TECHNIP and Schlumberger have forged a global co-operation agreement aimed at jointly developing subsea integrity and surveillance solutions for flexible pipes used in deep offshore oil&gas production.
The new agreement extends collaboration between the companies that began in 1998. Initial focus will be on surveillance-systems activities for new and challenging flexible-pipe applications such as those required in the deepwater pre-salt environment in Brazil, where massive finds such as Tupi could lead to a rewrite of the offshore hydrocarbon resources book.
Several key Schlumberger technologies used in subsurface applications have been identified for integration into Technip’s new ultra-deepwater flexible-pipe designs.
One of the initial integrity solutions that the partners expect to develop and qualify is focused on the use of optical fibres to monitor a variety of parameters characterising pipe behaviour.
According to Andy Hendricks, subsea VP at Schlumberger, the “extremely robust” nature of fibre-optic sensors in deepwater environments, combined with the possibility of using a single interrogation unit for a whole production system, makes this solution “technically and commercially superior”.
“The new technology combination extends Schlumberger subsea products and services, which already include other surveillance technologies, production flow assurance engineering and light-vessel well intervention projects,” Hendricks said in a statement.
Alain Marion, senior VP subsea assets and technologies at Technip, said that by combining the French group’s technical and manufacturing knowledge of flexible pipe with Schlumberger surveillance technology, a new generation of intelligent flexible pipe would result.
Further, he claimed that the “measurement-enabled” flexible pipe would provide significant value to the industry in safety, reliability, and performance.