric formworks can provide a
superior method of rehabilitation,
offering support and protection for
vulnerable pipelines.
Fabric formworks also play
their part during a pipeline’s
construction, particularly around
valve, flange and elbow protection
and pipeline cross-overs, where
they provide a more robust
and safer solution compared to
the conventional approach of
installing a construct of concrete
mattresses and multiple grout
bags. The monobloc property of
an engineered fabric formwork
mitigates the risks of damage to
both the new pipeline and injury to
the diver during its installation, as
well as it providing a more stable
and designed solution that cannot
collapse in high current or shallow
water environments.
Offshore industry
2015 prediction
With new pipelines
currently being planned
at over 3000 m in
depth, it is evident
that projects in deeper waters are
set to increase, posing additional
challenges for FoundOcean when
compared to shallower installations
and repairs. With this in mind,
FoundOcean continues to invest in
research and development projects
to be able to provide fast, efficient
and above all safe procedures,
allowing for successful completion
of deeper water projects.
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 46 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
HydratightUK, booth 4501
The offshore market continues to be a major industry
for Hydratight globally, and the bolted joint specialists
have a vast range of products and services that serve this
huge industry and its many submarkets, from upstream
to downstream, offshore to onshore, and topside to
subsea. From the construction of an asset to its final
decommissioning, Hydratight provides joint integrity
solutions at every stage of the lifecycle of an oil and gas
facility.
With subsea exploration venturing ever deeper,
Hydratight’s unrivalled experience in subsea connectors and
tensioners, and industry-leading pipeline repair systems,
ensures it is perfectly placed to support clients’ initiatives
in deepwater fields across the globe.
As oil and gas production extends ever deeper, new
challenges are emerging. Hydratight has been a pioneer
in this field, meeting the growing requirement for
remote activation of bolted applications, by introducing
increasingly innovative solutions to the offshore industry.
Hydratight has a strong brand with respect to mechanical
connectors, remote bolting, quick release nuts and multi-
stud tensioners.
As a forward-thinking provider of premium subsea
solutions, Hydratight has been a leading provider of
emergency pipeline repair system (EPRS) coverage since the
late 1980s. EPRS is the process of deciding on an emergency
repair procedure and retaining the necessary tooling,
equipment and services to cope with unplanned repairs,
minimising the resultant damage to the environment and
field operation.
Figure 1. Subsea diver installed flange adaptors prior to
installation.
“2014 was a very active year for our subsea business
and despite the drop in oil prices, 2015 is still looking
to be strong,” said James Rowley, Global Subsea Market
Development Manager for Hydratight. “Our most
interesting projects are those where the challenges of
the industry are brought to our door. We have developed
solutions to enable pipeline repairs to be conducted
despite the technical challenges, including:
)) Super duplex risers.
)) Extremely high CO2 concentrations in well fluids.
)) High pressures.
)) High temperature and thermal cycles.
)) Deepwater pipeline.
“We’ve seen a growing trend globally for EPRS products
and services, and have championed the development
of EPRS globally. Major operators are no longer just
considering the storage of long lead items, but are now
investigating, developing and investing in the supporting
ancillary equipment to perform repairs should an
emergency occur. This includes considerable investment in
pipeline handling, lifting, cutting and preparation tooling.”
As the scope of EPRS grows, so does the requirement
for formalised framework agreements to address the
storage and maintenance of these systems, after all, there is
no point in developing an EPRS strategy if the equipment is
not fit for purpose should it ever be required.
Hydratight’s track record with deepwater
pipeline repairs is considerable having provided
all remote connectors for the Norwegian based
pipeline repair system (PRS), however, in 2015 this
track record is due to be significantly extended
as Hydratight delivers, tests and mobilises 4 in.
remote operated connectors to repair a vertical
riser in 1300 m water depth, off the west coast of
Africa.
Offshore industry 2015
prediction
With the industry constantly
pushing into deeper water and
the existing subsea infrastructure
aging, there will continue to be
a significant demand for pipeline repair/
tie-in projects.
 MORE
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 48 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
Jan De Nul Group
Luxembourg
Services for the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy industries
are a key part of the services provided by Jan De Nul Group and
are playing an ever increasing role.
Seabed intervention
For more than 60 years, Jan De Nul Group has executed
international dredging projects from start to finish, making it
the ideal partner to execute offshore dredging services for
the oil and gas industry. Excavating trenches for submarine
pipelines, backfilling trenches to protect pipelines, dredging
subsea excavations for wellhead protection, and realising shore
approaches, including possible installation of a cofferdam and
pipe pulling, are not holding any secrets for the group.
To execute these dredging services, the group can rely on
28 trailing suction hopper dredgers with a hopper capacity
varying from 2320 - 46 000 m³. These types of dredgers use a
dynamic tracking system that allows the drag head to follow
a predefined trench at low tolerances, resulting in minimum
quantities being trenched at a lesser cost. The hoppers are able
to dredge up to 155 m deep. For backfilling of trenches with sand
and gravel, the dredge pipe can be used as a fall pipe.
To tackle the hardest and most difficult soil conditions during
shore approach dredging, Jan De Nul Group can rely on 14 cutter
suction dredgers with a total installed diesel power varying up to
27 240 kW.
The suitable equipment will be selected or can be adapted to
meet the client’s demands.
Case study: Vega Pleyade project
In Argentina, Jan De Nul Group executed the Vega Pleyade
project for which a 9 km trench needed to be dredged. Two
trailing suction hopper dredgers and the Starfish were mobilised
for this task. The soil to be dredged was very stiff to hard clay
and contained numerous boulders. To remove the boulders from
the pipeline route, a drag net was designed that could be fitted
below the drag head. In view of the remote offshore location
at 160 nautical miles from the nearest port this system had to
Figure 1. Umbilical installation equipment on the aft deck of
Jan De Nul Group’s fall pipe vessel Simon Stevin.
be designed as such that it could be mounted without crane
support. To tackle the hard clay, one of the drag heads was
equipped with large ripper teeth to break up the soil. The soil
investigation also indicated the presence of a small percentage
of rock material that may not be able to dredge by trailing
suction hopper dredger. In order to avoid mobilisation of other
equipment, Jan De Nul Group designed and built a special dredge
head for one of the hoppers. This dredge head was equipped
with a hydraulically operated milling drum, however the use of
this in-house designed tool turned out to be unnecessary. Next
to the trench and a beach crossing of 200 m through a 10 m
higher cliff, the scope also included the installation of 1.2 km of
cable. After connecting the cable to the client’s installed pipeline,
the 24 in. pipeline, including 4 in. piggy back line had to be pulled
inshore from a 1200 m offshore location. For this purpose, Jan
De Nul Group installed a pull wire to the connection point with
the pipeline from where it was pulled in to the shore by a 500 t
linear winch. In order to limit sedimentation during the pulling
operation sedimentation basin was made both offshore as in the
tidal beach section.
Subsea rock installation
The group operates DP2 fall pipe vessels, of which two are the
largest in the world and able of installing 32 000 t of rock in
water depths up to 2000 m. The vessels are able to install rocks
precisely, within a tolerance of only a few centimetres. With
the positioning of the vessels, one remaining in the western
hemisphere and the other one in the eastern hemisphere, Jan De
Nul Group can offer considerable savings on mobilisation costs
to its clients.
The group also disposes of DP vessels able to install rocks
using an inclined fall pipe, making it possible to reach areas
beneath the structures.
Case study: Wheatstone field
In Australia, a new offshore platform will be installed in the
Wheatstone field. The platform will consist of a steel gravity
structure (SGS) as the foundation and topsides. Jan De Nul
Group was awarded the foundation works of the SGS. The
scope consists of three main activities: rock blanket installation,
solid ballast installation of the four pods of the SGS and scour
protection installation along the pods. For each activity specific
equipment and tools have been designed and fabricated. But all
works were carried out by one vessel only, the fall pipe vessel
Joseph Plateau.
With floor dimensions of 104.4 m and 76.5 m and a height
of approximately 100 m the seabed needed to be perfectly
flat to guarantee the stability. Therefore, a rock blanket of
approximately 1 m thickness was installed by Joseph Plateau.
Strict tolerances were enforced during this installation work
varying from 5 - 10 cm. To achieve these tolerances, two different
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

levelling tools were designed and constructed by Jan De Nul

Group: a subsea levelling tool and a sweep beam attached to Figure 2. The multipurpose
the heave compensated ROV. vessel Willem de Vlamingh
equipped with a 5400 t
On top of the deck of the SGS, an extra hang-off platform
turntable to install subsea
was installed especially for the solid ballasting scope. Jan De cables.
Nul Group engineered a system that is fully integrated in this
platform to make the connection between the ballasting units
on board of Joseph Plateau, and the ballast compartments
of the SGS. Internal compartments, stiffeners and girders in
the SGS pods hinder the ballasting process. To select the
appropriate solid ballasting material several model tests, one
on scale 1/6, were carried out to define the maximum filling
degree. To pump the solid ballast into the pods of the SGS,
Jan De Nul Group’s mixing and pumping plant was installed
on the aft deck of Joseph Plateau. The use of these kinds of
plants at an offshore location is of course critical. To confirm
the compatibility of the ballast material and the pumping and
mixing unit, a full scale test has been carried out.
To protect the J-tubes against erosion concrete
mattresses were installed. To execute this task an AHC-crane
was bought and installed on board of the Fall Pipe Vessel.
This heave compensated offshore crane is ideal for such
installation services and can also be installed onboard of
other vessels.

Offshore industry 2015 prediction

Quote Noël Pille, Offshore Director Jan De Nul
Group, said: “Clients are increasingly seeking
an overall solution of their projects with an Figure 3. The vessel Tiger
integrated approach of design and execution. equipped with an inclined fall
Jan De Nul Group recognised this and offers pipe to reach areas beneath or
between offshore structure.
clients a complete process for their projects.
The Group has completed has completed many prestigious
projects of worldwide fame and is ready to work with
clients to deliver future international mega projects.”
 50 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
Land & MarineUK, booth 2541
Land & Marine, a wholly owned subsidiary of J. Murphy &
Sons Limited, has a growing international order book for
offshore projects. In Montevideo, Uruguay, the company
will be conducting a 3 km, 20 in. submarine pipe pull for
Constructora OAS SA as part of the GNL Del Plata project.
Installation engineering, carried out from its UK office,
included the design of a pipeline end manifold (PLEM)
that was incorporated into the towhead. The pipeline will
be assembled from strings fabricated onshore and a fibre
optic cable will be strapped to the line, protection will
then be added and the pipeline bottom-pulled, tested
and tied-in to an offshore terminal constructed for what
will be the world’s largest LNG floating storage and
regasification unit (FSRU). Land & Marine is providing the
hydrotesting services for the offshore pipeline.
The company will also be involved with the installation
and hyrotesting of twin 20 in. offloading pipelines
and PLEM from a tank farm in Luanda, Angola. The
new pipelines and CBM buoy will facilitate the use of
250 000 dwt tankers. Land & Marine is delighted to be
supporting Project Management International (PMI) and
its client Puma Energy for this and a number of other
international projects in 2015 and 2016.
In Canada, Land & Marine was recently contracted to
manage the removal and replacement of a subsea PLEM.
Working in the region with the highest tidal rise and fall
in the world, the company’s team was integrated into
the client’s project team to manage divers, crew vessels,
tugs, barge and the hydrotesting to successfully complete
operations over a 36 day period.
Figure 1. Launch-way construction in preparation for the
landfall works at Montevideo in Uruguay.
Twin 9 km, 48 in. sea lines will be required for the
new Jazan refinery on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia
and Land & Marine is supporting Six Construct Co. Ltd by
providing installation engineering and pulling equipment
for this complex project. Expected to be one of the
largest offshore bottom-pull projects ever completed, the
work is challenging as the mainly unburied pipelines are
designed to be stable, when empty, in both the temporary
installation and in-service conditions.
Land & Marine is a specialist landfall and pipe pulling
and towing contractor. The company also undertakes
the installation of submarine pipelines for terminals,
refineries, desalination plants and cooling water intake
lines for power stations. It also carries out landfalls for
subsea power cables. With a comprehensive range of
pipe handling equipment, such as rollers and rail bogies,
and with a large fleet of linear winches with up to
800 t capacity, the company can also provide equipment
for hire. Land & Marine has recently added two new state-
of-the art linear winches to its fleet. These modular units
are designed as universal winches to meet a complete
range of pulling capacities from 300 t up to 800 t. Land
& Marine’s highly innovative design allows socket passing
under load with the minimum of manual intervention and
utilises advanced hydraulic controls with PLC systems
and data logging to provide load sensitive control,
comprehensive data displays and load trend reporting.
Offshore industry 2015 prediction
Andrew Ball, Managing Director of Land &
Marine commented: “We are delighted to be
investing in major new equipment which will
add significantly to our capabilities. In addition
to the new winches, we are also investing in
a range of new marine plant. Land & Marine is
a renowned pipe pulling contractor with over six decades
of international experience and a brand synonymous with
excellence in landfalls, outfalls, intakes, bundles and pipe
towing. The company has always been innovative to meet
the challenges of offshore pipeline installation and looking
ahead we intend to be even more resourceful to keep Land
& Marine at the forefront of our market sector. We will
continue to seek opportunities around the world to install
new pipelines and replace ageing infrastructure that will
invariably need our considerable experience and expertise.”
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Figure 2. Pile
gate, pile and
anchor chain

Figure 3. Subsea pile

and anchor chain
installation for Single
Point Mooring in
Canada.
 52 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

NRIUSA, booth 8305

For more than three decades, NRI has
manufactured moisture-curable carbon
fibre, fibreglass, Kevlar® and other
aramid composite solutions, to retrofit
and reinforce defects and anomalies in
pipes, pipelines and structures to original
specifications, helping clients restore and
protect degrading or failing assets.
The company’s dedicated engineering
team is on the cutting-edge of research
and development, formulating, testing
and designing tomorrow’s new product
breakthroughs in quality composites.
NRI is committed to providing these
patented infrastructure-restoring
composite solutions with the utmost in
quality, reliability, durability, integrity
and affordability to all of its clients. By
providing custom engineering solutions
in the field, NRI can repair and reinforce Figure 1. NRI’s composite repair systems protect vulnerable steel pipes in the
pipe, pipelines, or structures while they harsh offshore environment.
remain operational – saving clients
millions of dollars in costs and lost
revenues.
NRI’s oil and gas upstream activities
include the following services provided to
both onshore and offshore markets:
)) Pipeline repair: NRI provides custom-
engineered composite-based systems
using either fibreglass or carbon
fibres to repair and reinforce both
external and internal wall loss due to
corrosion.

)) Corrosion-resistant coating system:

NRI provides corrosion protection in
atmospheric offshore, splash zone and
immersion environments, including
piping, tie rods, pilings and concrete.
The coating system is resistant to
temperature extremes and is easy-to-
apply.

)) Marine damage control: NRI provides

emergency repair solutions. In
the offshore market these include
emergency repairs that occur in port
or on the water.

)) Fireproofing: Composites can be used

and specified in areas requiring fire Figure 2. In splash zones and in immersion, NRI’s corrosion-resistant coating
protection. system withstands temperature and environmental extremes.
FACTORY GRADE
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FIELD-APPLIED COATING SYSTEMS FOR

3LPE, 3LPP AND FBE COATED PIPELINES
Intelli™
Automation Technology

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Canusa-CPS provides the world’s leading Factory Grade™

field-applied coating systems for 3LPE, 3LPP and FBE
coated pipelines. Our GTS-PE, GTS-PP, and HBE coating
technologies deliver truly consistent end-to-end pipeline coating
performance. Combine GTS-PE or GTS-PP with our patented
IntelliCOAT™ system for a fully automated coating application.

Visit us at OTC, Booth 3355 canusa.com

 54 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

In 2014, NRI’s work in the oil and gas upstream
market segment included:
)) Deepwater work, including steel pipes, as well as
work in dry dock, including tidal concrete columns
in Mexico.
)) Deepwater work, including steel pipes in Brazil.
)) Deepwater work, including splash zones and in
immersion in Trinidad.
the Gulf of Thailand. The system was installed to
arrest extreme external pipe corrosion – up to 71%
wall loss in some areas. When checked in 2014, not
only was the line still operating at full capacity,
but also when the composite was removed and
the line re-inspected, no additional corrosion was
sighted, even after five years of offshore exposure.
(For the complete article see World Pipelines
Coatings & Corrosion 2014, ‘More than just a quick
fix’, by Matt Green.)

)) A five year test on a composite repair system that In 2015, NRI’s work in the oil and gas upstream
was installed in 2009 on an offshore platform in market will continue in the same market segments.

Offshore industry
2015 prediction
“The industry continues
to move toward
improvements in
technology and safety
and has seen continued
growth, as uptime
has been a premium,” says Chris
Lazzara, President and Chief
Operating Officer of NRI. He
continues, “2014 was a great year
in the industry and investments
in new equipment, as well as the
increased focus on preventative
maintenance, have helped improve
uptime on some of the world’s
ageing offshore assets.”
Looking to the near future
for 2015, Lazzara states that
“with oil prices where they are,
there are challenges ahead, but
efficiency and maintenance will
always be a focus. Some of the
biggest challenges we see involve
maintaining current and aging
assets to keep them operating
efficiently and safely, as well as
the continued costs associated
with the drilling of deeper and
deeper wells, but ultimately it all
brings efficiency and innovation to
the marketplace.” Efficiency and
innovation happen to be two of
NRI’s core values. With facilities
in Riviera Beach, Florida; Houston,
Texas; and Krakow, Poland,
and sales offices in Vancouver,
Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma;
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Miri,
Malaysia, NRI has the experience
and the reach to provide innovative
Figure 3. NRI provides emergency repair solutions for both onshore and offshore composite solutions to the world’s
environments. These custom-engineered solutions can repair or reinforce
offshore industry.
structures or pipes while they remain operational.
Serimax, at the cutting
edge of welding technology
for over 40 years.
With our technologically advanced welding solutions we take
welding from an art to a science. Offering fit-for-purpose
equipment and providing experts that manage turnkey projects,
our goal is to create and deliver innovative and high-performance
solutions to ensure your success.

SERIMAX. TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS FOR TODAY'S CHALLENGES

WWW.SERIMAX.COM
 56 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015

Online Electronics
GroupUK, booth 1963/12
Online Electronics Ltd is the parent company of
an international group of business units, Online
Electronics Group, engaged in the pipeline sector of
the global energy industry. OEL designs, manufactures
and distributes a range of products and systems
employed during pipeline pig monitoring, pipeline data
communication and logging operations.
OEL combines acoustic, electromagnetic, magnetic
and ultrasonic technologies to produce innovative and
flexible solutions. Its range of services enables locating
and monitoring, signalling, pressure/temperature data
logging, through pipe wall communications, gauge plate
condition monitoring systems, subsea voltage detection,
subsea leak detection, MEG analysis and bespoke design
projects for the oil and gas industry.
OEL’s business units include US subsidiary, Online
Pipeline Solutions Inc. (OPS) Houston, Texas, servicing
the requirements of clients across North America and
Gulf of Mexico; Online Electronics Asia Pacific PTE
(OEAP), Singapore, and further offices in Dubai, UAE and
Perth, Australia.
For 2015 and going forward the group’s key strategies
include:
)) Joint venture opportunities working with
complimentary pipeline groups and evaluating
strategic acquisition.
Offshore industry 2015 prediction
Scott Lewis, Regional Manager, Online Pipeline
Solutions Inc, said: “In times of lower revenues
to owner/operators, companies that supply the
upstream and midstream oil and gas sector need
to make sure and provide the most efficient and
reliable solutions to their customers; in other
words, the best value. While purchase price is important,
quality, reliability, safety, environmental stewardship and
reducing operational costs are the real sources of lower
operating costs. We have to utilise our years of experience
to make sure our customers see lower lifecycle costs and
thereby more efficient and higher margins on operations.
We have been moving in this direction for years with focus
on: safety with our ATEX and ICEex approved products;
redesigns to improve sustainability in the field and stronger
output signals to shorten time to locate; the development
of the GRID® systems to speed up locating defects in new
pipelays; MEG ARTS® to reduce cost and time required to
dry subsea lines; packaged complete ROV signal acquisition
spreads; and reliable, dependable magnetic and ultrasonic
systems to automate and communicate pig passage over
distance. We will continue our drive to visualise and
implement new and better sensing, transmitting, logging
and communication technologies to make sure to provide
the best ROI for our customers.”

)) Creation of a special projects department allowing

the research and development department to focus
on new standard product development.

)) Focus on large projects for magnetic and ultrasonic

signallers.

)) Increase investment in resources in overseas

business units.

)) Support operators during more difficult trading

conditions by providing trained engineers on
worldwide projects. Figure 1. OEL’s 4001D MAGSIG® non-intrusive magnetic pig
signaller.
Online Valves Ltd (OVL), specialist valves and
pipeline components company based in Aberdeen,
Scotland, has done considerable work in the offshore
market with the supply of urgent valve requirements
in various projects throughout the globe. OVL’s
service provides a fast track supply so that valves can
be replaced very quickly to minimise interruption to
facilities.
OVL are positive towards the future of the industry
and have backed this view with recent investment in
company expansion and the appointment of a new
Regional Manager in Houston, Texas, USA. Figure 2. OEL’s ATEX range of products.
Global Publication
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 58 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
Seal For Life Industries
the Netherlands, booth 4207
Seal For Life Industries (SFL) is a leading partner to the oil and gas
industry with 50 years of experience in providing solutions and
services for the life long corrosion protection/prevention and
sealing of critical infrastructure both onshore and offshore.
SFL is a committed global partner to the offshore Industry.
Its range of STOPAQ viscoelastic systems, Covalence heat shrink
sleeve technology and Powercrete solvent free liquid epoxies
are specified for numerous and varied applications including, but
not limited to, submarine pipeline field joint coatings, protection
of subsea and topside structures and tanks, protection under
insulation and sealing of j-tubes.
SFL ensures full product installation training is undertaken prior
to mobilisation and where required a full turn-key service is offered
via the Seal for Life Technologies & Services B.V. division.
Figure 1. Pipeline for Petrobras pre-salt development.
2014 was a year of triumph for SFL with project awards and
successful implementations in the growth areas of South America,
Asia and Australasia. Of particular note, SFL continued to be the
partner choice for the field joint coating of the Petrobras pre-salt
pipeline developments of Guara Lula-NE, Cabiunas, Cernambi
and Iracema Sul, located in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. These
developments required a polypropylene based field joint coating
for three layer polypropylene (3LPP) line coated pipe, which had
to resist the thermo-mechanical forces associated with pipelay
depths of 2200 m, shore pull-in via horizontal directional drilling
and to perform at operating conditions for a design life of 30 years.
The company’s polypropylene based heat shrink sleeve technology,
Covalence HTLP-PP, was specified and installed following extensive
testing by the International EPCI offshore contractor Saipem and
subsequent approval from Petrobras. In addition to the supply
of the materials for the Cabiunas pipeline project, SFL Services
provided in excess of 200 man days of support to the contractors
offshore operations and for onshore installation services related to
the integration of buckle arrestors, jumpers and spool fabrications.
2015 continues the growth trend with implementation of
numerous field joint coating projects around the globe, such
as Total Vega (offshore Tierra del Fuego, Argentina), PV Gas
NCS2 (offshore Vietnam) and Inpex Ichthys (Offshore Australia).
In January, SFL was busy with the mobilisation of the Inpex
Ichthys project providing installation training for its specified 3
layer polyethylene heat shrink technology, Covalence HTLP80,
and associated production support services aboard the Saipem
Castorone vessel for the 718 km section of the 42 in. OD
pipeline.
Offshore industry 2015 prediction
“Despite the recent falls in oil price and some
geopolitical issues we expect to have a good
year in 2015”, commented Neil Gill, SFL Global
Offshore Business Director. “This year we will
commercialise Kelvin, our innovative automatic
heat shrink technology and thus expect further
uptake in our installation services. Our development
focus to ‘seal for life’ and simplicity in installation, via low
temperature Covalence preheat and STOPAQ viscoelastic
technologies, will continue to drive our momentum
forward”.
Figure 2. J-lay pipelay.
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Figure 3. Pipeline for

Petrobras pre-salt
development.

Figure 4. Final
offshore FJC
application.
 60 OFFSHORE Technology Review / 2015
ShawCor, Ltd.USA, booth 3355
ShawCor is an integrated global energy services company that provides
technology-based solutions for the pipeline and pipe services market
and the petrochemical and industrial markets. ShawCor’s nine diverse
business units operate in 90 locations across 20 countries, and with
more than 8000 employees globally.
ShawCor is focused in 2015 on advancing solutions for its
customers, aimed at addressing key challenges in four areas:
)) Growth in unconventional oil and gas.
)) Growth in deepwater oil and gas activity.
)) Ageing energy transportation infrastructure and increasing public
scrutiny.
)) Production infrastructure require to bridge mismatch in supply and
demand.
In order to address the challenges of its market place, ShawCor
will utilise its leading industry positions, which provide customers
with unparalleled experience, and develop unique solutions rooted in
leading technology.
Through its pipe protection products and services business
units (Bredero Shaw, Socotherm, Canusa CPS, Dhatec), ShawCor is
providing end-to-end solutions for anti-corrosion, flow assurance,
protective, weight, internal, and field joint coatings, as well as
pipelines logistics and integrity solutions. In addition to the
wide range of coating options currently available, ShawCor is
bringing to market new products, such as Thermotite Ultra, an
offshore thermal insulation solution, which can be used at any
water depth. Additionally, ShawCor’s composite production
systems provider (Flexpipe Systems) provides a steel-alternative
of composite, spooled pipe offering lower installation costs and
longer life.
ShawCor’s integrity management divisions (Shaw Pipeline
Services, Desert NDT) provide non-destructive weld testing and
are expanding into asset traceability and monitoring and repair
solutions to address the growing need
for inspection, monitoring, maintenance
Figure 1. ShawCor
and rehabilitation of the ageing energy
composite pipe on a
infrastructure. Similarly, its oilfield asset
management division (Guardian) is
providing tubular management through
inspection, refurbishment, machining,
manufacturing and inventory for
production tubing, casing and drill pipe.
ShawCor also services the energy
industry’s needs for connectivity (ShawFlex
and DSG-Canusa) by providing specialty
wire and cable products as well as
connectors, and heat-shrink tubing, sleeves,
molded products and kits for protection
and sealing wire and cable.
In 2014, ShawCor participated in some
of the world’s largest and most challenging
projects.
Highlighted projects from 2014
)) Provided flow assurance coatings for the Lianzi, Stones, Julia, Bend
Bend and Gunflint projects.
)) Provided field joints for SARB and Umm Lulu offshore UAE, Edvard
Greig and Martin Linge offshore Norway, and Ichthys GEP offshore
Australia.
)) Provided weld inspection for North Steam, Wheatstone, Julimar,
Cabiunas-Solitaire and Liwan (South China Sea).
)) Provided composite pipe to PDVSA (Petroleos de Venexuela S.A.)
to be used in Lake Maracaibo.
Highlighted projects for 2015
)) Coating solutions for the Moho Nord Project in the Congo, the
Vaca Muerta Project and GNEA Project in Argentina.
)) Field joint coating systems for Statoil Polarled and Edvard Greig,
Shah Deniz Phase 2, Tullow Oil TEN Project, Ichthys Export Pipeline
and flowlines offshore Australia, and Chevron Lianzi.
)) Weld inspection services for Moho Nord (Congo) and Shell Gabon
Gamba.
During 2015, another example of how ShawCor will better serve
the emerging needs of its customers is its work on the Shah Deniz
Stage 2 Project with a custom-tailored solution to meet the customer’s
very specific and challenging requirements:
ShawCor has been awarded four contracts for the Shah Deniz
Phase 2 development and the SCPX export pipeline. Shah Deniz and
SCPX are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the most
complex gas value chains ever developed to export natural gas from
the Caspian region to European markets.. ShawCor’s scope of work
includes anti-corrosion, weight, and flow assurance coatings for 1125 km
of linepipe.
Offshore industry 2015
prediction
According to ShawCor Chief
PDVSA Project. Executive Officer, Steve Orr,
“ShawCor is uniquely positioned
to capitalise on the market
challenges during 2015 and
beyond. The industry’s growth
in unconventionals, growth in deepwater
reserves, an ageing infrastructure and
increasing public scrutiny, and transportation
for dislocated supply and demand play
directly into ShawCor’s strengths. ShawCor
has a track record of successful project
execution, and we have scale and global
reach to execute on this growth plan. We
are building on our solid core of existing
solutions by focusing our efforts on
engineered solutions, strategic execution, and
innovation through the use and development
of technology.”
 OFFSHORE
Technology Review

Figure 2. ShawCor
Flow Assurance Ultra.

Figure 3.
Shawcor
concrete
coating and
HBE-OS FJC.

Figure 4. Shawcor concrete

coating and HBE-OS FJC.
 How to succeed in
SUBSEA
SUBSEA environments
Fabian Dawson,
GE Measurement & Control,
UK, looks at the way innovations
in remote, subsea pressure
measurement is contributing to
process efficiency and process safety
in the subsea environment.
S
ubsea drilling for oil and gas, and its recovery
and transport, has made great strides since the
early days when wells were sunk from the ends
of piers. Today, operations are conducted from
sophisticated floating platforms and the depth of water
and thickness of penetration has increased in line with
new drilling methods and new associated technologies.
Nowadays, although most active platforms are still in
relatively shallow water, the largest number of approved
drilling applications are at greater depths.
For example, the subsea fields off the coast of Brazil
now go down to reservoirs that are 2000 m deep in the
water and then a further 5000 m below salt, sand and
Figure 1. A typical subsea installation.
63
 rock. Even deeper wells go down to 1.5 km on top of several
more kilometres of rock and the world’s deepest offshore
production well in the US Gulf is almost 3 km below the
surface of the sea.
This is a trend that is set to continue because, as the value
of oil and gas extraction has risen, the cost of extraction
methods has reduced and there is now a wide range of
economically recoverable sources. In addition, there is a need
to replace many of the older shallow water fields and it has
been estimated that the subsea sector will grow at around
6.7% between 2014 and 2018. This is a global phenomenon.
However, the technology challenges to be met in achieving
this growth are enormous. The pressures and temperatures
at these depths are exceedingly high. At 1800 m for example,
the depth drilled by BP’s Thunder Horse platform in the US
Gulf, the well pressures range from 13 000 - 18 000 psi and
temperatures can be up to 132°C. The next generation of wells
will be even deeper, at higher temperatures and pressures up
to 20 000 psi. This makes remote pressure sensing one of the
key technologies in the advancement of the frontiers of oil
and gas production.
The remote monitoring and measurement of
pressure
As with any industrial process, measurement and control
is vital to the safe and efficient operation of plant and the
sensing, measurement and transmission of pressure and
temperature are important activities. However, it is important
to realise that all pressure measuring devices drift in accuracy
over time. This is not a problem onshore or on a production
platform as all pressure sensors and transmitters are calibrated
at regular intervals. Calibration itself involves the comparison
of two instruments or measuring devices, one of which is of
known accuracy, to establish the accuracy, or otherwise, of
the device to be calibrated. Sometimes, this involves taking
the device out of service and calibrating in an accredited
Figure 2. A GE Druck subsea tree pressure transmitter.
64 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
laboratory. Or, more usually today, measuring devices are
calibrated by portable pressure calibrators, such as DPI611 or
DPI620Genii from GE’s Druck pressure line, which incorporate
a pressure generating capability that can generate up to
15 000 psi (1000 bar) by means of a mechanical pressure-
generating system. Unfortunately, such instruments cannot be
used subsea and certainly not at deep subsea.
Consequently, the two most important characteristics of
any subsea pressure sensor are accuracy and stability. That is,
the ability to deliver that accuracy over many years.
Subsea pressure monitoring tasks
Pressure subsea is an important measurand and sensors are
available for tasks such as pressure measurement for down-
hole tools and sensors that can withstand the harsh conditions
of drilling in mud. However, there are two main applications
for subsea pressure sensors:
)) Sensors to measure the hydraulic pressure in subsea
control and process systems.
)) Sensors to measure and transmit the pressure, and
temperature, in the oil or gas line.
Hydraulic pressure sensors
Hydraulic pressure sensors act as pressure switches, controlling
subsea plant and equipment. They are located in the subsea
control module (SCM) and are purpose-packaged to operate
with subsea hydraulic control systems. They have the
required high pressure containment rating, hydraulic transient
protection and integrity of cable and electrical connections
to ensure excellent long-term stability. For example, the PTX
300 series of pressure transmitters from GE’s Druck product
line, which uses piezo-resistive silicon pressure measuring
technology, features an all-welded, stainless steel or Inconel
construction to ensure secure containment. It has a proof
pressure up to 22 500 psi, with a hyperbaric pressure rating
of up to 5000 psi, and is designed for a fatigue life in excess
of 25 years. All mechanical and electrical connections to the
transmitter feature qualified hyperbaric connections and the
electrical interface can be 4 - 20 mA or CANbus.
Line pressure sensors
Sensors to measure the pressure and temperature of the
product at the wellhead or upstream or downstream can be
used for a variety of purposes. The pressure and temperature
can be used to determine flow across a choke to control
production or injection rate, it can be used for pressure
balancing and it can be used to monitor and control valve
pressures on the tree and at the manifold. It is often used to
provide reliable data within the subsea process flowline, as
part of an overall flow assurance model. Without accurate,
stable and reliable sensors, the information necessary to
operate control and analysis systems can be corrupted.
As well as these operational efficiency functions, line
sensors play an important role in any high integrity pressure
protection system (HIPPS) regime. HIPPS is of vital importance
for two reasons. First of all, it protects against a pipe or
pipe connection bursting under pressure, with potentially
catastrophic results. Secondly, it helps to mitigate the cost of
ensuring that subsea pipelines are protected along their total
length.
Subsea pipelines
In a subsea pipeline it is impractical to rely on pressure-
protection systems such as relief valves. In an HIPPS
installation, high pressure sensors are fitted at a point in the
line, upstream of which all equipment is rated at a specified
design pressure, say 15 000 psi or above. When the line
pressure reaches the design pressure, the sensor is used to shut
down the line, so that the high pressure is not transmitted
downstream, where it could cause damage and disruption. The
use of a pressure sensor as a barrier between a high pressure
and low pressure system (upstream and downstream) also
saves considerable pipeline system construction costs, as only
the upstream section needs to be of the higher quality, higher
specification materials.
Today’s sensor designs
There are many technologies used for measuring pressure. Not
all of these are suitable for subsea applications, especially at
the high pressures and temperatures met in this environment.
However, two technologies which find application here are
piezo-resistive technology and capacitance technology. And
both of these are offered in the portfolio of pressure sensors
offered by GE.
Piezo-resistive sensors
Piezo-resistive technology, and particularly piezo-resistive
technology using silicon, has been continually developed
and proven by the GE’s Druck product line over the past
30 years. This is similar in theory to bonded foil strain gauge
technology, in that it employs strain gauge-like piezo-resistors
on a diaphragm in a Wheatstone bridge circuit arrangement.
In essence, silicon piezo-resistors are embedded in a micro-
machined (MEMS) silicon diaphragm and when this diaphragm
is subjected to pressure via a silicon transfer oil, which isolates
the diaphragm from the process fluid, the resultant strain
causes a change in the resistor resistivity, proportional to the
applied pressure.
Hydraulic pressure sensors, as described earlier, tend to
use this technology but it also forms the basis of many line
pressure sensors. The latest example of this is the HPHT sensor
in the field-proven PTX400 series of wellhead sensors. This
has an accuracy of better than 0.025% full scale (FS) and can
operate down to -70˚C, with a calibrated temperature range of
-46˚C to +180°C, measured by a high accuracy, PT100 platinum
resistance thermometer. Pressure and temperature can also be
dual configuration, The sensors electronics module is located
in the sea water, away from the process fluid, to ensure that
it is kept at a stable temperature and the complete sensor
module is calibrated over the total pressure and temperature
range.
GE also offers an alternative design of piezo-resistive
pressure sensors through its Presens product range. This uses
a capillary tubular arrangement to pass the silicon transfer
oil from the diaphragm to the silicon sensor, which ensures
greater security, stability and the ability to withstand pressure
spikes. The sensor measuring system is essentially the same
MEMS Wheatstone bridge but has a more limited temperature
range than the Druck sensor, although its accuracy is around
0.01% FS.
Both types of sensors are manufactured in dedicated
manufacturing cells, using electron beam welders, first class
clean room facilities and custom application calibration
equipment, with total in-house control of the entire
technology chain, from core technology to sensor system. And
both types of sensor are DNV-certified and are compliant with
the CANbus Subsea Instrumentation Interface Standardisation
(SIIS) Level 2.
Capacitance sensors
Capacitance sensors also use MEMS silicon but here the
silicon is machined to create a micro-capacitance sensor.
The change in capacitance is a measure of the differential
pressure applied. By floating the cell in silicon transfer oil,
from the high pressure side, the cell is virtually provided
with laboratory conditions and is isolated from any
temperature or pressure fluctuations. This technology, using
the proven Fuji cell, has been marinised by GE’s Presens
product line and offers accuracy of 0.04%, with stability in
excess of 10 years.
The future
Like all technologies, the technology of subsea remote
sensing is continuously advancing. Silicon-on-Insulator is a
sensor system which is finding application in aerospace and
can be transferred to subsea applications. Silicon resonant
sensors have been available for some years but have
to-date offered only a limited pressure range, are sensitive
to shock and are only available in a non-media-isolated
design. However, the benefits of such sensors can now be
enjoyed over a much wider operating range and in harsh
environments thanks to trench-etched resonant pressure
technology (TERPS). With this, an MEMS silicon structure is
driven into resonance by the application of an electrostatic
field and when pressure is applied to a diaphragm, the
silicon resonator is stretched, changing the frequency,
much like a guitar string. This change in frequency relates
directly to the applied pressure. However, TERPS sensors
differ from conventional RPT sensors in a number of ways.
They use a different method of frequency detection,
which provides a much larger signal output and the use of
glass-to-metal seals allows the sensor to be packaged for
applications in harsh environments. In addition, associated
electronics can be further from a TERPS sensor, which
permits operation in higher temperature environments.
Currently, TERPS sensors find mainly oceanographic
applications in the sensing of sea bed changes caused by
drilling and fluid extraction but they feature the stability
and accuracy which could eventually fit them for purpose
as wellhead sensors.
APRIL 2015 / World Pipelines 65
PROTECTING
deepsea
HABITATS
Dr Kate Gormley, Lea-Anne Henry
and J Murray Roberts, Centre for
Marine Biodiversity & Biotechnology,
Heriot-Watt University, UK, discuss
environmental innovation for marine
energy decision making.

66
T
he world’s deepest producing offshore oil operation is Shell’s Gulf of Mexico Perdido project in
waters 2450 m deep, with Shell’s other Gulf production facility, Stones, set for even deeper waters
approaching 3000 m. Understanding the constraints posed by extreme deepwater operations and
vulnerabilities of deepsea habitats and organisms is as challenging as the engineering technology. Yet,
despite the deepsea realm covering over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, it is also the least explored and is
truly the last frontier on Earth.
The deepsea and the diverse ecosystems it harbours are socio-economically and biologically valuable. The
deepsea helps regulate Earth’s climate, including atmospheric CO2 emissions, and harbours a rich variety of
ecosystems such as cold water coral reefs, seamounts, hydrothermal vents and sponge gardens that are home
to thousands of animal species including commercially valuable fish. However, the deepsea, its ecosystems
and species are often sensitive to shifts in climate, pollution and human activities. These sensitivities can make
operations in the vicinity technologically challenging and environmentally demanding, if preservation of these
ecosystems is to be maintained.
Currently, there a number of challenges facing these vulnerable deepsea ecosystems with an
increasing footprint of human activities, particularly offshore energy and fishing, at ever increasing
depths. Various provisions are provided in order to protect deepsea habitats, species and
ecosystems through, for example, management of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) and
ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) by the United Nations, protection
of priority marine habitats/species through OSPAR and the European Union and through the
provision of marine protected area (MPA) networks.

67
 Environmental challenges for the marine
energy industries: the UK in focus
Oil and gas developments and pipeline installations are generally
subject to permit and environmental impact assessment (EIA)
requirements under a variety of regulations prior to, and during,
exploration and decommissioning. For example, in the UK under
the Offshore Petroleum Production and Pipelines (Assessment
of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1999, Offshore Marine
Conservation (Natural Habitats) Regulations 2007, The Offshore
Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001
and their associated amendments. During this process, the industry
has to determine if the activity is likely to have an impact on the
environment; and/or if it may have a significant impact on the
conservation objectives of marine protected areas (MPAs).
Baseline data is fundamental to assess potential impacts,
yet there is currently little legislation globally to state how
environmental monitoring should be conducted, particularly
in deepsea areas. Transformative new tools and knowledge
exchange platforms have to be developed and supported
to facilitate and expedite data accessibility and analysis and
Figure 1. Black coral (Leiopathes sp.) and squat lobsters
(Gastroptychus formosus) at 816 m water depth.
Figure 2. Greater forkbeard (Phycis blennoides) above Lophelia
pertusa coral reef at the Logachev carol carbonate mound
complex (684 m water depth).
68 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
understand the scope of potential impacts. Traditionally, marine
environmental monitoring around the UK has been limited in
scope, mainly in part due to lack of guidance on what, when
and how things should be monitored. In addition, in the case of
incidents such as Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, the
accessibility of localised environmental data is crucial. Within
days, BP began working through the assessment process to collect
data to evaluate the potential for injury to wildlife, habitat
and recreational use of the area. Prior knowledge of baseline
conditions is paramount in assessing the true impact of an event
like this and the availability and quality of the science in the local
area contributes to the overall effectiveness, organisation and
response. With offshore exploration continuing to expand into
deeper waters, such as the vulnerable areas west of Shetland,
it will be a requirement to determine the environmental
baseline within this relatively unknown territory. Ensuring that
environmental data is collected and stored in an efficient, easily
accessible and cost-effective manner is therefore becoming
increasingly important.
The decommissioning of offshore infrastructure is another
significant challenge facing the marine energy industry, with over
400 installations in Europe and more than 50 000 km of pipeline
in the North-East Atlantic, the scale of the operation is huge.
A strict legal framework of national, regional and international
regulations governs how disused offshore facilities are
decommissioned. Presently, and in the coming years and decades,
a number of offshore installations will be decommissioned, not
only presenting a number of economic issues (Oil & Gas UK
forecasts the total cost of decommissioning for existing and
sanctioned infrastructure to be £28.7 billion from 2012 onwards);
but also a number of significant environmental challenges.
The combination of decommissioning issues, new deepwater
exploration territories (platforms in deeper water may have a
higher risk of an incident, such as a spill), and the new production
techniques, all highlight areas of uncertainty in environmental data
management and assessment. Only a coherent environmental data
platform will enable assessment and analysis to be conducted
efficiently and in the most scientifically rigorous manner.
New techniques for the analysis of both environmental
data and video transect files, for example, enable researchers
to provide new insight into historical data. This is particularly of
Figure 3. Flying the ROV (credit: Sebastian Hennige).
 interest for pipeline route surveys, which is currently a gap in our
knowledge.
Knowledge exchange to bridge the gap
Marine biologists at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) in Edinburgh
have been working with the oil and gas industry for over 30 years.
With the emergence of the Scottish oil industry in the 1970s,
the Institute of Offshore Engineering was established at HWU
in 1972 with an emphasis on interdisciplinary research, including
land and marine conservation, as well as oil and gas exploitation.
The International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT) in Orkney
was established in 1989 and supports the university’s pioneering
contribution to marine science, technology and marine energy.
This work continues to expand today with a strong emphasis
on developing responsible environmental management tools to
support the marine energy industries and the UK in meeting its
obligations to OSPAR among others.
In the 1980s, Dr Paul Kingston developed the North Sea
Benthos Database for UKOOA (now Oil and Gas UK, the industry’s
representative body). This database summarises biological and
chemical data obtained from offshore survey reports including
data on benthic species, sediment properties, and concentrations
of aromatic compounds, total oil and metals. It currently includes
Figure 4. Seabed sediment sample processing.
70 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
data from 1975 to today from 237 platforms and is continually
being updated.
This unique database paved the way for a number of projects
to be developed in collaboration with industry and academia,
which highlights the importance for knowledge exchange. Given
the rare availability of a data timeline spanning almost 40 years,
HWU researcher Dr Lea-Anne Henry developed a meta-analysis
technique to measure the spatial footprint of drill cuttings
impacts on benthic species and the time taken for recovery to
occur in the North Sea. The outcomes of the meta-analysis will
be used to develop new guidelines for industry and regulators
regarding best practice in environmental management.
Funded by the UK government’s Natural Environment
Research Council (NERC), the North Sea Interactive (NSI) and
Atlantic Interactive projects, led by HWU in collaboration with the
British Geological Survey (BGS) and the National Oceanographic
Centre (NOC), are translating this marine environmental data from
the North Sea and deepwater Atlantic Frontier into interactive
mapping products for the offshore oil and gas industry, providing
the first decision-support planning tools that fuse this cross-
disciplinary data.
Aligning the biological, chemical, geological and hydrodynamic
datasets in a single geographical information system (GIS) dataset
Figure 5. Seabed lander recovery.
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 provides the oil industry and regulators with a practical means
of simple access and visualisation of environmental data. The
data is available to all environmental managers with an interest in
offshore industries, with a particular use in environmental impact
assessments (EIAs), permits and other seabed analysis.
NERC KE Fellow Dr Kate Gormley is working in collaboration
with the BGS, NOC, Oil and Gas UK and Scottish Government
agency Marine Scotland to develop this database further. Her
Figure 6. ROV sample in progress on Lophelia pertusa coral
reef.
Figure 7. ROV deployment.
72 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
main objectives are to merge industry environmental survey data
with compiled environmental data relevant to industry EIAs,
and other assessments such as MPAs, priority marine features
(PMFs) and fish sensitivity maps, with the overall aim of creating a
data platform incorporating these data sources for the UK shelf,
slope and deepsea regions, including the Atlantic margin where
exploration and production is experiencing rapid growth. This tool
will act as the key data platform for EIA and management by the
oil and gas industry; and may ultimately foster a strong culture of
change for data archiving and sharing; making legacy and future
data more accessible.
Moving into the deep frontier, HWU researchers Dr Henry and
Professor Murray Roberts are leading their latest NERC Innovation
project, Atlantic Interactive. This aims to develop advanced
environmental monitoring solutions for the oil and gas industry
in the Atlantic Frontier. Working alongside BGS, NOC and the
SERPENT project with Doctors Brian Bett, Tammy Horton, Andrew
Gates and Dr Gormley, the project team will combine long-term
measurements of ocean temperature and salinity alongside other
environmental data, with data on benthos from the Atlantic
Margin to map and measure baseline levels of variability. The
project will incorporate data into a new GIS tool annotated with
the latest monitoring recommendations based on advanced
ecological analysis of baseline levels of variability. The outcome
of the project will provide a new framework to rapidly assess
background variability, conduct environmental assessments, design
robust monitoring programmes and identity gaps in the baseline
environmental knowledge, a particularly large gap in the vast
expanse of the deep North Atlantic.
Other environmental projects at HWU include a four year
study examining the environmental sensitivity of deepwater
sponge grounds west of Shetland (supported by Oil & Gas, BP, the
British Geological Survey and NERC’s Centre of Doctoral Training
in Oil & Gas) alongside wider expertise in ecotoxicology and oil
degrading microbes.
Building on these collaborations, BGS and HWU are joining
forces in 2015 through the creation of the Sir Charles Lyell Centre
for earth and marine science and technology. A £17 million
purpose built complex based at HWU’s Edinburgh Campus, and
funded by NERC, Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Heriot-Watt,
the Lyell Centre will promote innovative research at the core
of geoscience, marine ecology, computing, mathematics and
engineering. The centre brings together world-leading researchers
to tackle major issues of natural resource and energy supply in a
responsible and sustainable way.
Summary
The deepsea remains the most intriguing and poorly understood
environment on Earth. This unique new combination of projects
will support future environmental policy and legislation, using
UK case studies with relevance to the global deepwater industry.
The projects are designed to address uncertainties surrounding
the environmental assessment of licensed activity impacts
from exploration through to decommissioning in both shelf
and deepsea environments. They also illustrate the power of
collaborative academic-industry partnerships to tackle otherwise
intractable problems that neither sector can address alone.
1. Note: All captioned images were taken during the JC073 “Changing Oceans
Expedition 2012”, Heriot-Watt University.
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 DELVING
DELVING
David Bell, CRC-Evans Pipeline International, Inc., USA, discusses the
application of field joint coatings to deepwater piplines and presents innovative
materials that are being developed to meet new depths.

F
ield joint coating materials and systems are selected based on a combination of
performance criteria, but the selected line pipe coating or factory applied coating will
influence the selection of the field joint coating system; it is important that the field joint
coating system is compatible with the line pipe coating.
For example, for three-layer (3LPP) coated line pipes, the field joint coating systems typically
adopted are a three-layer fused tape system, thin layer injection moulded polypropylene (IMPP) or
heat shrink sleeves (HSS). For multi-layer (5LPP) coated line pipes, injection moulded polypropylene
(IMPP) is the field joint coating system typically utilised.
Concrete weight coated pipes often involve the use of infill materials, including solid
polyurethane and open cell polyurethane, to aid movement over the stinger and will also provide
protection from fishing trawler activities.
Due to the increasingly onerous demands on line pipe coating and field joint coating materials,
the quality of application is critical for long-term operating performance.
Typically for deepwater pipelines, the application of the field joint coating systems will
involve abrasive blast cleaning preparation and heating, followed by the application of corrosion
protection and thermal insulation materials.

75
 With a drive to improve pipelay efficiencies, installation
cycle times are becoming more and more important to pipelay
methodology and the ‘firing line’ set-up, with an increasing
demand for the use of automation in the installation of field joint
coating systems and materials.
PIH’s automated equipment and processes have been refined
over many years to achieve the highest available quality for
the application of field joint coating materials, while delivering
optimal installation cycle times.
The latest fleet of automated equipment incorporates online
monitoring and data-logging features, ensuring online quality
assurance and accountability. These features provide additional
verification that the materials have been applied to specification
at each and every welded joint area, and that a record is made of
the key parameters of each application.
Pipelines on the sea bed, deep below the surface, can operate
for many years with data available to the pipeline operator,
offering increased assurance that the field joint coating materials
have been applied to all joint areas at the highest available quality.
Offshore coatings project
In 2014, PIH was awarded a package for field joint coating services
for a major offshore pipeline project to be laid in deep waters.
Figure 1. The Solaris preheater is used to prepare the parent
material for bonding with the IMPP coating.
Figure 2. The coating crew applies FBE coating to the weld.
76 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
The project involved 32 in. dia., heavy wall lines pipes. The line
pipe coating used was three-layer polypropylene (3LPP).
Construction of the pipeline involved fabrication of ‘quad’
joints at a strategic location, which included welding, inspection
and installation of the field joint coating system.
The field joint coating specification involved surface
preparation, induction pre-heat and application of fusion bonded
epoxy (FBE) and co-polymer adhesive, followed by the installation
of an outer polypropylene heat shrink sleeve.
PIH was commissioned by the lead contractor to design and
develop bespoke field joint coating equipment that would offer
the highest available, repeatable quality for the application of the
FBE and co-polymer layer, while optimising cycle times.
All the field joint coating installation activities were on a
critical path, or firing line, involving a series of stations for each
activity. Automation was the key to maintaining continuous
production for the completion of the quad joints.
PIH’s research and development team produced 3D models
and computer graphics to develop the concept and requirements
for each station in the firing line. Using the latest computer
software, fully automated cleaning, closed cycle blasting, pre-heat
and powder application equipment and processes were designed
and developed in-house. All the equipment was manufactured at
the PIH head office in Burnley, UK, meeting the project schedule
requirements for production start-up.
The first station involved the use of automated water
jet cleaning units (HYDRA) for the removal of salts within the
substrate. The units fully encase the welded joint area, allowing
the cleaning process to be contained within the HYDRA machine.
Excess moisture is then removed by induction heaters.
The quad joints then feed into the blast preparation station.
PIH developed fully automated blast units (SABRE). The blast
media is completely contained within the blast unit and pre-
programmable equipment performs repeatable cycles of blast
preparation to each and every joint area, in a highly efficient
process.
The line pipe coating ends are then prepared, incorporating a
chamfer of 15 - 30˚ and finishing off the FBE toe.
The quad joints then feed into the next station, which
combines pre-heat and application of the fusion bonded epoxy
layer in one station. Traditional methods for the application
of FBE involve separate items of equipment for induction pre-
heat (230˚C) of the steel substrate and application of the fusion
bonded epoxy powder layer. The combined ‘heat and coat’
equipment offers improved cycle times.
Due to the heavy wall thickness, there was concern on the
cycle time required to reach the specified pre-heat temperature
and an additional risk of heat loss during the FBE and co-polymer
application process.
The equipment incorporates innovative components for the
application of the fusion bonded epoxy powder coating (FBE) to
tight tolerances. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were used
to simulate powder deposition and distribution, which formed the
key requirements of the design. The powder nozzles were later
developed and manufactured by use of 3D printing technology.
The quad joints then move to the heat shrink sleeve
installation station, where automated equipment supplied by the
manufacturer applies the HSS.
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 PIH designed and manufactured low pressure water quenching
units with inline air flow to cool the HSS to allow for the quads to
move quickly over the rollers to the next station.
The final station in the firing line is holiday detection testing.
The quad joints feed through a fixed holiday detection station – a
fully automated unit designed and manufactured by PIH – and the
parameters are recorded. Online alarms detect any imperfections.
The automated field joint coating equipment ensures
continuous production for the installation of the field joint
coating system while offering repeatable quality for the
application of the system to each and every welded joint area,
critical to the long-term integrity of deepwater, offshore pipelines.
The new spread of automated field joint coating equipment
is also used at ‘spool base’ locations involving 24 hour, high
production operations.
Offshore Asia Pacific
Many other deepwater pipeline projects that are in development,
or have recently been commissioned, involve the use of specialist
field joint coating materials.
The Asia Pacific has seen the development of major offshore
gas fields involving the laying of strategic pipelines in deep waters.
PIH recently completed the field joint installation works as
part of the SURF package for a major deepwater pipeline project
Figure 3. The coating crew first utilises induction heating to
prep the joint for coating.
Figure 4. Coating crew applying polypropylene flame spray.
78 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
that involved the use of specialist pipe coating materials, designed
to provide long-term corrosion protection and thermal insulation
properties.
The spools were fabricated at a strategically located, onshore
fabrication yard where the field joint coating systems were also
applied.
The field joint coating works involved blast preparation and
pre-heat, followed by application of FBE and co-polymer layers.
An outer thermal insulation layer was applied using state-of-
the-art injection moulded polypropylene (IMPP) techniques and
processes.
PIH designed and manufactured bespoke IMPP installation
equipment for the application of the outer thermal insulation
layer to the spools.
All the specialist equipment and materials were mobilised to
the fabrication yard where PIH technicians carried out the field
joint coating works.
The services involved the use of closed cycle blast equipment,
induction pre-heat, FBE and co-polymer equipment. Prior to
application of the thermal insulation layer,
multi-layer factory coating must be suitably prepared for the
optimal fusion of the polypropylene thermal insulation field joint
coating system.
PIH also deployed its SOLARIS equipment, which is a fully
automated heating unit. The SOLARIS machine accurately heats
the chamfer of the factory applied coating, allowing for optimal
fusion of the injection moulded polypropylene (IMPP) layer.
Due to the complexity of the fabrication works, the IMPP
machine needed to be highly mobile in order to complete the
installation of thermal insulation layer to the welded joints
in areas of restricted access, at varying heights and varying
orientations. The IMPP equipment therefore incorporated
detachable moulds and accumulator barrels.
Conclusion
New, innovative materials are being developed by leading material
manufacturers to meet the onerous operating conditions for
deepwater subsea pipelines.
Installation of the materials will also require the use of
advanced technology, incorporating automation, and PIH
continues to play a key role in developing equipment and
Figure 5. Field joint coating crew finishes coating a weld and is
prepping to move on.
processes for the efficient installation of field joint coating
materials.
CRC-Evans Pipeline International, Inc., provides premier
specialist services and equipment to the pipeline industry, offering
a unique combination of leading-edge technology and in-depth
experience for maximum efficiencies in pipeline construction in
both offshore and onshore environments, including spool base
activities. Additional services include automatic welding, pipeline
equipment, NDT inspection and field joint coating services.
Pipeline Induction Heat (PIH) leads the field joint coating
activities for the CRC-Evans group, providing specialist
subcontracting services to pipeline construction contractors for
a wide range of applications involving anti-corrosion, thermal
insulation and profile in-fill coating systems. The systems include
heat shrink sleeves, fusion bonded epoxy, three-layer PP and
PE flame spray, three-layer fused field joints, PU foam infill,
spray-applied liquid epoxies and urethanes, injection moulded
polyurethane and injection moulded polypropylene.

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 10th Pipeline Technology
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 Figure 1. Direct contact between heatsource and Shrink material avoids weathering
conditions influencing the installation process. The units are classified as IP44.

Push up your
SLEEVES
O
ver the years, the oil and gas pipeline industry
has become more demanding. By introducing
new technologies, pipelines are now expected to
last for a period of 50 years or longer. Whilst the
pipeline and coating system is manufactured under ideal
conditions in the factory, the joined sections are protected
in the field. Despite this, we expect these joint protections
to last for the same period of time. Given the fact
The treatment of pipeline that the application of the protective systems to
sleeve materials during the field joint area is exposed to environmental
installation is essential influences, one can imagine the challenge to
ensure a perfect application time of every joint
to overall performance. where 100% repeatability is required.
Ing. Sander Hofstee and Neil Knowing these great expectations, we need
Gill, Seal for Life Industries, to ask ourselves if we pay enough respect to the
treatment of the heat shrinkable sleeve materials
the Netherlands, present a during the installation process. The treatment of
time-efficient tool that enables these materials during installation is critical to
maximum installation comfort. ensuring the required long lasting performance
and the materials should not be negatively
affected or rely on installation by open flame.
In addition, the newly introduced infra-red radiation does
not always do only good to the HSS materials. Since the
industry is insisting on the shortest installation times

81

Figure 2. Compact and lightweight versions. Complete HSS installation without the need for any open
flame treatment throughout the process.
Figure 3. Excellent heat transfer ensures an optimal heat bath
of the adhesive.
possible, manufacturers are challenged to introduce
materials and equipment to make this possible. The
downside of this development is the exposure of the heat
shrink materials to high temperature impact in extremely
short periods, making the materials shrink.
Although many focus on reducing shrinking times, it
is certainly not the feature to focus on when it comes
to long-term performance. Seal for Life Industries’ duty
is to support the industry with innovative ideas in line
with clients expectations and demands, placing focus on
respecting the characteristics of the backing materials
and at the same time the inflow of the mastic/hotmelt
adhesive. This ensures a full wetting of the substrate and
creates optimal bond. To ensure such inflow, we need to
respect the softening temperature of the mastic/hotmelt
and the time needed for it for completely wetting the
substrate, respectively the bond temperature and bonding
time.
82 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
An effective tool
For the optimal
performance and shortest
installation time of the
Seal for Life heat shrink
sleeve systems, the
company developed a
system that respects
the characteristics of
the sleeve materials
and allows maximum
installation comfort and
performance. Seal for
Life developed the very
first intelligent assistant
tool in heat shrink sleeve
installation, the KELVIN.
The KELVIN offers
optimal and guaranteed
installation comfort and
performance by ‘reading’
the characteristics of the
sleeve materials that are
applied. The KELVIN also creates an optimal HSE situation.
The need of applying the closure patch by open flame prior
to the operation is no longer needed. The installation of
the closure patch is done in the same process.
The build in sensor technology recognises the softening
point of the adhesive layer as well as the duration of the
liquid stage the adhesive is kept in, the so called bonding
phase, and thus manual inspection of the temperature
during installation is not needed. By keeping pressure onto
the sleeve body during the total installation, it furthermore
ensures the liquid mastic/hotmelt is forced to flow into all
irregularities of the substrate it is in contact with.
By using the KELVIN for installation of the heat shrink
sleeves, heat is transferred directly from the heat source,
which is in direct contact with the sleeve material, onto
and through the backing to reach the mastic/hotmelt.
This direct way of heating makes sure that no weathering
elements, such as wind, rain or moist, can affect the
process. The heat and pressure create a heat bath of the
mastic/hotmelt that can be called the ‘au bain marie’
way of heating. It creates the most homogenous heating
of the mastic/hotmelt in which the heat is transferred
onto the (primed) body of the pipeline avoiding the often
dramatic quenching effect. Moreover, the KELVIN and its
build in sensor technology make sure that overheating of
the sleeve materials does not occur. With the introduction
of the KELVIN, Seal for Life brings the first intelligent and
automated system to the market that allows guaranteed
and uniform installation around a solid body of all heat
shrinkable polyolefin sleeves from the Seal for Life range.
From an environmental point of view, the KELVIN avoids
the need of extreme energy input as there is no need to
recover losses during the installation process. Other than
in open flame or IR, ways of shrinking the loss of energy is
 InField Liner - IFL

Revolutionary Subsea
Pipeline Rehabilitation System
An IFL™ liner is a flexible Kevlar reinforced liner that can be installed
in lengths of up to 5 kilometers in a single pulling operation.
The usage of high specification materials within its construction
provide the IFL™ system with a high resistance to a wide range of
hydrocarbon media at elevated temperatures of up to 110 ˚C, and
exceptional host pipe matching pressure retaining capability within
its tight fit operating criteria.

The IFL™ system is ideal for rehabilitating in-field subsea pipelines

running from platform-to platform, or from platform to shore. IFL™
can also be used as a corrosion barrier for new pipelines which will
be known to be exposed to extremely corrosive environments

The IFL™ system offers the sub-sea pipeline industry with a

supremely viable, fast and economic preference when compared
against the only other option of a new-lay pipeline replacement.

IFL Middle-East &

APS Group Headquarters
Anticorrosion Protective Systems L.L.C.
P.O. Box 8091, Dubai, UAE

IFL South-East Asia &

APS Regional Headquarters South-East Asia
Anticorrosion Protective Systems (M) SDN BHD
50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Website: www.infieldliner.com

TECH NOLOGY IN LINE

GIRARD INDUSTRIES Toll Free: 800.231.2861

6531 N. Eldridge Pkwy Phone: 713.466.3100
Houston, TX 77041-3507, USA Fax: 713.466.8050
sales@girardind.com www.GirardIndustries.com

Unmatched Performance and Proven Results

 minimal making use of the ‘au bain marie’ way of heating.
With the ‘au bain marie’ method, the heat is trapped
between the heat source and the substrate to ensure an
optimal heat bath. It is different from the IR way of heating
in which the heat is beamed through the backing, with a
high chance of damage before it can liquefy the adhesive.
Also, the IR beam is extremely intense and the process
time is kept to a minimum, which is the opposite of what
we need to get and keep the adhesive in a liquid phase to
ensure the inflow and wetting of the substrate.
State of the art registration
The PLC driven KELVIN has a pre-programmed set of
parameters corresponding with the specific sleeve types
offered within the range of Seal for Life. By selecting
the right sleeve type that is installed, automatically the
minimum bond temperature and bonding time are selected.
Every KELVIN is equipped with a decent set of sensors,
embedded at several locations along the heat source,
which allows it to register the temperature output and
input to the sleeve materials without human intervention.
This ensures an accurate heating process in which the
different parts of the KELVIN adjust themselves individually
to create the homogenous heating and shrinking.
Furthermore, it registers precisely the whole process,
making it possible for operators and clients to check
on the installation. Different types of the PLC units are
available on the KELVIN, of which the most sophisticated
version allows full remotely programming and reading.
The contractor or client can login from his desktop to
Figure 4. NASA foam inside the hardshell generates equal
pressure onto the HSS body during installation.
Figure 5. Heat is provided from the outside and is reflected
from the pipebody resulting the adhesive to create an ‘au bain
marie’ heat bath.
84 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
check on the status of the installation and the ‘as installed’
parameters. They are able to print off the results for the
installation reports.
Advantages of the KELVIN:
)) Shortest installation time – operation by two engineers.
)) Easy operation by fully pre-programmed PLC.
)) Available in sizes ranging from 10 - 52 in.
)) Power requirement 4 Watt/cm2.
)) Maximum power to weight ratio – weight of 16 in. unit
is only 15 kg.
)) Maximum technology to cost ratio.
)) No specific need for cranes.
)) Multiple units can operate at same time, dramatically
reducing the turnaround time.
)) Avoids sleeve damage by overheating.
)) Avoids installation mistakes.
)) Full mobile units.
)) No HSE issues.
)) Direct contact between sleeve and KELVIN prevents
weather conditions influencing the process.
)) Allows a variety of shrinkable sleeves to be used, from
soft mastic-based shrink sleeves to hard, hot melt shrink
sleeves provided with a stiff and hard backing material
(e.g. HDPE).
)) Operational temperatures of the heating blanket are
monitored by temperature sensors connected to the
control unit.
)) Sleeve shrink temperatures are displayed at the PLC
display.
)) Consistency of installation – no need to pre apply the
closure patch.
)) Compact size.
)) Minimal packaging space required in confined FJC areas.
)) Ultimate bonding of adhesives such as mastics, hotmelts
and visco-elastics.
)) Easy to install software programme per coating type –
remote controlled.
)) Extremely lightweight.
)) Lowest energy consumption.
)) Fast and safe total installation process.
 Fernando Ulecia, VP Integration – Marketing and Technology,
ShawCor Ltd., USA, looks at how one company is helping
to protect and manage its customers’ deepwater assets and
improving the overall performance of their operations.

Working at new

FRONTIERS

S
hawCor has established a new solutions-based
model to managing complex projects. This approach
combines its existing products and capabilities to
provide a comprehensive solution to address every
stage of the project. From concept to commissioning, this
solutions-based approach will ensure coating integrity of
the line pipe, the field joints and the interfaces between the
two. ShawCor performs every step of the process – from
engineering the advanced coatings, to designing and validating
the solution, to line pipe coating application and field joint
installation. The approach also capitalises on ShawCor’s
knowledge, experience and capability in the areas of logistics,
mobilisation, multiple-pipe sourcing and management of
in-country content. ShawCor also offers girth weld inspection
solution for onshore and offshore projects through Shaw
Pipeline Services and Desert NDT. This new model provides
customers with schedule assurance, performance assurance
Figure 1. Simulated service vessel for
and project management assurance under a single umbrella. testing thermal insulation coating.

85
 Customers have one reliable source, one point of accountability
and one company providing support all the way.
Utilising this model, ShawCor is supporting many major
projects through its coating division Bredero Shaw.
Inpex Ichthys
Bredero Shaw was awarded separate contracts for both the
gas export pipeline and the flowlines and tie-in spools for
the Inpex Ichthys LNG Project in Australia. In addition to over
1000 km of linepipe, with four different coating requirements,
the scope of work for this project included significant logistics
and pipe storage and preservation requirements. The steel
pipe for the gas export pipeline was sourced from three
mills in Germany and Japan, and the coated pipe had to be
preserved and stored at the coating facilities until it was
loaded-out for direct delivery to the pipelay vessel.
Bredero Shaw was able to provide the necessary logistics
and storage solutions and utilised the company’s upgraded
Kabil port facilities, located near its Indonesian plant. This
site provides access to three deepwater berths, two of which
include priority availability for Bredero Shaw for load-in and
load-out.
Shah Deniz 2
Bredero Shaw was contracted by BP for the Shah Deniz Phase
2 development and the SCPX export pipeline. Shah Deniz and
SCPX are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of
the most complex gas value chains ever developed, which
will export gas from the Caspian region to European market.
Bredero Shaw’s scope of work includes the SCPX export
pipeline, Shah Deniz 2 Flowlines, and the Shah Deniz 2 Export
Lines. The project includes 1125 km of linepipe requiring four
different coating systems. The coatings will be applied at
its facilities in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and Orkanger, Norway.
Additionally, a significant portion of the work will be performed
in-country in Azerbaijan.
Bredero Shaw’s approach provides BP with a seamless global
solution. This involved the establishment of operations and
complex agreements with multiple parties in several countries,
including the formation of an alliance with SOCAR, the national
oil and gas company of Azerbaijan. Working with more than
Figure 2. Intellicoat – automated field joint coating solution.
86 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
300 local Azeris staff, Bredero Shaw is responsible for upgrading
to the Caspian Pipe Coating facility, and will also be responsible
for operations during the coating process.
New solutions
As oil and gas operators explore new frontiers, these new
fields often require the development of new solutions and
re-engineering of existing products. With ongoing innovation
through research and development, ShawCor is bringing new
products to market, improving equipment and processes, and
establishing advanced testing capabilities.
Thermotite® Ultra™
Bredero Shaw’s new Thermotite® Ultra™ is an innovative subsea
insulation system comprised of a specialty-engineered blend
of polymers with unique mechanical and thermal properties.
This new system does not utilise glass microspheres, thereby
enabling unlimited depth installation and reducing the risk of
compromised thermal performance due to glass breakage or
degradation during service. The system is rated for operating
temperatures up to 120˚C.
IntelliCOAT™
Demonstrating its continued commitment to product and
process development, ShawCor has made strategic investments
to introduce new technologies and automation that deliver
step-change improvements to the pipeline industry. With
IntelliCOAT™, ShawCor has developed the first fully automated
system to control the application of heat-shrinkable sleeves.
IntelliCOAT allows the finished pipeline asset to benefit
from a seamless anti-corrosion system with factory grade
quality throughout the entire length of the pipeline without
compromising at the field joints. Each heat-shrinkable sleeve
is applied by the system in an identical manner – with heating
intensity, time, and sequence all tightly monitored and
controlled to produce best-in-class quality, while at the same
time providing measureable gains in productivity and operator
safety.
Advanced testing capabilities – SSV
ShawCor has constructed its own simulated service vessel
(SSV) at its research and development facilities in Toronto,
Canada. The SSV simulates the service conditions experienced
by insulated subsea systems by applying pressure to water
surrounding these systems, while controlling the temperature
inside the pipe. By measuring the heat flow, thermal
conductivity and compressive creep of the insulating material,
both the thermal efficiency and depth rating capabilities of the
insulation can be confirmed, and the design of the system can
be verified. Additionally, having its own testing facilities has
proven to be a benefit in managing project schedules, allowing
ShawCor to confirm thermal insulation designs for its customers
in a timely manner prior to production.
Expanding solutions through acquisitions
In addition to developing its own products and services,
ShawCor also focuses on inorganic growth opportunities.
DESIGN
&BUILD
Mears’ Horizontal Directional Drilling is your single point of responsibility.
Guided by our engineering expertise, we overlap the design and construction
phases of a project to minimize risk, abbreviate the delivery schedule and
provide the optimum solution for your project.

- Conventional HDD Crossings

- Marine crossings
(Water-to-Water and Shore Approaches)
- Hard Rock Drilling
- Design/build
- Engineering, Procurement and Construction

Mears Design/Build: Engineering solutions

developed to meet geographical, environmental
and climatic challenges head-on.

MEARS GROUP, INC. - HORIZONTAL DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

2800 Post Oak Blvd., Ste. 3010
Houston, TX 77056
281-448-2488
www.mears.net
For more information, please visit our website at www.mearsHDD.net
Certified in Safety, Quality, and Environmental: OHSAS 18001:2007, ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004
 Socotherm – expanding the reach of flow
assurance coating
Socotherm is a leading provider of thermal insulation, anti-
corrosion, internal and concrete weight coatings for onshore
and offshore pipelines. Socotherm has coating locations in the
Figure 3. Bredero Shaw’s complete coating solution.
Figure 4. Vintri solution for asset management.
Figure 5. Dhatec solutions for pipe transportation.
88 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
Gulf of Mexico, Italy, and Argentina, and has a 12 year track
record with over 680 km of insulation coating. Socotherm
has been selected as the coating provider for over 30 major
offshore projects in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and Brazil.
Among these have included some of the most challenging
deepwater projects, with water depths reaching 2600 m and
temperatures of 149°C.
Socotherm’s flow assurance system, Wetisokote®, is
comprised of a five-layer, multi-pass polypropylene insulation
system combining anticorrosion protection, insulation, and
mechanical resistance. Wetisokote can be applied to flowlines,
risers, spools, and jumpers, and is applicable for J-lay, S-lay, and
reeling. Wetisokote can be applied in thicknesses exceeding
100 mm, and is rated for water depths up to 3000 m and design
temperatures up to 150°C. The Wetisokote system complies
with industry coating UV and wet/dry ageing requirements.
By adding Socotherm to the ShawCor family of companies,
ShawCor has expanded its flow assurance reach both
geographically and technically, providing a broader and more
complete suite of insulation coating solutions for its customers.
Dhatec – improving pipe handling and logistics
Pipe damage that occurs during pipe handling and storage
presents delays and increased costs to customers. With the
acquisition of Dhatec in January 2015, ShawCor is able to offer
its customers dramatic improvement in pipe protection, pipe
handling and pipe storage. Dhatec specialises in developing and
manufacturing solutions to ensure damage free pipes through
the entire logistics supply chain.
Among Dhatec’s products available for pipe closure is the
plug with an engineered breathable membrane, which prevents
water penetration into the pipe, while allowing airflow. It
provides both bevel protection and pipe closure, is suitable
for lifting with hooks or spreader bar, and is suitable for pipe
transport.
Dhatec also provides products for superior pipe storage,
including Pipe Stop, which consists of a steel reinforced
connectable rail system with matching block to support pipes
during storage. This product is an alternative to sand berms
and can be adjusted for use with both large and small diameter
pipe. Pipe Stop provides safe pipe support, is quickly adjusted
without additional tools, is highly durable and is safe for coated
pipe surfaces.
Vintri Technologies – asset management
solutions
ShawCor recognises that quality products are critical to its
customers. In addition, data that accompanies each individual
pipe used in pipeline construction is significantly increasing in
value. As legislation and regulatory requirements tighten, the
need for reliable data for asset traceability through each step of
the pipeline construction process becomes ever more critical.
ShawCor has therefore initiated PipeCert™, a software
solution that addresses the critical customer needs for
pipe asset management. ShawCor has partnered with Vintri
Technologies Inc., becoming a minority shareholder, and
together launching its VintriPlant asset management solution.
ShawCor and Vintri have developed a system that has the
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 capability of capturing the necessary data over the life of the
pipeline.
This tracking solution captures and stores component
quality information on each individual pipe. The individual
pipes are stencilled with a unique barcode making it possible
to provide asset traceability for each pipe during each stage in
the pipeline construction process. The information is stored in
the cloud for data interpretation, security and query to support
real-time access and long-term asset management.
ShawCor began implementation of this system during Q3
of 2013. VintriPlant is now installed in all of Bredero Shaw’s
US plants, and rollout has begun for installation in all of its
Canadian plants, and plans are in place to rollout the system
worldwide.
Looking forward
ShawCor sees the opportunity to build on this solutions-based
concept to provide more robust solutions for its customers.
With the initiation of PipeCert, and the incorporation of Vintri
solutions for data collection, ShawCor sees the significance
of providing pipeline data to its customers – not just in
the pipeline operation phase, but beyond into the pipeline
management phase. To this end, ShawCor has invested in new
technologies to provide active pipeline monitoring for both
onshore and offshore pipelines.
Offshore monitoring
ShawCor is investing through a joint Norwegian industry
consortium to develop real time data collection on a subsea
Figure 6. Socotherm – insulation coating solution.
90 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
flowline. This solution will allow for the continuous monitoring
of pipeline and riser conditions. This prototype includes a belt
that is integrated into the wet insulation of a pipeline, with
sensors that measure data such as pipe wall thickness, pressure,
temperature, vibration, tension, movement, corrosion and
fatigue. This continuous collection and interpretation of data
supports instant and fact-based decision-making. The future of
this technology will allow operators to optimise their capital
spending using real time data.
Onshore monitoring – Zedi
Similarly, ShawCor has invested in Zedi, a Calgary based
company that has developed and deployed solutions for
remote field monitoring and related data management to
optimise oil and gas well production. Building on this concept,
ShawCor and Zedi have entered into a joint development
agreement in order to develop monitoring and connectivity
solutions for pipeline and OCTG applications.
The aim of this initiative is to utilise sensors installed in
the field joint to measure and monitor pipeline performance
while in service. Parameters will include stress (axial and
hoop), temperature (pipeline and ambient), vibration and wall
thickness. Data will be consolidated at designated locations
along the pipeline and relayed to a data centre using remote
communication technology equipment adapted from Zedi’s oil
and gas equipment management solutions.
As offshore oil and gas production requires the
implementation of sophisticated technologies, ShawCor
is taking a leading role. The company has demonstrated
its capacity to provide unique solutions to address the
most demanding and complex projects such as Inpex
Ichthys and Shah Deniz 2. Working with a world class team
with unmatched knowledge and experience, ShawCor is
developing new products, revolutionising existing products,
and acquiring and investing in companies with products and
services that promote its efforts to provide customers with
unrivalled solutions.
ShawCor Ltd. is a growth-oriented, global energy services
company operating worldwide through nine divisions. Among
these divisions, Bredero Shaw, Socotherm and Canusa-CPS
provide linepipe and field joint coating for onshore and
offshore oil, gas and water pipelines.
Through its various divisions, ShawCor has become
one of the most trusted names in pipeline solutions. With
decades of global experience across a spectrum of onshore
and offshore projects, from its unmatched knowledge base
and experience of linepipe and field joint coating, logistics,
weld inspection and data capture, ShawCor is adapting to
the changing needs of the oil and gas industry, especially for
offshore and deepwater developments. ShawCor aspires to
leverage its full capabilities in order to offer customers with
complete pipeline solutions. To achieve this, ShawCor is
combining the products, services and considerable experience
of its operating businesses to develop new solutions, and
continually looking to acquire new capabilities to better
service its customers.
This is the future ShawCor envisions. Going beyond
products to provide intelligent solutions for its customers.
art
A mixture of

&
science
P
ipeline construction can
move at a fast pace with
crews and equipment
advancing along the
Joe Hockberger and Mark
Wertzberger, Michels Corporation,
USA, present essential factors that
right-of-way in a strategically play into a contractor’s ability to
co-ordinated dance.
If not properly mitigated,
successfully perform dewatering
a high groundwater table can operations along pipeline spreads.
either halt or stall construction,
or compromise safety and quality.
However, experienced and properly equipped dewatering experts can identify solutions and lower
groundwater levels in a variety of soil conditions.
In the past 50 years, there has been an emergence of contractors that specialise in construction
dewatering. Mi-Con, a division of Michels Corporation, might be a relatively new addition to the field,
but its leadership team has some of the most significant experience in the industry when it comes to
providing customers with safe, efficient and economical solutions to dewatering issues. Additionally,
Michels has been using dewatering techniques while constructing pipeline spreads throughout its
history.

91
 Dewatering can account for a large percentage of the work
during peak periods. Pipeline dewatering projects can be among
the most challenging for many reasons, including situations where
issues must be addressed in short order. Changing soil conditions,
harsh weather occurrences, environmental restrictions, seasonal
fluctuations in groundwater and river levels, labour jurisdictions,
and local laws and ordinances can become unanticipated
obstacles.
Essential factors
While there are common elements to all dewatering strategies,
pipeline dewatering is unique and customers can benefit from
finding contractors with specific skills and equipment necessary
to turn a project into a success instead of a failure. Many factors
play into a contractor’s ability to successfully perform dewatering
operations along pipeline spreads. Among them are:
Experience
Subsurface conditions can change constantly across many miles
and spreads on a pipeline project. A contractor must understand
Figure 1. A Mi-Con crew works to lower groundwater to create
a safe work environment on a pipeline spread in Illinois.
92 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
not only what subsurface conditions are present, but whether
those conditions are right for dewatering. In general, granular
soils that allow water to move through it must be present for
dewatering systems to be effective. Next, the contractor should
be knowledgeable and experienced with a variety of dewatering
methods and associated equipment. Dewatering is a mixture
of art and science; its most skilled practitioners have years of
field experience which are essential for the most efficient and
economical diagnosis and treatment of groundwater issues.
Flexibility
No two pipeline construction projects are exactly alike, and
neither are any two dewatering projects. An effective contractor
should be able to visit a potential project, assess the conditions,
and determine which method will be most effective. In some
cases, alternate methods will also be developed to ensure
equipment will be available should groundwater not flow as
expected.
The systems most commonly used on pipeline dewatering
projects are wellpoints, deep wells and sock pipes.
)) Wellpoints. A wellpoint system consists of a series of small
diameter pipes (wellpoints) with a screened section on one
end that are installed vertically into the ground either by
auger drilling or high pressure water jetting. The wellpoint
is attached to a collection piping manifold (header) that has
been placed under suction by an attached vacuum-assisted
pumping unit. The suction draws water from the ground,
and the pump discharges a combination of air and water.
Wellpoints are best suited for shallow aquifers where water
levels need to be lowered no more than 20 ft below the
pump suction, allowing for pipe placement in a workably dry
condition.
)) Deep wells. A deep well system consists of one or more
dewatering wells drilled alongside and at least 10 ft deeper
than the bottom of the excavation. Groundwater flows via
gravity into the well screen and lowers the water level around
the well. In coarser soil conditions, large pumps can be utilised
in deeper wells and achieve the required drawdown volume
with fewer wells. This method is particularly effective in high
volume soils within deeper aquifers.
)) Sock pipes. Horizontal dewatering (trenched or directionally
drilled sock pipe) is similar in concept to traditional wellpoint
systems. A screened pipe is placed below the trench bottom,
but it does not require suction header or maintenance of
multiple wellpoint valves. The absence of the header piping
and valued hoses on the surface provides the contractor
with greater access around the trench. Trenching equipment
capable of placing sock pipe 18 - 20 ft deep is neither
common nor inexpensive, but offers advantages that can
outweigh the cost.
Responsiveness
Successful pipeline construction dewatering requires a nimble
and responsive contractor. Extended timelines are not luxuries
often afforded on dewatering jobs; in fact, it is not unusual for
a problem to be detected within weeks, days or even sooner
than when it needs to be addressed and resolved. Look for a
contractor who can quickly get an experienced person on site
to review the situation, make a recommendation, estimate the
work, and mobilise an appropriately equipped crew. Delays caused
by unanticipated subsurface conditions can severely hamper Conclusion
pipelaying operations. Dewatering contractors with access Pipeline contractors and project owners know that it is
to equipment and personnel capable of swiftly handling any critical to keep construction projects safe and on schedule.
condition can minimise delays and provide relief to a difficult Proper dewatering techniques delivered by skilled,
situation. Look for dewatering experts who perform emergency knowledgeable contractors can go a long way toward
service around the clock. achieving that goal. It has often been said that dewatering
is a mixture of art and science. Make sure you look for a
Accuracy contractor like Mi-Con that will combine its equipment
Dewatering experts are skilled at quickly and accurately and its expertise to get your job done correctly and safely.
assessing which type of system (or systems) will best address A properly assessed and implemented dewatering plan
a groundwater issue. They also determine the proper crew can avoid headaches; an inferior one could end up causing
size, as well as type and amount of equipment necessary. more.
Solutions can vary based on
subsurface conditions, amounts of
water and other factors mentioned
above. In general terms, wellpoints
and sock pipes are the primary
dewatering methods for mainline
trench excavation, which are often
relatively shallow and require
dewatering for a relatively short
period of time. Wellpoint systems
and drilled wells are often utilized

Extreme
for jack and bore operations because
the excavations are deeper and last
for longer periods of time. Well
systems are more expensive than
wellpoint and sock pipe systems, and

Wireless
often only necessary for excavations
that are deeper than 20 ft or when
a larger volume of water must be
moved than can be handled by a
wellpoint or sock pipe system.

History
As long as pipelines have been When oil and gas flow in extreme
installed, dewatering has been part
of it. In its infancy, dewatering environments, so does critical data.
generally consisted of using an
excavator bucket to bale water ProSoft Technology’s Fast Industrial
from an excavation. The process Hotspots are built to withstand the
was as dangerous as it was costly
extremes of wellheads in the desert,
and inefficient. When groundwater
recharged quicker than it could be and offshore rigs in the Arctic.
removed, slopes caved, putting into
peril the workers in the trench. • Fast 802.11n / MIMO speeds to 300 Mbps
Next, contractors used pumps • C1D2 and ATEX Zone 2 rated
to remove water and sumps to filter
sand from it. The result was a more • -40 to +75 C operating temperature
stable trench, but the method was • Extreme shock/vibration rated
lacked the efficiency needed to meet
production demands. • Secure Digital configuration storage for quick field replacement
Wellpoints emerged as the most
prominent in a line of more efficient
pumping methods, followed by deep
wells and sock pipes. The industry For more information,
continues to rely on tried and true visit psft.com/A2E
methods while pursuing new ways
to even more efficiently address Where Automation Connects
dewatering needs.
+1-661-716-5100

A S I A PAC I F I C | A F R I CA | E U RO P E | M I D D L E E A S T | L AT I N A M E R I CA | N O RT H A M E R I CA
Keep Updated

Keep up to date
with us to hear
the latest
pipeline news

For more news visit:

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Mark Slaughter, Product Line Manager,
Applus RTD, presents an array of inline inspection
tools that contribute to pipeline safety at a time
when asset integrity is ever more crucial for
operators.

INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY

M
illions of kilometres of major oil and gas pipelines around the world transport
environmentally sensitive hydrocarbon products from the wellheads to
commercial and residential end-users. As the network of metal pipelines ages,
and with many now functioning well beyond their initial operational life, the
challenge for the industry is to ensure this vast pipeline network maintains the highest
level of pipe integrity and public safety.

Figure 1. RTD Rotoscan.

95
 Inline inspection tools have been improved over the years
to manage the rigorous inspection and maintenance schedule
and to increase the accuracy of the inspection data. With
today’s intelligent ILI tools, higher resolution inspection data
can collect tens of thousands of anomalies. Today, more
focus is on unpiggable pipelines and effective ILI technology
to perform integrity assessments. These pipelines were not
Figure 2. Flow and gathering pipelines.
Figure 3. RTD Rayscan at a spool base.
Figure 4. RTD IWEX 3D data.
96 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
constructed with ILI inspection in mind and are therefore
an enormous financial and technical challenge for pipeline
operators. Some industries where these unpiggable pipelines
are located in are:
)) Upstream (exploration and production) pipelines.
)) Nuclear power pipes and pipelines.
)) Refining pipes and pipelines.
)) Offshore pipelines and risers.
)) Tank terminal pipelines.
)) Transmission lines.
Inspecting unpiggable pipelines
Engineers generally agree that all pipelines are piggable if
enough time, preparation and money is spent on finding an
effective inspection solution. As expected, when considering
the hundreds of thousands of miles of pipeline, developing
innovative inspection technology is a more effective and
realistic approach to this challenge. And it is a very big
challenge. As shown below, there are many different scenarios
that can make a pipeline unpiggable for conventional
inspection tools. Since there are so many different reasons
a pipeline is considered unpiggable, there are also many
different technology solutions. Typical reasons why a pipeline
is not suited for conventional ILI technology are:
)) Small diameter (less than 200 in. dia.).
)) Multidiameter pipelines.
)) Unbarred tees.
)) Bore restrictions – reduce port valves, step changes,
transitions, capable up to and beyond 40% with dual-
diameter configurations.
)) Small radius bends (less than 1.5 in. dia.).
)) Back to back bends under small internal diameter
scenarios.
)) Mitre bends.
)) No launch/receive pig trap facilities.
)) No area to position launch/receive pig trap facilities (site
layout restrictions).
)) Short lengths (speed issues).
)) Y-connections.
)) Low pressure/low flow/no flow scenarios.
Due to the variation in unpiggable pipeline configurations,
there is a necessity for different inspection technologies.
While there is no ‘one type fits all scenario’, the goal is to
design an unpiggable tool that can address as many pipeline
configurations as possible. Some examples of ILI unpiggable array beams can be steered, scanned, swept and focused
tool technologies are: electronically to optimise defect detection in complex
Inspection technologies: geometries or where only a minimal footprint is possible.
)) Remote field eddy current (RFEC). In 2008 Applus RTD developed its Rayscan system. The
Rayscan is an automated girth weld inspection system that
)) Ultrasonic. was first to become an EN/ISO standard compliant system. It
was at least twice as fast as traditional radiography and more
)) Magnetic flux leakage.
efficient, requiring a 50% reduction in crew size compared
)) Video Camera. to traditional methods. In addition, it improved inspection
quality with no retakes and far fewer errors.
Transportation mode: This was closely followed by the development of the
)) Free-swimming. RTD IWEX (inverse wave field extrapolation), the company’s
latest addition to its 3D inspection technology range. This
)) Tractor (crawler) driven. technique allows detailed inspection and mapping of defects
)) Tethered systems.

)) Wireline pull systems.

After discussing with key

customers the need for better
unpiggable technology, Applus
RTD started to develop its own
unpiggable suite of ILI tools. The
result of its extensive research and
development in this area has led to
the creation of its Applus RTD DTI
Trekscan.

Applus RTD’s solution

With a successful and long track
record in non-destructive testing
(NDT) and pipeline maintenance,
which stretched back more than
75 years, Applus RTD has been at
the forefront of developing effective
technology innovations to service
the pipeline industry.
The company’s Rotoscan
girthweld technology concept was
patented in 1952. The technology
found early success in pipemills and
subsequently, during the 1980s and
90s, found widespread utilisation
in the oil and gas industry. The RTD
Rotoscan technology operates in
extreme conditions around the world
including deserts, subsea and the
Arctic circle.
In 2000 Applus RTD developed
its Phased Array Rotoscan system
(PA128), an automated piping
weld inspection technology that
uses multiple ultrasonic elements
and electronic time delays to
create beams by constructive and
destructive interference. The phased

Figure 5. RTD PIT Tool.
Figure 6. RTD DTI Trekscan in a demo loop at the IPC 2014 in
Calgary.
within critical pieces of pipework. Its main advantage is a
comprehensive visual representation of the defect, based on
imaging algorithms, enabling data visualisation in 2D and 3D.
This can be used for more accurate characterisation in terms
of size, position and orientation, reducing human error during
interpretation.
The Applus RTD Pipeline Inspection Tool (PIT tool) sets
new standards in effective inspection of unpiggable pipelines.
It is a self-propelled and tethered crawler system, which
inspects pipelines from the inside. PIT has a long history
of providing inspection of subsea loading lines, high-risk
(deepwater) risers as well as many other unpiggable or difficult
to inspect (DTI) pipelines. From an open access point, a PIT
inspection system is introduced into the pipe. As it passes
down the pipeline, attached to a reinforced umbilical cable,
it takes measurements related to wall thickness and corrosion
on both the inside and outside of the pipe.
RTD DTI Trekscan is a suite of free-floating/swimming
tools, designed to traverse back-to-back 1D bends with a
maximum speed of 1 m/sec. (2.2 mph), travel bi-directionally
and traverse a large range of diameters and pipe
configurations.
The goal for the DTI Trekscan team was to have the most
accurate free-swimming unpiggable tool in the industry. For
98 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
this reason, Applus RTD invested heavily to ensure ample
sensor coverage with tight circumferential spacing, in addition
to the optimum axial sampling of the pipe. The tool also
operates at much faster speeds than comparable technologies,
thereby minimising operational burdens on the client. The
overall goal was to address as many types of unpiggable
pipeline configurations as possible.
Applus RTD’s Technological Centre is based in Rotterdam,
Holland. There, the team of engineers and physicists have
worked for over 18 months to build this latest generation of
unpiggable technology. Its speed and flexibility allows the ILI
tools to run in most petroleum products, water, and crude oils
under most operating conditions. The minimum and maximum
wall thickness to be measured by the tool is 2.8 mm (0.1 in.) up
to 50 mm (2 in.).
The critical to quality (CTQ) design decisions are:
)) Free floating/free-swimming tool.
)) Single entry/exit point pipeline access.
)) Capability of manoeuvring through consecutive 1D bends.
)) Capability of manoeuvring through internal diameter
transitions.
)) Capability of accurate wall thickness measurements (order
of magnitude 0.1 mm).
)) Having a high scanning resolution (order of magnitude
3 x 5 mm (radial x axial).
)) Having a high inspection speed (order of magnitude
1000 mm/sec.), where there is a trade off in favour of
speed as long as resolution meets the other criteria.
)) Inspection results are usable for further engineering
analysis.
The inspection report from the DTI Trekscan system
provides operators with assessed ranked and screened
ultrasonic survey data that will assist them with maintenance
planning for the inspected pipeline segments. The primary
goal of the tool’s design was to improve the quality of
information while minimising operating risks, which is a critical
factor when inspecting DTI pipelines.
Conclusion
In conclusion, contributing to pipeline safety in the industry
remains Applus RTD’s key focus at a time when asset integrity
is ever more crucial for operators. In order to meet these
industry requirements, Applus RTD has continually used
innovation R&D investment to produce the best in class
technologies for the industry.
Today’s intelligent ILI tools have allowed operators to
gather higher resolution inspection data to pinpoint tens of
thousands of anomalies in the industry’s infrastructure. The
ability to carry out more accurate inspection using these
intelligent tools can reduce operative risks and ultimately
save on operational downtime at a time when efficiency is
fundamental to the industry.
 CLEAN LANDFALL
SOLUTION
H
ow many projects suffer significant delays due to work can proceed unheeded. The technical challenges can
planning issues arising from the landfall element? be significant, but by careful planning, evaluation of the
The number is considerably higher than it options and selection of the appropriate methodology, the
should be. There are many examples of projects overall construction risks to the project can generally be
where the landfall or beach managed effectively.
crossing has been the cause Tim Ley, Technical Manager, Land Land and Marine
of major delays, sometimes and Marine Engineering Limited, Engineering Limited (Land
taking years to resolve. & Marine), a wholly owned
Careful long-term planning is
UK, examines how early planning subsidiary of J. Murphy &
essential to ensure that as far is the most important element in Sons Limited, has conducted
as reasonably possible, when providing a landfall scheme that is hundreds of landfall feasibility
the time finally arrives for the
pipeline to be installed, the
safe to install and constructed on time. studies and welcomes
opportunities to provide this

Figure 1. Flat-pack bundle launched from rail track routed around curve to avoid plant.

99

Figure 2. Pipeline bundle reaches the sea.
Figure 3. 74 m long pipe string being lowered onto transport
bogies in cofferdam at tunnel entrance.
type of support. The company is regularly commissioned
to carry out landfall and other studies and recent clients
include E.ON E&P UK, Genesis Oil & Gas Consultants,
Centrica, Statoil, BP Iraq and Worley Parsons Ltd.
Selecting a landfall solution
The early involvement of a specialist landfall contractor
can add great value to a project by identifying scenarios
which, after conducting risk assessments, will allow
recommendations to be made such that the most
suitable landfall solution can be agreed with the various
authorities. It cannot be overstressed that this can take a
significant amount of time – particularly for new landfall
locations. Where pipelines have previously been installed
at a gas terminal or tanker offloading facility, there is more
likely to be a good understanding and awareness of the
process and acceptance by the local community, planning
authorities and the various third parties. In these cases
100 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
the risk of disruption to the schedule
may be lower than for a green-field site
where there is no existing development or
experience. However, this should not be
assumed as environmental constraints and
safety implications have become more
stringent than they use to be, especially
if the original pipeline construction took
place decades earlier.
Working with environmental agencies,
the local planning authority and third
party organisations, explaining how the
pipeline or pipelines will be installed
at the landfall and how the connection
will be made within the terminal or to
the onshore pipeline should help to
alleviate concerns and establish a forum
whereby the benefits of the project can
be explained. For example, there may be
potential for local employment over the
short and longer term. These arguments
are not new and the process discussed is
commonplace for many projects. But in
some cases, the landfall issues may not
be addressed until much later in the project when, unless
the fundamental principles for the landfall have already
been thoroughly established, it may be too late to develop
the optimum construction method and this could result in
major delays and cost increases.
Some landfall methods lend themselves to
disconnecting the landfall scope from the offshore
pipelay scope. If the landfall pipeline or pipelines can be
constructed onshore – and pulled offshore, an opportunity
can be created to allow the landfall to be completed
ahead or independently from the main marine scope. In
cases where there is a potential for the landfall pipeline
or pipelines to be constructed onshore for installation by
pulling (or pushing) there can be particular advantages for
projects involving:
)) Multiple pipelines, e.g. flat-pack bundles.
)) Tunnelled landfall sections.
)) HDD and other trenchless landfalls.
The installation of a flat-pack bundle of pipes can
provide an extremely elegant and efficient landfall
solution. One example that highlights the many benefits
of using a flat-pack design is the Camisea project in
Peru, where four pipelines and an umbilical cable were
constructed onshore and launched as a bundle into a
single trench. To assemble the 3 km long, 5000 t bundle
in a continuous length, it was necessary to fabricate the
pipelines on land available inshore of a liquefaction plant
and a temporary rail track was therefore constructed
through a curve to align with the dredged trench as shown
in the photograph below. As the bundle entered the
water, the pipelines were progressively transferred from
rail bogies onto conveyor rollers and into the dredged

Figure 4. View of tunnel with pipeline and other services during installation.
Figure 5. Land & Marine 800 t linear winch.
trench. By accurate buoyancy control the pull forces
were reduced to less than 300 t and the bundle was
installed in a less than two days. It was fortuitous that this
method could be developed at a relatively late stage in
the project, otherwise the installation of such a complex
bundle, which included two 24 in. pipe-in-pipe cryogenic
lines, would have been more difficult and costly.
Opportunities to use techniques that allow the landfall
pipelines or bundle to be built onshore are sometimes
overlooked, often because early engineering and feasibility
studies are not carried out or did not identify the optimum
landfall location and technique. There are instances where
the development or expansion of an onshore plant such as
a refinery, power station or desalination plant takes little
or no account of the methods to install the submarine
102 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
pipelines, as different project management
teams without landfall experience may
not appreciate the methods used to install
submarine pipelines. Without a viable
landfall installation option the whole
project may not be able to get underway.
Tunnelled landfalls and
crossings
The use of tunnels to route landfall
pipelines is not new – they have been
used for many decades. However, the
development of advanced earth pressure
balance tunnel boring machines has
transformed the capability, speed and
above all, the safety of such operations
and tunnelling is a system that in some
cases can offer a viable and cost-effective
solution, both for landfalls and river
crossings.
A tunnel may be required to enable
the pipeline or pipelines to cross the cliff
face and to exit at a suitable depth on the
beach – as illustrated by many examples in
the UK at Bacton and Easington. These east
coast locations generally involve relatively
short tunnels of up to a few hundred
metres but other projects involving
tunnelled crossings for onshore pipelines
leading from the beach landfall location
may require much longer tunnels. One such
example is the Corrib pipeline, the route
for which ultimately required a 4.9 km long
tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay in County
Mayo in the North West of Ireland and
in 2013, Murphy International Limited, a
wholly owned subsidiary of J. Murphy &
Sons Limited, was awarded the contract to
install the 20 in. high pressure gas pipeline
in the tunnel. It was a requirement that the
gas pipe was to be installed in strings and
welded within the tunnel.
During 2014, over a seven week period, the gas pipeline
was installed in 74 m long sections and welded in the
tunnel. A number of other service lines and umbilical
cables were installed and each was secured to the tunnel
wall. The pipeline and service lines were installed within
schedule and no lost time injuries were sustained.
As an alternative to installing in sections and welding
the pipe in the tunnel, pipe strings can be assembled and
welded outside the tunnel and pulled into position. In
this case, welding inside the tunnel can be avoided and
clever methods can be adopted which reduce the manual
intervention required to the absolute minimum. As with
landfall techniques, the development of the tunnel design
from concept phase onwards, should anticipate the
pipe installation methodology by the involvement of a
specialist landfall or pipe pulling contractor so that simple, techniques developed will set new standards for winching
safe and effective pipeline installation can be carried out. operations.
Planning the project so that the tunnelling and pipeline
installation scopes are properly integrated should ensure Conclusion
each others success. Whatever the landfall scenario, the message is the same.
Early planning and the involvement of a specialist landfall
New winches break new ground contractor will pay dividends later. Whether the landfall
Landfall techniques that utilise pull offshore methods involves a pull offshore, a pull onshore, pipe installation
offer the advantage that buoyancy systems can be in a tunnel, pipe towing, HDD or other trenchless system,
designed to allow the pulling forces to be significantly the most important objective is to provide a landfall
reduced. For onshore pulls, i.e. pulling from a lay barge to scheme that is safe to install and can be constructed on
the beach, it is generally impractical for a large quantity time.
of temporary buoyancy to be
strapped to the pipeline so the
landfall contractor will need to
provide a high pull force. More
projects require longer, heavier
pipelines to be installed and
there is an increasing need to
provide larger winches.
For pipe pulling projects,
demanding very high pull forces
over significant distances, the
use of large diameter wire ropes
are required. The larger the
diameter and weight of wire
rope, the shorter the length of
wire that can be transported
on reels and handled so more
individual lengths of wire are
required. These need to be
connected together using spelter
sockets which are also large,
heavy and awkward to handle.
Whether using a linear winch on
a barge to pull offshore or on
the beach to pull onshore, there
will inevitably be a requirement
to pass sockets through the grip
boxes. Handling of large diameter
wires and spelter sockets,
especially under load, requires
that the design of modern winch
systems allows these operations
to be carried out safely and with
manual intervention reduced to a
minimum.
To help meet these needs,
Land & Marine has developed
new linear winches with up to
800 t capacity. These state-of-
the-art winches are designed
to operate with minimum
manual intervention for all
phases including socket passing
operations. The innovative
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 Figure 1. The excavator
worked to bring in additional
sandbags and material to
solidify the dam, as well as
place the pumping systems
that dewatered the area for
excavation.

Philippe Bisson, CASE Construction

Equipment, USA, discusses how a variety
of problems encountered on a river crossing
project in Illinois were tackled with an
excavator.

Dealing with
MOTHER NATURE
M
idwestern Contractors was formed in the
Chicago area after World War II, installing
piping systems for the oil and natural gas
industry. Today, the company focuses on
pipeline construction, station construction and system
maintenance around the Midwest. The company has also
worked from the Appalachians to the foothills of the
Rockies, from the Canadian border to Oklahoma.
Recently, the company completed a river crossing
project that is a small piece of a larger pipeline integrity

105
 project on a major gas transmission system that wraps as a crane and material handler as well for building the
around the Chicago area. River crossings are complex – dam that allowed them to work.
workers not only had to deal with Mother Nature, but
this particular crossing took place immediately next to Putting the pieces together
an active roadway. Given the limitations of onsite space, The river crossing project consists of many different
the company counted on its excavator (the CX350C from segments of work over a 1.8 mile span, including
CASE) to serve not only as its primary trenching tool, but hydrotests; excavation and piping modifications; launchers
and receivers being installed;
and brand new piping to be
placed underneath the river.
Midwestern Contractors
was responsible for
expanding the existing line
from a 16 in. pipe to a 24 in.
pipe. This would enable a
smart pig to run through
the system to monitor the
integrity of the line.
The work was done
in two phases. First, the
west side of the river was
dammed, dewatered and
excavated – and the new
24 in. pipe was put into
place. Then the east side
was dammed, dewatered and
excavated, with the second
section of pipe put into
place and tied into the pipe.
The excavation completed
in the riverbed measured
approximately 200 ft long,
15 ft wide and 8 ft deep.
The project did not come
without challenges. River
crossings can be difficult
for a number of reasons; for
example, the crews have to
control the surface water
and battle the elements.
“Mother Nature has
been our nemesis on this
project since this river reacts
rather quickly to the runoff
because there’s so much
suburbanised area,” says Mike
Purpura, Director of Business
Development for Midwestern
Contractors. “The runoff
isn’t absorbed by anything.
There’s no vegetation to slow
it down, so when it rains, the
river is either up or it’s down,
and that’s been a problem.”
The CX350C (80 000 lb,
266 HP) operated by
Figure 2. Midwestern Contractors was responsible for expanding the existing line from a 16 in. Midwestern Contractors
pipe to a 24 in. pipe. served a number of purposes

106 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015

on the jobsite. The machine was the first to wade into Contractors. The CASE Intelligent Hydraulic System (CIHS)
the river, placing massive sandbags that would serve as relies on four integrated control systems to make the best
the outer structure for the dam. Then, once the inflatable use of the machine’s hydraulic power and momentum,
sections of the dam were installed, the excavator worked resulting in excellent power and fuel efficiency (more
to bring in additional sandbags and material to solidify the dirt moved per gallon of fuel). The four systems include:
dam, as well as place the pumping systems that dewatered boom economy control (BEC), which reduces RPMs during
the area for excavation. boom down and swing; auto economy control (AEC), which
“It’s the versatility of the machine that really helps lowers RPMs during idle; swing relief control (SWC), which
the crews on these projects. This machine is an excavator, manages hydraulic power at the swing start; and spool
it’s a crane and it’s a mover of things. It’s doing a lot of stroke control (SSC) that adjusts hydraulic pressure during
different work and it has to be versatile,” Purpura says. “It digs
has to be precise in order to get that kind of work done, “It has a centraliser system, which allows you to track a
whether it’s lowering a trench box, setting the bladder machine and lift a load, all at the same time. It works really
dams, moving a pump in place, or whatever the task may well,” says Phillip Collins, an Operating Engineer with Local 150.
be.”
One of the biggest challenges of the
project was the small amount of workspace
the crews had to work with. They were not
only on the side of a busy road, but also
working on a 75 ft span of land between WORLD CLASS
the river and the road. With the CX350C,
Midwestern Contractors does not need an Line Pipe & Field Joint Processing
entire fleet of equipment; having fewer pieces
of equipment means more space to work.
“It’s not only the congestion, but the
safety issues that are involved with running
multiple pieces of equipment in a very
constrained jobsite,” Purpura says. “We have
to stay on the right-of-way, so the fewer
pieces of equipment, the better.”

Controlling the situation

Much of the work Midwestern Contractors
does revolves around tying into existing pipe.
According to Purpura, most of the company’s
clients have rules about how close workers
can be to the pipeline with mechanised
equipment.
“In order to stay within those parameters,
you need a machine that is very responsive
and allows you to do fine controlling. You
don’t want anything that could run the risk
of hitting an existing pipe. That would be Over the last decade Radyne Offshore has pioneered the effective use and development of induction heating
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The hydraulics of the machine was
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 “It makes the machine much safer to operate when around
individuals, and it’s a benefit for the operator running the
machine and the machine itself.”
The machine also features different power modes to
give operators the ideal mix of machine power and fuel
efficiency for each application – speed priority (SP), heavy
duty (H) and automatic (A).
“Even when you have it on the high end and use all the
power, it still performs smoothly. It functions and performs
great. You don’t have to worry about it being jerky,” Collins says.
Safety first
With the tight, confined working environment of the
riverbank, the excavator’s visibility was a key consideration
for the company. It provides a tremendous safety advantage
to the workers onsite, who must manoeuvre around power
lines and other obstacles.
Figure 3. The excavation completed in the riverbed measured
about 200 ft long, 15 ft wide and 8 ft deep.
108 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
“Conditions vary from muddy to very cramped close
quarters, and it allows you to see what’s behind you, how
close you are in tight conditions. In muddy conditions,
if someone were to slip or fall within your viewing area,
you could see that,” Collins says. “It’s a nice asset to
have.”
With ISO-compliant mirrors and a roof skylight, the
CX350C excavator offers excellent visibility. It also comes
standard with a rear camera, which aids in the operator’s
view to the back of the machine.
“I wish we had it on all our machines because… the
more eyes looking around, the better,” Purpura says. “We
appreciate any safety advantages we can gain with the CASE
equipment, and the fact that they’ve added the rear camera
view is terrific. Great thinking.
“I think it fits right in. It performs well in all aspects. It’s
a very good machine.”
Figure 4. Midwestern Contractors counted on its excavator to
serve not only as its primary trenching tool, but as a crane and
material handler as well for building the dam.
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 A future-proof

SCADA
system
P
ipeline SCADA systems are at the heart of the pipeline
operations management environment. Essentially,
they consist of a core SCADA platform supplemented
with specific gas and liquid applications that enable
a pipeline operator to manage the delivery contracts and
associated logistics in the most time and energy efficient
manner. The core SCADA platform covers functions like
monitoring, alarming, trending and reporting, whereas the
pipeline specific applications handle functions such as metering,
batch scheduling and tracking, leak detection and energy
management. As such, a pipeline SCADA system is an essential
element that can significantly increase profitability, provided it
is well implemented.
However, many pipeline SCADA systems that are in
use today have been tailored to suit a specific set of
circumstances. They lack both a standard system foundation
for supporting pluggable application modules and a core
design that ensures interoperability with enterprise IT
environments and policies. The maintenance and upgrade
of tailor-made applications, and their often complex system
architectures to protect them from breaches and security

110
The maintenance
and upgrade of
tailor-made SCADA systems
pose increasing challenges for
pipeline operators. Eduard van
Loenen, Yokogawa Electric
Corporation, the Netherlands,
provides a vision on how to tackle
such issues and address the
sustainability challenges faced.

111
 Although applications
should best serve the core
business of a pipeline operator
and offer sufficient agility to
adjust to changing pipeline
logistics, one should not
neglect the importance of
standardisation in connectivity
and functional modules. In
other words, to protect the
investment made in those
sophisticated applications over
the course of multiple system
upgrades, it is of paramount
importance to ensure that
they are built on a system
platform that is independent
of the underlying operating
system and are transportable
across new and existing IT
architectures.
Nowadays, fewer systems
exist in isolation; this is
because they have to meet
Figure 1. Enterprise operations platform. increasing demands for
operational efficiency and
regulatory compliance that
compromises, poses increasing challenges for pipeline require them to connect to and comply with an IT driven
operators. This article provides a vision on how to tackle such ecosystem and associated third-party (business) applications. As
issues and address the challenges faced in improving a system a result, systems maintenance will often be brought under the
to achieve a more sustainable solution. responsibility of the IT department, which will enforce the use
Pipeline operators are increasingly struggling to keep pace of appropriate IT standards with respect to security, interfaces
with changes in regulatory and IT policies and to maintain and system architecture.
and upgrade their pipeline SCADA systems in a cost-effective For IT departments to maintain these systems, it is
way. Failure in this endeavour risks exposing their systems important that they adhere to a standard, IT friendly
to newly emerging (cyber) security and safety risks, and architecture, ensuring smooth operating system updates and
often also leads to unexpected problems when upgrading the fast installation of security patches without compromising
or installing security patches for tailored applications. safety or 24/7 operation.
Unless a solid plan is put in place to migrate to a standard
system foundation and application architecture, the ‘cost of Evolving into an IT-friendly enterprise
ownership’ may eventually become uncontrollable and, in the operations platform
worst case scenario, an upgrade may end up as costly as a What can a pipeline operator do when faced with the situation
tear-out and replacement of the entire system. described above? Is there any future for an existing system
The major issues that make it difficult and costly to keep where everything is rigidly in place? Should a more sustainable,
these systems continuously up to date can be generally extensible and maintainable architecture be considered?
categorised as follows: Although the resolution will be very specific to each individual
situation, in many cases a costly system migration turns out to
)) Applications have been tailored too much to a specific job. be the only remaining option. To prevent early than expected
)) Hardware and software have different lifecycle timelines. system obsolescence, an operator should choose a design that
can easily adapt to a constantly changing IT environment. The
)) The absence of standard templates and functions that can fact that many pipelines are equipped with highly tailored
be easily modified and tuned to specific needs without SCADA systems and loosely coupled third-party applications
having to call upon application experts. and use multiple underlying proprietary databases does not
make this task any easier. Such complicated systems often
)) Lack of a solid, upgradable system platform based on open
require software engineers to add and/or modify source code
IT standards.
to effect the necessary changes.
)) Increase in size and complexity of the system due to the To take on these challenges and move from a monolithic
merging of projects and having to meet new requirements. solution based on tailored applications to a sustainable solution

112 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015

that protects the pipeline SCADA system investment and
improves the system’s lifecycle and efficiency, we should aim
for a solution that accomplishes the following major objectives:
)) Meet IT security, scalability and maintainability directives.
)) Provide a single, unified, scalable, flexible and platform
independent user environment.
)) Support an effective and agile information management
strategy.
)) Provide easily customisable object oriented templates and
functions.
capable of delivering pipeline applications in combination
with common supervisory and monitoring functions on a well
designed platform can provide such a sustainable solution. An
EOP that is able to take advantage of the latest off-the-shelf IT
technologies, such as virtualisation and multi-platform support,
is truly capable of protecting the pipeline SCADA system
investment in the long-term.
Before elaborating on what is needed to achieve the
identified major objectives, we will take a closer look at the
EOP structure envisaged in Figure 1. The platform architecture
is composed of comparatively autonomous layers that secure
and manage specific tasks. To comply with the enforced IT

But what architecture and

technology can support us in
achieving these objectives? An
efficient and agile information
management solution will need to
be much more comprehensive with
Track Your Pigs. Anywhere. AnyƟme.
respect to modularity, standardisation
of applications and services than
many traditional systems currently
are. At the very least, a single, unified Onshore
user environment that supports an LOCATE staƟonary pigs in launchers
integral operational philosophy will and receivers. TRACK anywhere
require the pipeline SCADA system along a pipeline with our new
modules and applications to have a mulƟ-frequency X-Series
common framework and a services programmable transmiƩers and
oriented structure. With the increase TRAXALL 770 Pig Tracking System.
in cyber-attacks and associated
risks for pipelines and other critical
infrastructure, a future-proof pipeline
SCADA system is also expected
to easily adapt and comply with
strict IT security and maintainability

Offshore
directives. The supporting framework
should be logical and highly
transparent for both operators and DETECT and RECORD
IT systems management while at the pipeline pig passages with
same time serving their best interests. our popular UL/CSA or
Considering these challenges, ATEX approved CD52
Yokogawa believes that a future- Bandit and CD52-316SS
proof pipeline SCADA system should signalers.
be based on a secure enterprise
operations platform (EOP) that is
designed to meet these requirements
and objectives. In a nutshell, a well
designed EOP provides for the
efficient utilisation of common
pipeline supervisory, monitoring, and
application functions within an ISA-99
based security framework.
Subsea
DEPLOY our CD52-A30/A45
What this implies is that the non-intrusive pig passage
use of a blend of software products detecƟon systems
from different vendors to compose to working depths
a pipeline SCADA system will in of 4,500 meters.
time be hard if not impossible to
maintain. Only a vendor that is

Pipeline Pig Tracking, Signaling, & CommunicaƟons Equipment

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, USA (918) 258-6068 sales@pigging.com

www.pigging.com
 (Figure 1). These common
foundation blocks ensure
that the applications and
other pipeline management
functions are consistent in
terms of user experience and
operational philosophy. This
consistency will reduce the
risks of costly mistakes and the
need for additional training.
Yokogawa also believes that the
interoperability of the different
EOP versions and application
modules is much improved.
Security and role based
authorisation can be enhanced
if it is centrally managed
in a consistent manner for
all pipeline SCADA system
functions, applications and
Figure 2. User centric information visualisation across an EOP infrastructure. users. Therefore, all pipeline
SCADA system functions
and applications on an EOP must be adapted to work with
advanced domain controller software.
More detailed insight can now be provided based on this
vision. This will identify the requirements for achieving the
major objectives and show how these can bring strong benefits
to improving the pipeline SCADA system lifecycle while cost
effectively maintaining IT compliance.

Meeting IT security and maintainability

directives
IT administrators should be able to use a single environment to
monitor and manage the authorisation and authentication of
users, services and applications. By managing all deployments
and upgrades from the same user environment, IT departments
can rapidly and effectively respond to change requests. As part
of the envisaged EOP, central web-based user management
using functions and applications that have been adapted
to the advanced domain controller software is essential to
accomplishing shared goals such as:
)) Reducing operational costs.
Figure 3. Information management framework.
)) Improving efficiency and increasing productivity.

)) Providing consistent IT service levels.

directives, best in class security measures are taken with each
layer.
The EOP environment provides all common functions and
interfaces across the IT infrastructure, including communication
interfaces, data structures and information models, as well as a
graphical user environment (GUE), while the industry application
suites (pipeline management and others) are all focused on
their specific domains. A well designed EOP architecture can
guarantee portability and upgradability of standard pipeline
applications and the common functions that they utilise.
The data, information, and user management functions of
the EOP are handled respectively at the integrated operations,
process information and unified user environment layers
)) Maintaining security and access control.
In this respect, one must also take into account that a good
solution should not only meet current needs but also provide
scalability. For instance, providing the ability to completely
automate the deployment and updating of software on a
scheduled basis.
Providing a unified and flexible user
environment
Consistency in the user experience and operational philosophy
across applications and other pipeline management functions

114 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015

 Anodes
945
is a key benefit of managing pipeline infrastructure from a unified user environment.
At the same time, it can allow better collaboration and information sharing across
disciplines (operations, logistics and business).
Unification at the user environment level facilitates the centralised management
of all pipeline operational tasks and the audit trails for individual domain users.
Having the same appearance and operational philosophy across applications also The number of pages
reduces training costs and lessens the risk of user errors. Further improvements can be
you'll find at the
made by integrating audit trail and play-back functionality.
world's largest

Rectifiers
For improved flexibility and scalability, the user environment must be platform
independent. Further, it must have a web-based interface that relies on standards cathodic protection &
such as HTML 5 to facilitate remote deployment and user access, thus ensuring that corrosion control
no local software or configuration updates are required. website.
Supporting efficient and agile information management
Data from sources addressed at the field interface level of the pipeline SCADA
system will be fed to multiple pipeline management and application functions. To
ease the task of managing and sharing such data across the architecture, it will be

57

Instruments
normalised and structured based on a common process information model at the
EOP’s integrated operations layer.
Thanks to improved data consistency, validation and protection, information
essential to the management of pipeline operations is instantly available, ensuring a
timely, safe and prompt response whenever operator intervention is required. Even
with very large scale systems such as those used to manage nationwide pipeline
networks, the EOP supports data acquisition at sufficiently high speeds. Other
Years Fighting Corrosion
benefits of a common process information model include improved maintainability,
quality, efficiency and security (Figure 3). Agility is ensured by keeping data and
information management independent.

Electrodes
8
Once information is properly managed, the next step is to deliver it in a user-
centric context, without the replication of data and displays. Only then will the user
experience align with pipeline operators’ expectations with respect to information
transparency and maintainability.

Easily modifiable/tunable templates and functions

As no two pipeline applications are identical and operational philosophies can differ STOCKING LOCATIONS
from one pipeline operator to the next, any standardisation measure will still require USA 888-532-7937
Int'l 310-532-9524

Test Stations
the ability to easily adapt templates and functions without having to call in the
application experts. Such an intuitive application template and function management sales@farwestcorrosion.com
environment should also be an integral part of the total solution and be seamlessly
incorporated in the EOP.

Conclusion
The requirements for ensuring a sustainable pipeline automation and management
solution and protecting the investment in its critical operational environment
are closely related. This favours an IT-friendly platform that facilitates common
functions for open connectivity; management of process, users and information;
supervision; visualisation; and security. Such an Enterprise operations platform (EOP)
Isolators

should be able to provide the fundamental elements for any industry application,
including pipeline management, to ensure data and information consistency and
security across the formulated solution, in compliance with strict regulatory and IT
directives. This helps to prevent the waste of costly resources, eliminates the need
for (re-) development efforts, and reduces the cost of software/application training
programs.
Yokogawa believes that engagement with a total solution provider that
offers such sustainable solutions based on a secure EOP can eliminate the burden
of costly upgrades, migrations and associated IT issues. By making use of these
Coatings

solutions to address the need for reduced cost of ownership, increased agility and
continuity, pipeline operators can rest easy and maximise the profitability of their
operations.
 KEEPING

connected
Glenn Longley, Senior Product Manager
for IO & Software, FreeWave Technologies,
USA, discusses automating pipelines through
enhanced monitoring and control.

T
he concept of pipeline automation (and its
corresponding technologies) is a primary driver
of competitiveness for all types of organisations.
Increasingly, it is critical for energy and utility
companies looking to improve upon their pipeline
monitoring efforts. Energy and utility organisations have
faced countless regulatory compliance issues, especially
due to recurring accidents and events that have made front
page news. Issues in shipping large liquid quantities by rail
have increased focus on the safety of shipping options
and increased the pressure on pipeline operators to ensure
flawless operations. Furthermore, these industries face plenty
of challenges going forward, including reliable and secure
remote monitoring of assets in hazardous locations, 24 hour
production demands and managing high costs in both time
and resources. Traditionally, companies were tasked with
seeking multiple solutions to address these challenges –
ad-hoc communication networks or combinations of networks
– to try to suit production and monitoring applications.
But as wireless communications has grown in popularity,
and the machine to machine (M2M) and industrial internet
of things (IoT) has evolved, industrial markets are adopting
wireless technology more than ever. As a result, IoT and M2M
communications markets have flourished.

116
117
 The demand for reliable and economical monitoring
solutions for remote and/or hazardous environments has
spread across several industrial markets with remotely
located assets, such as oil and gas. Many companies within
this industry utilise a variety of wireless communication
technologies to optimise and automate production while
safely monitoring pipeline infrastructures. For example,
wireless input/output (I/O) technology with a class 1,
division 1 (C1D1) UL listing is designed to perform in hazardous
environments where explosive gases may be present.
Not only has the use of wireless grown, but the days of
polling a single data point on a pipeline, such as pressure or
flowrate, may soon be a thing of the past. Companies that
leverage expansive pipeline infrastructures focus more on
the ubiquity of communications for monitoring and control
applications of remote assets. Wireless I/O technology
designed for IoT and M2M communications is helping many
companies gather more data. Using a high I/O count connects
points on a pipeline that were not joined previously –
enabling additional sensor data almost anywhere on a network
and allowing the data from multiple points to be transported
back to the centralised operator offices.
New C1D1 wireless I/O technologies
As industrial markets focus more on safety, automation and
improving operational efficiencies, the demand for more
Figure 1. Operator views SCADA information from a central
control room to check the various readings from sensors along
the pipeline.
Figure 2. For hazardous environments (C1D1), wireless I/O
technology will require an explosion-proof casing for safety
purposes.
118 World Pipelines / APRIL 2015
intensive monitoring, measurement and process control has
naturally followed. The presence of explosive gases along
the pipeline, at tanks or the wellhead, creates additional
challenges. While the prevention of costly damages lies
largely in diligent and continuous pipeline monitoring, there
also needs to be an assurance that the communication devices
enabling the monitoring from sensors and devices will help
minimise risk among the presence of flammable/explosive
gases. With the appropriate technology, an organisation
can monitor more points at a wellhead, along a pipeline or
at a facility, and achieve the extra level of safety with C1D1
communication devices. Additionally, if oil and gas companies
are able to reduce the amount of time they are sending field
technicians to hazardous locations through wireless I/O
monitoring, they are creating a safer environment for their
employees.
It is essential to monitor the pipeline in order to determine
if there are leaks. The length and age of our pipeline
infrastructure places an increased importance on having more
monitoring and control points. Operators need to know where
their product is so they can effectively control the valves
and different control elements along that pipeline. Some of
this monitoring and control is driven by regulation, which, in
several cases, has been put into place because of catastrophic
events. For example, California law makers tightened state
regulations as a result of the San Bruno pipeline explosion,
which now includes more stringent requirements for increased
monitoring along the entire pipeline infrastructure.
With the emphasis on intelligent operations, oil and
gas companies are no longer focused solely on monitoring
points A and B. Modern monitoring technology takes a more
intensive look at the pipeline. Operators are watching things
like pressure at many points on the pipeline, and they now
have the ability to close or open valves as needed through
automation technology. More thorough monitoring and
control creates a safer pipeline and minimises the chance for a
catastrophic event.
Wireless I/O and the economic benefits
In addition to increased safety, there are significant economic
benefits when automating certain pipeline operations with the
use of wireless I/O communications. In the past, several tasks
would have required someone to drive out and physically
check measurements and pipeline integrity issues. Through
automation, wireless I/O can provide optimal coverage and
Figure 3. Gas pipeline above ground valve in Arnegard, North
Dakota.
bring all types of sensor data back the operator’s offices. This not only reduces labour
costs – it also simplifies and increases operational efficiencies. By using automation
processes and technology that is continuously polling data, operators have a real-time
view into what is happening and where.
Today, oil and gas companies increasingly are leveraging automation practices and Zero defects in
technologies because manual measurement is not as accurate, it does not provide the
most up-to-date information, and it costs excessive time, money and other resources TIG welding
& cladding
to send people out into the field for checking or fixing a problem. With C1D1 wireless
I/O technology, operators can safely determine flow levels and pressures in the
pipelines and remotely control these values from afar.

The critical components of C1D1 wireless I/O

In the long-term, anything that can be streamlined and made more effective will be
automated. There is always the desire to monitor additional data points and ideally,
every single piece of data will eventually be available for pipelines operators on a
computer or smart device without having to travel to the field. C1D1 wireless I/O
technology continues to help operators head in that direction, serving as both the
wireless component and interface to the sensor. The C1D1 wireless I/O technology
that is available today comes in many options, but a few critical components remain
the same. In order for a system to meet the oil and gas industries needs it must have:
)) Wireless – when the appropriate wireless technology is chosen for pipeline
monitoring, energy and utility companies will receive reliable data that is
secure and with low latency. The remote locations of pipelines, long distance
requirements and extreme weather conditions support the case for the use of
wireless I/O, especially those technologies designed for last mile communications.

)) Precision – accurate, real-time data is highly valuable. It can help prevent disasters
and provide data that leads to smart business decisions. Without precision, a
wireless I/O network loses a large component of its value proposition.

)) Reliability – at the end of the day, a wireless I/O system will be evaluated on e ldin g & c
lw la
whether or not it did its job of providing the data that the operator needed when
ta d
they needed it. Reliability is of the utmost importance when it comes to wireless

di
bi

M2M communications.

ng
Or

)) Cost – purchasing wireless M2M communication technology is always going to

be a financial commitment and the price will have a factor in the selling point.
However, regardless of price, a system needs to be purpose-built to meet the
needs of the pipeline operators.

Figure 4. Example of IO application.

ldin g & c
we la
d
ed
di
is
an

ng
M ech

A member of

www.polysoude.com
 Advertisers’ What are the available technology options?
Currently, there are a variety of wireless C1D1 wireless I/O

Directory monitoring technologies available to oil and gas operators. The

solutions range from intricate integrated systems to individual
sensors for monitoring specific points along a pipeline or at
Advertiser Page the wellhead. There is also a large number of class 1, division
2 (C1D2) UL listed wireless devices used for I/O. While these
ABC 104
devices are permitted in hazardous environments, they are
Aegion 43
limited to areas that do not usually have hazardous gases
Anticorrosion Protective Systems (APS) 83
present and when connected to sensors in a C1D1 environment,
Bredero Shaw 7
they are often installed by running wire from the C1D1 sensor to
Canusa-CPS OFC, 53
the C1D2 location for the wireless M2M communication device.
CDI 113 A C1D1 solution adds convenience and cuts back on wiring, by
CRC-Evans 17, INSERT allowing the I/O device to be installed directly into the C1D1
DENSO GmbH 35 environment.
Denso North America, Inc. 101 New C1D1 solutions offer the ability to connect a large
Enduro OBC number of I/O points with long-range monitoring on the
Erciyas 45 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz radio frequency spectrum, which is ideal
Farwest Corrosion Control Company 115 for the needs of energy and utility companies. A reputable
Gastech Conference & Exhibition 73 system will be designed to excel at leveraging an existing
Girard 83 install base with a backwards compatible product. There are
Holdtight Solutions, Inc. 71 options that can communicate with legacy systems to protect
Inductotherm Heating & Welding Ltd 107
any initial investments in the wireless M2M communications
infrastructure. Additional benefits that wireless I/O technology
IPLOCA 79
can offer include:
Jan De Nul Group 37
103
)) Multiple IO points – the ability to offer multiple analogue
Jotun
inputs, digital inputs with pulse counters and digital outputs.
LOGSTOR 69
Maats Pipeline Equipment 4 )) Ethernet and serial communication capabilities –
Magnatech International IBC connection as a terminal server from Ethernet to a serial
Mears Group, Inc. 87 network.
Midwestern 2
)) Solar panel and battery – the battery allows for operation
NACE 47
at night or for several days during heavy snow. The battery
NDT Global 15 is rechargeable through the solar panel. The combination
NRI INSERT of a rechargeable battery and solar power offers the ability
Oilfield Technology 57 for faster polling without frequent trips for scheduled
Online Electronics 97 maintenance in hazardous locations to replace the battery.
Pigs Unlimited International, Inc. 27, 87
Pipeline Inspection Company Ltd 109 Conclusion
Pipeline Technology Conference 80
Energy and utility organisations are becoming more connected
than ever before. The use of wireless I/O can be much more
Polyguard Products 25
than the monitoring of a single point; it can connect an entire
Polysoude 119
remotely located system and all of its assets. Through C1D1
Precision Pigging 9
wireless I/O, operators can more safely gather and transport
Prosoft 93
their products while saving costs on labour and hardwired
Readex 62 infrastructure. The latest C1D1 wireless I/O technologies are
Rosen IFC ideal for remotely located field assets that require a large
Schoenbeck 79 number of monitoring points. These technologies can easily
Serimax 55 support the demand for more connectivity and allow for data
SPE Offshore Europe 89 collection at nearly any point along the pipeline. The more
T.D. Williamson 11 insight that operators have regarding the process through
Tri Tool Inc. 77 real-time data, the smarter decisions energy and utility
Vacuworx 31 organizations can make going forward. The industrial markets
Vermeer 21 are beginning to catch up with consumer markets in terms of
Wasco 23 available options for connectivity through wireless IoT and
World Pipelines 74, 94, 109 M2M communications and we can expect to see continued
growth of this technology in the future.
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