Corrosion Resistant Flowlines Installed by Reel-lay with David Kaye of TechnipFMC

The subsea oil and gas industry continues to develop more technically challenging fields. Reservoir fluids are becoming more corrosive and the demand for corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) materials in field infrastructure is steadily increasing.

Subsea pipelines are a key part of subsea field developments. Following the overall industry trend, the demand for CRA materials in subsea pipelines is also increasing. The significant quantity of material that is involved in a subsea pipeline introduces a strong requirement to optimise the use of these alloys and minimise the carbon footprint and cost of the overall pipeline solution.

Reel installation has proven to be the most commercially successful method for installation of the smaller diameter subsea pipelines typically required for subsea tie-backs. Reel-lay involves onshore fabrication, pipe spooling and transportation on one or more reels of a dedicated pipe-lay vessel, and rapid offshore installation from the same pipe-lay vessel. Onshore fabrication is well-suited to technically challenging corrosion resistant pipelines. However, spooling on the reel induces significant plastic strains in the pipeline, well beyond the elastic limit, which introduce further engineering challenges. This is particularly so for corrosion resistant pipelines.

This presentation will discuss the reel installation methodology, the different corrosion resistant alloy materials used in subsea pipelines, and their optimised solutions used in reeled subsea pipelines.

David Kaye has more than 30 years of experience in engineering for offshore oil and gas and renewables industries. After a degree and PhD from Cambridge University, he joined the oil and gas industry working on subsea pipeline design and analysis for Andrew Palmer and Associates in London. He subsequently worked in pipeline installation and the development of new pipeline technologies at Coflexip Stena Offshore, in pipeline operations at BP, and marine renewable technologies at Aquamarine Power. He returned to work on pipeline technology development at TechnipFMC in Paris and more recently in Aberdeen, where he is currently Director of Rigid Pipeline and Installation Technologies. David is a Chartered Engineer in the UK, a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology, and a Fellow of the Society for Underwater Technology.