Aiming to bring down costs and reduce complexity in a continued low oil price environment, DNV GL, a world leading consulting, testing and certification company, is launching two joint industry projects to investigate composite components for the subsea sector and qualify technology for a more efficient line pipe production processes.

It is estimated that the JIPs could deliver a combined saving of £6.75 million.

Statoil, Petrobras, Petronas, Nexans, Airborne and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, are participating in the project. Interest has also been shown from pipe manufacturers, installation contractors and operators such as: Corinth PipeWorks, EMAS, JFE-Steel, Sumitomo, Tata steel, Tenaris/Tamsa and Woodside. The project is partly funded by the Research Council of Norway.

“Composite components require full-scale testing to document long-term properties to achieve certification,” said Jan Weitzenböck, Principal Engineer, DNV GL - Oil & Gas. “A typical qualification campaign for a subsea composite component can cost in the region of ten to 100 million NOK. The results of this JIP could potentially save up to 16 million NOK for re-certificaiton of existing components.”

Leif Colberg, Vice President - Pipeline Technology, DNV GL - Oil & Gas, said “though there is a considerable amount of research and full-scale reeling trials for the use of HFW or SAW linepipe, as well as a good track record in terms of executed projects, a joint systematic approach to optimize the design of these linepipe for reeling is lacking. There is much to be gained through this project - we estimate that it could deliver a 20-30% reduction in pipeline material cost, corresponding to £4—5.5 million saving potential for a 30 km flow line."

The JIP will be run as a Technology Qualification (TQ) project and is expected to result in a qualification plan that will require qualification testing by the manufacturers.