8 minute read
FLEXOMARINE
Essential Technology for Offshore Oil Operations FLEXOMARINE
PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder
Since its entry into the market in 1978, Flexomarine has supplied more than 14,000 of its highquality floating and submarine hoses to clients and projects across the globe.
// Flexomarine can count among its extensive list of clients some of the real giants of the oil world, including BP, Maersk and Statoil, among countless others. These are global energy businesses which operate across the world, playing the most crucial roles in meeting the world’s increasing energy demands. Flexomarine possesses the capacity to produce in excess of 1100 of its trademark hoses per year, thanks to a raft of 13 construction machines all fully equipped with a complete calendaring system, to support all rubber and fabric rubberising procedures, and backed by a powerful steam generator.
A trio of autoclaves, which are pressure chambers used to carry out industrial processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure different from ambient air pressure, combine to ensure the delivery of such tremendous production figures. Flexomarine’s unbridled success can be attributed in no small part to the manufacturing capacity at its disposal, and its renowned hoses are offered in two distinctive finishes: either on black rubber with orange stripes, or fully orange with a polyurethane covering. These latter are perhaps the most striking of the range, and embody the company’s no-nonsense approach to the manufacture of its wares. Submarine hoses come into their own primarily in offshore applications and are required to combine strength with flexibility. The design has to take into consideration many factors such as water depth, tide, buoy excursions and wave patterns, while on the other side of Flexomarine’s business are its floating hoses, which have to be carefully engineered to adapt to oceans which provide rapidly changing project conditions.
This requires expert knowledge and experience, and Flexomarine is one of the largest suppliers of hose for special reel systems for offloading FPSO’s in the world, fully certified under OCIMF/ GMPHOM 2009: ISO 9001:2008 which translates to an ability to fulfil the whole range of Prototype Certificates from 6” to 24” across its Double and Single Carcass designs. For the Single Carcass this can be from 6” up to 12” and from 16” up to 24”, while on the Double Carcass side provisions can be made from 6” up to 12” and from 16” up to 24”. In recent years, it has been able to bolster its service offering through the
achievement of the new GMPHOM 2009 5th Edition Double and Single Carcass hoses Certificate - 600mm and 300mm Double Caracas Hose and 600mm and 300mm Single Carcass Hose - which are widely regarded as the next generation of a long product line embodying historical design, engineering and fabrication of this specialist product. Flexomarine has been manufacturing
36 / www.emea-energy.net Double and Single Carcass Hoses since 1987 and this latest success establishes the company as the only fully qualified Brazilian Manufacture of GMPHOM 2009 5th Edition. This allows Flexomarine to supply all sizes and types for the GMPHOM 2009 marine hose guide. At its Brazil headquarters, a fully equipped laboratory extensively tests and controls all raw materials used for the fabrication of the hoses themselves, with every hose having its own traceability registered inside a comprehensive Production Record System. Here, every step of fabrication is registered with the information from each batch of raw material used in the relevant fabrication process, which is further controlled at various holding points along the way to provide
complete quality control.
Flexomarine is the largest supplier both to Petrobras and Transpetro, both of which are headquartered in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro. The latter is the largest oil and gas transportation company in Brazil, a major player in the transportation and storage activities of oil and byproducts, ethanol, biofuels and natural gas. It is responsible for a network of more than 11,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines, connected to terminals, as well as an oil tanker fleet. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Petrobras, itself a semi-public Brazilian multinational corporation in the petroleum industry and ranked at number 58 in the most recent Fortune Global 500 list.
Oil and natural gas exploration and production are Petrobras’s core activities, as it seeks to increase reserves and develop production to make sure that it can play its own part in meeting the increased demand for energy. Probably most illustrative of this is its application of technology and the persistence of its employees to overcome previously apparently insurmountable challenges and enable it to operate in pre-salt and post-salt areas.
As such, several platforms have come into operation in recent years, including platforms FPSO P-63 and P-61 (a Tension Leg Wellhead Platform - TLWP) which were installed in the Papa-Terra field of the Campos Basin. These will work in tandem and afford a combined processing capacity of 140,000 bpd of oil and a million cubic meters of gas per day. A combination of reservoirs containing 14 to 17 API crude and the deep-water location has made Papa Terra one of the most challenging projects ever conceived by Petrobras, possible only through the application of various innovative solutions.
The deep waters of the Campos Basin presented perhaps the most significant challenge to date during initial exploration in the 1970s, but continually evolving technology means that today, production in deep pre-salt waters is already a consolidated reality. Flexomarine has more than 1000 hoses in operation in the Petrobras Campos basin, the primary known sedimentary area off the Brazilian coast. It ranges from the outskirts of Vitoria to Arraial do Cabo, off the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro, an area covering approximately 100,000 square kilometres. This colossal open-air laboratory has been the testing ground of some crucial offshore technologies used to develop projects to produce at water depths never before reached in the world.
Among innovations in these fields was the installation of the first anticipated production system on a floating platform, bringing with it efficiency, operational flexibility and huge savings. It also allowed oil production to begin while the definitive, fixed platforms, which would later be installed, were still being built, and it was the development of these systems later enabled oil to be lifted from deep and ultra-deep waters.
FLEXOMARINE
+55 11 2633 8611 flexomarine@flexomarine.com.br wwww.flexomarine.com.br
Proud to be part ofFlexomarine’s Success
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KEY UPCOMING EVENTS ACROSS THE INDUSTRY
Our regular update to help you keep track of important events and exhibitions taking place across the energy sector.
OFFSHORE WIND EUROPE 2017 NOV 14 | LONDON With over 12.6GW of operating offshore wind projects in Europe and around 63GW in total (including pipeline), we bring the leading project owners, most innovative developers and ambitious operators together under one roof to discuss out how they will reach a sub €60/ MWh continent, both reducing CAPEX pre-construction, and OPEX post-construction.
24TH AFRICA OIL WEEK OCT 23 | CAPE TOWN Africa Oil Week is the meeting place for Africa’s upstream oil and gas market – and with 16 hours more conference content than last year, it’s bigger and better than ever before.
Now in its 24th year, the event brings together governments, national oil companies, investors, corporate players, independents and financiers – giving them a place to network, discuss and share knowledge.
Africa Oil Week attracts the highest quality speakers. Sessions are headed by top figures in the sector, including ministers, heads of NOCs, leading scientists and CEOs from major and independent firms.
FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND UK NOV 14 | GLASGOW We’re bringing together project developers, manufacturers, financiers, ports, supply chain companies and technical experts to discuss the substantial opportunity this technology represents for UK companies, and the global industry.
Attendees will benefit from the opportunity to connect with all floating offshore wind players in one location, learn about current progress and opportunities, and get insight into future trends and policy needs for the sector.
//TABLE OF ALL EVENTS:
19TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SHALE FUEL RESERVES HOLIDAY INN WEMBLEY, LONDON OCT 19 – 20
24TH AFRICA OIL WEEK CAPE TOWN ICC, SOUTH AFRICA OCT 23 – 27
2017 IADC ADVANCED RIG TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION MÖVENPICK HOTEL AMSTERDAM OCT 24 – 25
AAPG | SEG INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION EXCEL LONDON OCT 15 – 18
AFRICA OIL & GAS LOCAL CONTENT CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION EPIC SANA, LUANDA, ANGOLA OCT 14 – 16
5TH TURKEY, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA NUCLEAR INDUSTRY CONFERENCE 2017 ISTANBUL, TURKEY OCT 18 – 19
OFFSHORE WIND EUROPE 2017 LONDON NOV 14 – 15
FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND UK SEC, GLASGOW NOV 14
OCEAN ENERGY EUROPE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION NANTES, FRANCE 25 – 26 OCT
Big operation. Biggest network. Big operation. Biggest network.
ITC Global brings boundless broadband to even the most complex offshore operations. ITC Global brings boundless broadband to even the most complex offshore operations.
With the world’s leading satellite network from Panasonic, ITC Global delivers custom solutions for highly connected remote operations. Our unmatched capacity supports communications for the most extreme offshore projects, at any distance, on any scale. High-performance throughput and global coverage deliver seamless connections to people, places and projects that matter most – for smarter operations in the toughest environments. For more information, visit itcglobal.com. A Panasonic Company With the world’s leading satellite network from Panasonic, ITC Global delivers custom solutions for highly connected remote operations. Our unmatched capacity supports communications for the most extreme offshore projects, at any distance, on any scale. High-performance throughput and global coverage deliver seamless connections to people, places and projects that matter most – for smarter operations in the toughest environments. For more information, visit itcglobal.com. A Panasonic Company
