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36
Tube Products International July 2011
Technology to revolutionise subsea blockages
Paradigm Flow Solutions has launched
patented technology to tackle the
persistent industry challenge of
restrictions and blockages in subsea
pipelines, taking the treatment to
the topside for the very first time.
Paradigm also revealed at the Offshore
Technology Conference in Houston
that it has just landed a $250,000
contract with a super-major to unblock
a pipeline in the North Sea, and has
secured more than $1mn of orders for
its other technologies in the space of
two months.
The company, headquartered in
Aberdeen, Scotland, says that subsea
blockages cost operators tens of
millions of dollars each year, and before
now could only be properly treated
by very expensive methods such as
deploying a coiled tubing system from
a rig into the pipeline, or undertaking
subsea interventions using a remotely
operated vehicle (ROV) or saturation
divers.
Pipe-Pulse is a remote, non-intrusive
method of locating and removing
blockages in long distance pipework
up to 30 miles. The system is designed
to be connected on the topside
facilities of the host platform through
either the pig launcher or the umbilical
termination unit to clear the blockages.
The Pipe-Pulse unit delivers high
energy and volume pressure pulses
into the pipeline or subsea umbilical,
which are transmitted at the speed of
sound to the blockage several miles
away.
Operated by Paradigm Flow Solutions’
team of expert engineers, persistent
blockages can be completely removed
in a matter of days by sending high
frequency low amplitude pressure
pulses into the flowline, whilst
controlling the length and pressure of
the pulse. The system uses a complex
series of control valves, contained
within the main body of the Pipe-Pulse
unit, that are automatically operated by
the touch screen control panel.
Proprietary algorithms determine the
optimum wave structure for each pulse,
of which there are potentially millions
generated for each particular job. The
Pipe-Pulse unit then physically creates
and injects the manufactured pulse
into the pipeline, and it is transmitted
to the front face of the blockage.
These controlled pulses allow energy
to be transferred into the pipeline in a
safe, manageable way, which is more
effective than applying pressure alone.
During test phases the system
successfully cleared a 4" multi-phase
flowline for Shell UK that had been
blocked with sand and wax for 11
years, and also removed a stuck pig in
a deepwater 8" flowline for Petrobras
Americas. The Pipe-Pulse system is
also used to accurately detect the
location of blockages and leaks in
subsea infrastructure, without the need
to deploy expensive vessels.
The company, a subsidiary of the
Netherlands-based Paradigm Group,
developed the Pipe-Pulse service in
direct response to flow assurance and
integrity issues being experienced by
global operators.
Paradigm Flow Solutions Ltd
– UK
Paradigm’s Pipe-Pulse unit
