New Product Offers Early Warning System For Subsea Sector
Subsea specialist flexlife has today launched a new product to market that will help maintain asset integrity and safeguard the environment.
flexGuard incorporates flexlife’s award-winning ultrasonic scanning technology in the form of a collar permanently fitted to flexible risers. The company forecasts flexGuard will generate additional revenue of £11.4million by 2014.
The subsea riser monitoring tool provides the operator with instant, continuous access to the condition of any riser remotely from any location in the world – ensuring a failsafe early warning system providing major cost and safety benefits.
It incorporates the latest ultrasonic and subsea communications technology and is able to wirelessly, either on command or at scheduled weekly inspection times, provide the status of the flexible pipe’s annulus and underlying armour wires
flexGuard can be fitted either during installation or by retrofit to risers already in use in the field offering permanent monitoring for corrosion/breaches. The new product is being launched today (February 9) at Subsea UK 2011 with displays being staged at flexlife’s stand – No B4.
flexlife CEO Stuart Mitchell said: “flexGuard is an excellent addition to the range of services flexlife provides to manage subsea integrity throughout the assets lifecycle.
“There are around 3,000 risers in service at present, with the number forecast to rise to 5,000 by 2015. Around 35% of risers suffer some form of outer sheath damage according to recent market surveys of operators. Once seawater breaches the outer sheath, corrosion rapidly follows leading to premature failures.
“Our technology can give an accurate depiction of the condition of a flexible pipe or riser, from the first stages of corrosion or degradation, allowing operators to plan maintenance in advance and avoid unplanned shutdowns. It offers a cost-effective permanent solution to monitoring and peace of mind for operators increasingly aware of their role in preserving the environment.’’
flexlife was formed in 2007 and high levels of investment in Research & Development have followed to develop a range of patented technology with the direct aim of preserving the environment by helping to reduce the risk of costly equipment failure.
The company’s patented ultrasonic scanning technology detects outer sheath breaches and corrosion in the armour wires surrounding flexible pipes with a 100% success rate and without requiring production to be shut down during monitoring – a first in the 40 year history of flexibles.
It can detect specific locations of any flooding and scan the armour wires around flexibles to an accuracy of 0.1mm. The technology has been accepted by UK HSE and Norwegian equivalent as helping operators reduce risk of major leakage of hydrocarbons and associated impacts. It can extend the lifespan of flexible pipes and prevent unnecessary early replacement, manufacture and disposal of flexible pipes.
flexGuard is suitable for any size of riser and for depths of 3 to 3,000 metres, meaning it is of particular benefit to deepwater provinces where traditional testing methods pose a major challenge and maintaining the integrity of subsea equipment is increasingly paramount.
In retrofit cases, it can be easily deployed either by ROV or diver, onto any flexible riser asset, via a riser-friendly clamping system that also makes the tool close to neutral bouyancy for ease of deployment.
Ultrasonic data collected automatically from the tool is transferred acoustically back to a surface vessel receiver. It is then sent electronically to flexlife.
flexlife offers a full design, delivery and maintenance service and has bases in the UK, Brazil and Asia Pacific. Customers include Hess, StatoilHydro Apache North Sea and Premier Oil. Turnover for 2010/11 is on track to exceed £7million, up from £5million on the previous year.
