Economic Benefits Of Sub-Sea Pipe-Line Rehabilitation Using Spoolable Fiber- Reinforced High Pressure Line-Pipe

摘要

Increasingly, spoolable fiber-reinforced line pipe has gainedrnacceptance for use in transport of high-pressure oil field fluidsrnin applications including wellhead production gathering lines,rnflow lines, and injection lines. The high corrosion resistancernand low connector count make these products a very reliablernchoice for new installations.rnAnother extremely attractive use of spoolable fiberreinforcedrnline-pipe is in the rehabilitation of conventionalrnjointed steel sub-sea flow lines that have either beenrndecommissioned or derated after years of service. In thesernapplications spoolable composite line-pipe is either "pulledthrough"rnor “pushed-through” the existing steel line whichrnthen acts as a passive conduit for the protection of the fullyrnpressure capable spoolable composite. In most cases the lowerrnflow-friction coefficient of the spoolable composite combinedrnwith the enhanced pressure capability results in the fullrnrestoration of the flow capacity of the original line.rnIn the Gulf of Mexico a significant length of steel line-pipernhas been rehabilitated for a major operator using spoolablernreinforced line-pipe. In this shallow water application steelrnflow lines, which had been experiencing regular failures werernbrought back into production using Fiberspar spoolablerncomposite linepipe. Installation of the spoolable compositernutilized a wire-line unit in a "pull-through" operation or arnmodified coiled tubing injector in a “push-through” operationrnto quickly draw the composite linepipe through each separaternline with minimal or no disturbance of the existing steelrnflow line.rnThe application of the spoolable composite line pipernresulted in rapid installation, low connector count and minimalrnsea bed disturbance contributed to a significant project costrnsavings over options requiring the removing or retrenching ofrnjointed flow-lines. The design requirements, installationrntechnologies and cost benefits of this case study are discussed.