Flotation devices aid rig installations and pipeline transportation
Buoyancy specialist Resinex is devising new solutions for projects in all water depths.
The company, which operates three manufacturing/testing facilities east of Milan, is working on a variety of offshore programs. These include two large consignments for the ENI group offshore Angola and Saudi Arabia.
In Angolan deep offshore block 17, Total has contracted the new semisubmersibleSaipem 12000, built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, for long-term drilling on the Pazflor field cluster.
The rig’s steel drilling riser joints will be held in place by over 100 riser shims, designed and partly manufactured by Resinex. Each shim is 2 m (6.5-ft) long with a weight of 2,000 kg, and comprises a 1.46-m (4.8-ft) diameter external shell made from orange Elastorex, filled with a syntactic compound. The shims are engineered to withstand a hydrostatic pressure of 370 bar (5,366 psi), and to be operable in water depths of 3,700 m (12,139 ft) for Pazflor.
According to Resinex, the shims also incorporate a high level of elasticity and are capable of withstanding collisions. They were tested at the company’s Marine Research Center in Adro, which has facilities to simulate working conditions for all types of buoyancy devices, applying pressures of up to 850 bar. The most recent addition to this center is an autoclave measuring 2.2 m high by 1.1 m dia. (7.2 x 3.6 ft), which uniquely in continental Europe (the company claims) can simulate maximum pressure conditions in 4,500 m (14,764 ft) water depth, and variable pressures in water depths down to 4,000 m (13,123 ft).
Platform positioning
Offshore Saudi Arabia, Resinex is supplying various components to Snamprogetti and the Star installation consortium of Saipem, Taqa and al-Rishaid. The project, operated by Saudi Aramco, involves building and installing 27 new offshore oil and gas platforms and connecting pipelines and cables. Construction of the platforms is in progress in a yard at Dammam.
To assist offshore transportation, positioning and installation of the platforms, Resinex is supplying 600 E8x1050 support buoys, each with a net buoyancy of 500 kg. For the same project, the company is manufacturing 39 damage prevention buoys in type 4500 L elastomer, with a net buoyancy of 4.5 metric tons (4.9 tons). All the buoys will be equipped with a radio frequency detector for tracking purposes.
Modular buoy for Shell’s BC-10 project offshore Brazil.
Among the company’s other recent projects are Shell’s BC-10 Phase 1 development, 120 km (74.6 mi) south-east of Vitoria, Brazil in water depths of 1,500-2,000 m (4,921-6,561 ft). Here, Resinex collaborated with the FPSO operator SBM Offshore to produce nine modular flotation systems to transport hoses and cables to the Parque das Conchas field.
Each system is 12 m (39 ft) comprising 11 x 2.25-m (7.4-ft) high floats, linked together, and generating net buoyancy of 45 metric tons (49.6 tons). According to Resinex Managing Director Maurizio Prestini, the buoys, which fit compactly into containers, were designed not just to cut transportation costs for BC-10, but also for re-use on other offshore projects.
Elsewhere, Resinex has delivered four buoys (30-metric ton, or 33-ton, net buoyancy) to Saipem to support chains and anchors holding a pipelay barge in place for BP’s Azeri project in the Caspian Sea, offshore Azerbaijan; and surface floats rotationally molded in polyethylene for an 8-km (4.9-mi) pipeline which Saipem installed in ultra-shallow water for Agip KCO’s Kashagan project in the Kazakh sector.
Currently the company is working on a buoyancy solution for another development in the Caspian, which would involve floating large piles, 4.5 m (14.7 ft) in diameter, to the offshore location for assembly and subsequent installation. Resinex is also bidding to supply buoyancy systems to support deployment of production risers for ExxonMobil’s Kizomba Satellites program offshore Angola.
Aside from the R&D center in Adro, Resinex has a manufacturing plant at Torbiato, which focuses on products for deepwater (300-11,000 m, or 984-36,089 ft). The company’s newest facility is 5 km (3.1 mi) away in Rovato, in the province of Brescia, which was opened in fall 2009. This 3,000-sq m (32,291-sq ft) plant has roto-molding and foam-filling machines which can produce buoys in varying dimensions.
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