Field Deployment of the World's First Electrically Trace Heated Pipe in Pipe

Abstract

Abstract Description This paper details the result of onshore industrialisation and offshore fieldtrials undertaken for Electrical Trace Heating solution for reeled Pipe-in-Pipe(ETH-PiP) as part of the overall delivery of the Islay Project, located in theNorthern North Sea. Specific attention is drawn to the onshorepre-commissioning executed through 2010 and 2011, the equipment developed toallow remote intervention and the performance of the system for a range offield conditions Application Long subsea tie-backs are increasingly considered for offshore " step-out" fielddevelopments, which often have intermediate or smaller reserves and complexflow assurance issues. In such cases, the flowline architecture can either meanprohibitive insulation costs or curtailment of prospect development due to thephysical limits of insulation systems being exceeded. Hence, in addition to thepassive thermal insulation, the heat losses must be compensated by ActiveHeating. The Total Group has identified, beside other available technologies, the Electrical Trace Heating of subsea pipelines as a promising solution, withhigher energy efficiency and the ability to be installed on a host platformwith a limited impact, thus leading to economic optimization. During the last decade, anticipating the interest of the iIndustry, Techniphave has run a comprehensive R&D programme for the developed on an (ETH-PiPtechnology). Following a successful qualification programme of more than twoyears, Total and its partners now consider the technology mature enough to forthe next stages of development: industrialisation and field deployment. The Islay Project, recently awarded by Total as a full EPCI contract toTechnip, has been selected to pilot the ETH-PIP technology. Results, Observations and Conclusions Field performance data from initial start-up trials and subsequent operationswill be presented. Information will include power input data, thermalperformance and correlation with bespoke design models developed for this newtechnology. Significance of the Subject Matter Whilst ETH-PiP is not the primary hydrate mitigation strategy for Islay Project- this being achieved by an innovative seabed conditioning scheme thatminimizes the methanol injection requirements - it presents an opportunity toperform " full scale" offshore field testing and can be considered as the finalqualification process for future large scale projects in the North Sea andworldwide. Background and History of ETH-PiP Technip began development of electrical trace heating (ETH) technology in thelate 1990's having identified a future need for efficient active heating ofsubsea pipelines in order to unlock reservoirs with complicated flow assuranceissues.