Pipelines

11 June 2008 Aberdeen Branch Evening Meeting

Chairman David Kaye, BP
Sponsored by Subsea 7 and Corus

Flyer

Overview

This SUT evening meeting looked at two recent and very interesting subsea pipeline projects. The two projects are very different in nature and illustrate the different ways in which the industry is responding to the demands of the North Sea. The first presentation described an exceptionally fast-track project to install a replacement pipeline, and demonstrated how the industry can respond to the need to maintain mature North Sea pipeline infrastructure. The second presentation described a new pipeline system which employs state-of-the-art subsea pipeline technology and demonstrates how the industry can provide technically advance solutions for new North Sea subsea developments.

Presentations

Forties Replacement Pipeline

Mark Richardson, Apache

The 5km Forties Bravo to Forties Charlie was installed in 1975 and bought by Apache in 2003. An intelligent pig survey in 2006 indicated widespread internal corrosion. In response, Apache launched a fast-track project to design, procure, fabricate and install a 14-inch replacement pipeline. The project was completed successfully within a remarkable schedule of only 95 days. This presentation describes the project from initiation through completion.

Total Jura Pipeline Bundle

Phil Simons, Subsea 7

The Total Jura bundle was recently installed in the Alwyn field in the northern North Sea. Jura is a high temperature, high pressure (HTHP) two-well development tied-back to the existing Forvie North subsea manifold via a 3km pipeline bundle. The 500Te Jura towhead incorporates a number of technologies to address the high operating pressure and temperature form Jura, including a cooling spool, a high integrity pipeline protection system (HIPPS) and multiphase flow metering. This presentation describes the key bundle features that permitted this challenging field development to be completed in 14 months.

5 Minute Technology Bite

M.A.T.E. ROV Challenge

This techbyte was presented by students from Bridge of Don Academy whose team were the winners of the 2008 MATE Scotland ROV Challenge, which was held at RGU and sponsored by BP and Acergy. Having beaten a number of other school teams from Aberdeen City and Shire in the regional, they will be travelling to San Diego at the end of June to take part in the international final, which has been organised by the Marine Advanced Technology Education Centre. The team designed the ROV itself and has been modifying the desgin in order to meet the challenges of the finals, where it will compete against school teams from all over the United States as well as Iran, China and Russia.