N E W S   R E L E A S E   from FURMANITE INTERNATIONAL

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Downtime avoided on North Sea platform

Shutdown to replace a copper nickel water line suffering internal erosion on a North Sea platform was avoided thanks to composite repair technology from Furmanite, the specialist technical services company geared to maximising asset uptime.

Carbon fibre and epoxy resin composite repairs were used to undertake the necessary remedial work to nearly seven metres overall length, on-line, with no disruption to production, to restore full structural strength and pressure integrity to the line, for the two year period required until the next shutdown when the line was to be replaced.

These repairs are ten times the strength of steel and twice as stiff, yet less than a quarter the density, providing considerable strength with very little added weight. For cases such as this where the repair requirement was due to internal erosion, the repairs can be designed to accommodate continuing erosion over their design life, even to the extent of total loss of the original substrate, while still retaining full integrity.

Importantly, Furmanite’s composite repairs are able to accommodate complex geometries including elbows and tees as well as tanks and vessels – more technically demanding in terms of design and challenging in terms of installation than repairs to straight lengths of pipe, and beyond the capabilities of some composite repair providers. In this case Furmanite undertook repairs to eight, ten, twelve and sixteen inch diameter sections, incorporating straights, tees, elbows and reducers. Just 6mm repair thickness was sufficient to restore pressure integrity and structural strength.

“A further consideration on this project was the copper nickel, being softer than carbon steel, which had to be accounted for in, for example, the surface preparation methods used,” Furmanite’s composites business manager Paul Smith comments.

The repairs were designed to cater for pressures of 13.8 barg and temperatures from -12 to 38 degrees C – well within the capabilities of Furmanite’s composite repair technology which can provide permanent repairs (25 years and more) accommodating pressures of over 200 bar and temperatures to 200 degrees C.

“The repairs were successfully carried out by Furmanite’s highly trained technicians while platform operation continued as normal, so enabling the alternative – shutdown, to cut and replace – to be avoided,” Smith points out. “This is typical of the high value this technology represents.”

For more information, please click here to contact Furmanite at your nearest regional sales office.

For further press information contact:
Sarah Manwaring-White, Keep in Touch Ltd,
Tel: +44 (0)1451 844 488  Email: sarah_mw@keepintouch.co.uk

Issued on behalf of Furmanite International