Final tests are being carried out on a CAT scanner-based technology that could revolutionise subsea pipeline inspection.
Billingham-based Tracerco took the wraps off its Discovery technology mid-year at the UTC show in Norway and the system is now being readied for market.
The technology allows operators to inspect pipes from the outside, without having to remove protective coatings, for the first time – potentially saving them millions.
Discovery was developed in response to the operational needs of oil companies to detect hydrate restrictions and verify integrity in flowlines. There was a need to develop a high accuracy detection system that could inspect lines from the outside, online and without pipeline modification.
Tracerco worked with Statoil to develop the system with the primary goal of use in flow assurance applications since when its capabilities have broadened to include the critical issue of pipeline integrity.
Indeed the development of Discovery is the latest in a history of over ten years’ cooperation between Tracerco and Statoil.
A new test facility is already under construction at Belasis Hall Business Park – and Discovery is expected to begin offshore trials with Statoil towards the end of this year.
Tracerco, which is owned by chemical giant Johnson Matthey, started life at ICI Billingam more than 50 years ago. Today it employs nearly 400 worldwide and the prediction is that Discovery could lead to a further 80 or so manufacturing jobs on Teesside.
The global offshore pipeline network is enormous and every bit of it has to be inspected. The problem is that around one third cannot be inspected from within utilising intelligent pigging technologies.
The beauty of Discovery is that it eliminates the need for inspection from within and is quite literally the world’s first subsea CT scanner.
Unlike alternative technologies such as ultrasonic and pulsed eddy current, the Tracero technology is said to be a more cost-effective way to provide operators assurance of the integrity of unpiggable coated pipelines as it eliminates the risk of corrosion of pipelines on removing and reapplying coating.
It is reported that oil and gas companies are queuing up to court Tracero’s game-changing technology.