Highest Number Pipeline Isolation Operations for TDW Offshore
TDW Offshore Services AS (TDW) announced that it has carried out a record-breaking 27 pipeline isolation operations with its SmartPlug pipeline pressure isolation technology this year. By the end of 2010, TDW anticipates that it will have completed at least 30 operations, the highest in company history. The primary benefit of TDW’s SmartPlug pipeline pressure isolation method is that it makes it possible to safely isolate the area targeted for work from hydrocarbons.
The company attributes the increase in operations to a number of factors. “What we’re seeing is an increased dedication to safety and appreciation of reduced cost benefits realised by pipeline operators, as is evidenced by the rise in the number of scheduled maintenance operations carried out in conjunction with isolation operations using SmartPlug technology” , said Rutger Schouten, Director of Operations and Technology for TDW. “Clearly, the industry is embracing the pipeline isolation method in preference to the traditional ‘bleeding down’ approach that oftentimes involves flaring gas, which poses a threat to the environment” ,he added.
With 175 SmartPlug isolation operations carried out since 2000, the vast majority of operations were carried out for the purpose of replacing topside valves. Most of the operations took place in the North Sea and Asia Pacific, although several were executed in the Irish North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
As demand for its pipeline isolation services has continued to escalate, TDW has risen to the challenge by developing large customized SmartPlug tools, as well as systems such as the SmartTrack technology that complement its SmartPlug tools for use in highly complex isolation operations. The SmartTrack system makes it possible to track pigs, whether they are subsea, topside or inside underground pipelines located onshore. It played a central role in a recent TDW isolation operation in the Mediterranean Sea where an anchor drag caused catastrophic failure when it severed a 26-inch high pressure subsea gas pipeline, resulting in a 14% reduction in a parallel 20-inch subsea high pressure pipeline. TDW worked in cooperation with the pipeline repair contractor, using a combination of its SmartTrack remote tracking and pressure-monitoring system, pipeline recovery tools (PRTs), and SmartPlug pipeline pressure isolation tools to effectively isolate the affected sections of the pipeline. It was the first time that TDW had been called in to facilitate repair of a pipeline that was completely severed.
Looking ahead, TDW fully expects the trend in increased isolation operations to continue. In Q1 2011 the company anticipates mobilizing more than 30 SmartPlug isolation operations.