Asub-sea hot tap deemed the largest that has been verified to date has been com-pleted at a depth of 425 feet at a site about 100 miles off the northwest coast of Australia in the Angel field. TDW design engineers worked closely with customer-side engineers, topside technicians and dive teams to achieve the landmark feat while avoiding disturbance of the environment. Even at the tapping depth, the water is clear and inhabited by abundant life. Several new structures - in the form of gas-production platforms - occupy a minimal footprint on the sea floor. Connecting a 30-inch line carrying the bounteous flow of gas from the platforms to an existing 40-inch trunk line lying 425 feet below the surface poses numerous technical and environmental concerns. For dive teams and equipment operating in an extreme deep water environment, the obvious goal is for the task at hand to go right - but a lot of things can easily go wrong. Ultimately, the key to success hinged on a group of T.D.Williamson engineers who designed custom adaptations to the TDW SubSea 1000 XL tapping machine and solved several challenges.
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