and south pipelines as well as the shore approach sections that were laid independent to the main line. Potential safety risks were presented by performing the hydrostatic tests from the deck of an offshore jack-up with around 4000 psi (275 bar) and such large volumes involved. In these limited spaces and conditions, a component failure could be catastrophic. Baker Hughes’ Red Zone policy leads the industry into safer working practices – requiring the use of technology to remove all personnel (from Baker Hughes, the client, and other contractors) from the line of any potential pressure loss. To accomplish this, Baker Hughes designed and built a Remote Hydrostatic Test Manifold (RHSTM) that let Baker Hughes pressurise the pipeline, hold that pressure, top it up, and bleed it without any human contact with pressurised equipment. Traditionally, this would all require manual manipulation of pressurised valves connected to hose but Baker Hughes completely removed any potential injury risk from unexpected pressure loss.
N2 technology, which removed the cost and potential delays to truck in traditional liquid nitrogen.
Conclusion From start to finish, Baker Hughes used its highly trained workforce, specialised equipment and extensive knowledge to engineer solutions to challenges, reduce risk to personnel and property and customise a solution to produce the best possible result for our customer.
Note Baker Hughes would like to thank TC Energy and IENova for their permission to publish this article.
Live stream hydrostatic testing During the hydrostatic test, Baker Hughes also utilised the Nanoplex data management system that has the technical capability to live-stream via satellite a dynamic graph showing pressure and temperature at various points along the pipeline. With a simple web link and password, the client could monitor the test in real-time from PCs and mobile devices anywhere in the world. When undertaking such a large test on an asset of this significance, many stakeholders are very interested in tracking progress – Baker Hughes’ use of Nanoplex made that easy.
Drying Baker Hughes provided two epic dry-air spreads, both in excess of 20 000 ft3/m, located at Brownsville and the Tamiahua beach site. Drying time for the two pipelines were estimated and agreed on during pre-engineering with Baker Hughes. Actual drying time for the north line was significantly shorter than planned, which saved valuable days. This efficiency gain was attributed to the high quality of dewatering pigs that Baker Hughes designed and manufactured specifically for this pipeline, and the consistent dryness of high-volume injected air. After drying the lines, a pipeline nitrogen purge with on-site generated nitrogen was also successful – thanks to Baker Hughes’ highly efficient membrane
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