ODE AM to provide inspections for North Sea Interconnector system

July 29, 2020
Interconnector (UK) has contracted ODE Asset Management, a subsidiary of the DORIS Group, to provide integrity management services.

Offshore staff

GREAT YARMOUTH, UK – Interconnector (UK) has contracted ODE Asset Management, a subsidiary of the DORIS Group, to provide integrity management services.

The Interconnector system is a two-way subsea gas line link between Zeebrugge, Belgium and Bacton on England’s Norfolk coast.

ODE’s contract runs for an initial five years, and the scope includes on-site inspection, non-destructive testing services, and acting as competent person in accordance with the UK’s pressure systems safety regulations.

The company said it had made a significant investment in asset integrity management software to optimize inspection intervals.

It has developed the software based in part on API580 Risk Based Inspection (RBI).

Shaun Hutchinson, ODE AM’s regional operations director, said: “A traditional RBI regime is great for extending inspection intervals but is labor intensive and requires high levels of technical resource to perform complex calculations.

“Our intention with this system was to do all of this work in advance as part of our investment meaning the user interface is a series of intuitive, drop-down boxes, providing optimized risk-based equipment inspection intervals.

“We are confident that this approach along with our non-intrusive inspection approach will result in extended inspection intervals, reduced outages, increased uptime and provide significant savings to our clients.”

IUK’s Bacton Terminal is said to be the largest entry and exit point on the UK gas network, with throughput capacity of up to 58 MMcm/d of gas.

07/29/2020