TPi April 2012

business & market news

BSS appoints commercial director Heating and pipeline distributor BSS Industrial has promoted Andy Raine to commercial director following a senior management restructure by Travis Perkins Group, which recently acquired the BSS Group. buying director for the Travis Perkins plumbing and heating division.

“In my new role as commercial director, I will be focusing on defining and agreeing new product and supplier strategies in conjunction with our branches and sales teams,” commented Mr Raine. “This is a great challenge for me and will put to use the skill set that I have developed in my 21 years with BSS Industrial. Whilst concentrating on the introduction of new and innovative products that will benefit our customers, I will also work closely with the wider Travis Perkins plumbing and heating

Mr Raine, who has worked for BSS for more than 20 years, has dedicated much of his career to the commercial division, succeeding in a number of roles including his most recent position as the category director of piping systems. His promotion follows the promotion of his predecessor, Sue Greatorex, who has taken a new role as divisional

Andy Raine is now commercial director at BSS Industrial

division to implement specific areas of sourcing and brand positioning.”

bss Industrial – UK enquiries@bssgroup.com www.bssindustrial.co.uk

Deepwater downline contract for Liwan Project in South China Sea

The downlines are highly fatigue resistant, ensuring product reliability through numerous deployments and retrievals. Michael C Kearney, DeepFlex president and CEO, said, “Saipem has utilised a DeepFlex downline for several pipeline commissioning projects. The first downline provided by DeepFlex faced extreme and unanticipated sea conditions, performing flawlessly while withstanding these harsh conditions. We are extremely pleased Saipem returned to DeepFlex for this second downline and we believe our track record was one of the key factors in being awarded this order.” Headquartered in Houston, with marketing offices in the United States and Brazil, DeepFlex designs and manufactures premium composite flexible pipe for use in the subsea oil and gas production environment. The patented DeepFlex products are designed to be lighter, less costly to install, and fatigue resistant, and do not suffer the corrosive effects of harsh environment service.

The 4" ID, 5,000 psi DeepFlex downline is designed for use offshore in up to 1,700m of water, to transport water for hydrotesting and then air and nitrogen for dewatering from a construction support vessel to the 22" ID x 79km long gas export lines connecting the subsea wells to a fixed platform.

DeepFlex has been awarded a contract by Saipem Portugal, a subsidiary of Saipem SpA, for the supply of a deepwater downline to be used for pre- commissioning of the Husky Oil China Ltd Liwan 3-1-1 gas pipelines, located in the South China Sea in 1,400m of water.

The extremely light weight feature of the downline creates value for these commissioning activities by increasing the length of downline per unit weight, which reduces construction support vessel deck space and payload and top tension requirements, as well as allowing efficient subsea manipulation by an ROV. DeepFlex downlines are designed, constructed and tested to industry standards for unbonded flexible pipe including API Specification 17J and RP 17B as well as DNV standard OS-C501 governing the use of composite materials in offshore applications.

deepFlex, Inc – USA info@deepflex.com www.deepflex.com

The South China Sea

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Tube ProducTs InTernATIonAl April 2012

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