A North Sea style scrapheap challenge!
ESR Technology’s Richard Lee recently visited the Shetland Isles as part of our HOIS activity to identify suitable ex-service components from a recently decommissioned North Sea oil rig, Buchan Alpha; www.repsolsinopecuk.com/news/buchan-alpha-arrives-in-shetland-for-disposal. The visit was organised by the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) https://theogtc.com and also attended by the Health & Safety Laboratory (HSL), part of HSE. The visit was hosted by Veolia and Peterson who are the contractors responsible for the decommissioning of the 12,000-ton platform. Together we identified a number of valuable components which may be used to assess the capabilities of existing and developing inspection technologies in independent, rigorously controlled blind trials.
HOIS is working on behalf of oil and gas producers (operators) together with non-destructive testing (NDT) service companies, NDT equipment vendors and the UK regulatory authority (HSE). The HOIS vision is to improve the effectiveness of in-service inspection for the oil and gas industry through:
- More reliable in-service inspection – better detection of in-service degradation
- More accurate measurements of remaining wall thickness
- Providing asset owners with improved information on asset condition
- Reducing leaks and near misses
HOIS achieves some of these objectives by developing good practice guidance documents for specific inspection applications such as corrosion under pipe supports (CUPS), corrosion under insulation (CUI). These can directly feed in to NDT service company inspection procedures. Publicly available HOIS documents, such as recommended practice documents on weld corrosion inspection, in-service inspection and integrity management of caissons and the in-service inspection of wall loss in pipes by digital radiography may be downloaded from www.hoispublications.com
The OGTC is working on behalf of the oil and gas industry which is facing the challenge of maximising economic recovery in a high operating cost environment, whilst managing ageing assets and equipment, many of which are operating beyond their original design life.
For further information on this visit please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information on HOIS projects please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..