business & market news
14
Tube Products International March 2013
Paradigm wins £3mn
of contracts
Pipeline
blockage
remediation
specialist Paradigm Flow Services
has secured £3 million worth of new
business with major oil and gas
operators for work using its pioneering
Pipe-Pulse technology.
The company has netted four contracts
to unblock subsea pipelines across four
major oil and gas regions: the UK,
US, West Africa and South East Asia,
growing its market position on a global
scale.
Pipe-Pulse is a remote, non-intrusive
method of locating and removing
blockages in long distance pipe-work
up to 30 miles.
The current campaign of work will
involve clearing umbilicals and flowlines
to allow operators to re-inject chemicals
and protect the integrity of their systems.
Rob Bain, managing director of
Paradigm Flow Services, said,
“Integrity of subsea systems, pipelines
and umbilicals is a major issue for
operators around the world, particularly
as assets age. Pipe-Pulse has the
potential to save operators millions
as chronic blockages can sometimes
leave replacement as the only option.
Oilfields in different regions face
their own unique challenges, but our
Pipe-Pulse technology allows vital
remediation work to be completed
effectively in a range of environments.”
The Pipe-Pulse unit delivers high
energy and volume pressure pulses
into the pipeline or subsea umbilical;
these pulses are then transmitted to the
blockage several miles away.
The system is designed to be connected
on the topsides of the host platform to
remove the blockages.
Prior to Pipe-Pulse, these problems
were usually remediated by 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.
Paradigm Flow Services develops
groundbreaking technologies for
detecting, remediating and preventing
subsea and topside pipeline blockages,
for the oil and gas industry.
The company was launched in 2010 and
now has 32 staff, with plans for further
recruitment as demand for services
continues to grow.
The company recently won a Northern
Star Business Award for Commitment
to Innovative Use of R&D, and also
secured a Gold Award for Safety from
Royal Society for the Prevention of
Accidents (RoSPA) in recognition of its
approach to the prevention of accidents
and ill health.
Paradigm Flow Services Ltd
– UK
Rob Bain, managing director of Paradigm
Flow Services
An engineer using the
Pipe-Pulse unit
