Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Swagelining has completed the first installations of its LinerBridge connector technology, all in the North Sea.
Initially the company installed the polymer lining connectors in pipeline bundles for an Equinor-operated project.
This was followed by reeled tie-ins for Wintershall Dea’s Nova water injection pipeline in the Norwegian sector, and a third application for Ithaca Energy’s Cook field in the UK central North Sea.
According to Swagelining, LinerBridge is an alternative to conventional corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) connectors that is designed to form a strong and fully integrated polymer barrier within the pipeline.
Managing director Liam Macintyre said: “Not only does [it] reduce the cost of today’s reel-lay flowline and towed pipeline bundle projects, [it] is also the enabler in expanding the application of polymer lining’s cost-effective corrosion protection to other offshore pipeline systems such as deepwater flowlines, dynamic service risers, and S and J-lay installation methods.”
Connectors are needed to join sections of polymer lined pipeline together to form the overall pipeline length and to terminate the pipeline. In the case of LinerBridge, the connectors are manufactured from the same material as the liner, and contain no CRA materials, dispensing with the need for CRA welding.
Electrofusion welding technology adapted from the onshore gas industry is said to provide a continuous polymer corrosion barrier end-to-end for the pipeline system, allowing standard carbon steel welding procedures to be adopted for pipeline tie-ins.
10/09/2019
