TPi May 2017

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May 2017 TUBE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL 19
business & market news
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ITF steps up action to solve
pipe-walking problems
The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF)
is welcoming additional participants
to a new joint industry project (JIP)
to develop pipeline anchoring and
monitoring systems that could mitigate
the risk of pipeline walking and reduce
pipeline anchor installation costs.
The Anchoring Pipeline Technology
(APT) JIP currently involves Shell. The
initial phase of the project will run for
eight months and will bring together
major global operators and pipeline
installation companies to collaborate
with ITF and Crondall Energy, an
independent oil and gas consultancy.
It aims to investigate alternative and less
costly solutions and create a roadmap
on how to manage and mitigate the
pipe-walking challenge.
David Bruton, director subsea, Crondall
Energy, said, “There is much uncertainty
over walking rate predictions in design,
leading to increased design costs and
schedule overruns.
“In many cases, these uncertainties
are resolved by installing anchors as a
pre-emptive mitigation measure, which
has proven to be extremely costly, not
entirely successful and, in some cases,
unnecessary.
“Because the evaluation of alternative,
less costly,more elegant design solutions
are generally beyond the timescale of a
typical project, there has been little
opportunity for optimisation or more
considered evaluation of alternatives.
The knowledge gained from the APT
JIP will add significant value to a client’s
ability to design and install efficient and
safe pipeline anchoring systems.”
Pipe-walking, or axial ratcheting,
has been observed on a number of
pipelines and can cause integrity
concerns, including very large global
axial displacements of the pipeline.
In some cases, this has resulted in
tie-in connector failures or subsea
intervention to mitigate or control high
rates of walking.
Large suction anchors with a capacity of
around 100 tonnes are typically installed
at the end of the pipeline to control
walking. In more recent projects, some
long pipelines have required several
anchors to be installed over the pipeline
length.
The study will complement existing
research by using the experience of
JIP participants. It will provide design
strategies to simplify the design process
and present a roadmap for projects
to manage and mitigate the walking
challenge over the project cycle.
This will include the development of
a ‘wait and see’ approach based on
effective monitoring of pipeline walking
by applying mitigative measures only
when they are required.
Ben Foreman, technology team lead
with ITF, added, “The APT JIP is focused
on providing the necessary research to
present viable and economical solutions
to this problem and we aim to do this
over a relatively short time frame.
“The JIP team already demonstrates a
great deal of expertise and knowledge
in this subject matter and will work
together to develop and test more
effective, low-cost pipeline anchoring
systems that are simpler to deploy,
more cost-effective to install and able to
be retrofitted.”
ITF – UK
Crondall Energy – UK
A typical 100t pipeline suction anchor, installed on Greater Plutonio field, offshore Angola
Photo credit: Jayson et al – Offshore Pipeline Technology Conference 2008