Pipeline Pressure Isolation
TDW Offshore Services AS (TDW) announced that it has completed a pipeline pressure isolation operation in Malaysia with Amserve Engineering on behalf of Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd (MLNG), a subsidiary of Petronas, the national oil company of Malaysia. The operation was carried out at the Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia. Natural gas is transported from offshore platforms in the South China Sea through four major trunklines to the onshore processing plant. Pipeline pressure isolation services were required for Trunkline 4 in order that six large 22-ton motor-operated ball valves (MOVs) could be replaced.
TDW carried out pipeline pressure isolation services on the receiving end of Trunkline 4, a 36-inch pipeline. To isolate this section, TDW launched the SmartPlug tool at the receiver located at the gas terminal. The 36-inch custom tool travelled approximately 750m past the receiver and the beach valve where the tool was set. The line was safely isolated while MLNG replaced the six existing MOVs with new ones.
Custom SmartPlug tools were engineered, assembled and tested by TDW Offshore Services at its global headquarters in Stavanger, Norway, and transported to Bintulu via Labuan. With a collective weight of 66 tons, the new MOVs were flown in by Persafe Engineering Sdn Bhd on three chartered MASkargo Boeing 747-400S jets from Germany to Kuala Lumpur before arriving in Bintulu.
The pipeline isolation operation was carried out by TDW from Stavanger, with support from the company’s team in Singapore. Overall, TDW completed the operation in four weeks, six days ahead of schedule. Early completion of the pipeline isolation operation and MOV change-out resulted in considerable savings for MLNG.
“This is the first major pipeline pressure isolation operation that we have provided for MLNG, so it is very satisfying that it went well and that the large MOVs were successfully replaced,” said Rune Haddeland, Managing Director of TDW.
“That the job was completed six days ahead of schedule makes it that much more meaningful, especially in terms of reduced time and costs,” he added.