Implementing a Deepwater-Pipeline-Management System

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Summary As an operator, Total has experienced significant deepwater maintenance andrepair activities, including cut-out and replacement of a damaged section ofwater-injection line, replacement of a flexible riser, replacement of an anchorline and its pile, and repair of an umbilical termination head (UTH). There are few deepwater-pipeline operators with experience in pipelinerepairs that need to be carried out with significant preparation time forintervention tools, including engineering and testing of the tools. Deepwateroperations [including inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR)] require acompletely different paradigm than conventional offshore operations, with needfor specialized competencies, contractors, and tools. The pipeline-repairactivities mastered in conventional offshore operations are becoming difficulttasks in deep water because they have to be performed remotely and the pipelinecharacteristics are quite different. Furthermore, there are many importantchallenges that still need to be overcome, such as repair of pipe-in-pipesystems, repair of production bundle, repair of flowline with hydrogen sulfidecontent, and repair of flowline connection, all of which challenge research anddevelopment to find proper tools and methodologies for deepwaterintervention. This paper describes the strategy developed and implemented ondeepwater-pipeline intervention, based on a deepwater operational experiencebuilt over a decade. It also presents experiences of dealing with integrityissues and how to move forward in existing operations while preparing forfuture developments. Once the proper technologies are acquired, apipeline-repair system should be established as part of anoperational-management philosophy. From the design stage, an operator involved in the development of deepwateroperations should give serious consideration to how condition monitoring of thepipeline and its appurtenances will be performed and to how pipeline sectionswill be repaired or replaced should there be any failure during production.Being well prepared to face unexpected failures in the deepwater-pipelinenetwork would allow the operator to maintain the level of integrity of thedeepwater-pipeline network, minimize production loss and shortfall, minimizeintervention costs, and maintain the operator's image with international mediaand the national oil company.